Ulalia Woodside Lee
State Director, Hawaii and Palmyra
Honolulu, Hawaii
AREAS OF EXPERTISE
Land and resources management and planning, public policy, community-based conservation
Biography
When Ulalia Woodside Lee took the helm as Hawai‘i executive director in 2016, she felt as if she had been preparing for the job her entire life. The daughter of a wildlife biologist and a Hawaiian cultural practitioner, she grew up in a family dedicated to protecting the environment. “Conservation is what we did,” she says. “It’s what I know and what I’ve made my life’s calling.”
Lee served as director of natural and cultural resources at Kamehameha Schools, the state’s largest private landowner, prior to coming to TNC. She was also a member of the State Board of Land and Natural Resources, a past commissioner of the Hawai‘i Natural Area Reserve System, and a kumu hula, or teacher of hula, a tradition passed down from her mother at age three.
Following graduation from Honolulu’s Punahou School, Lee worked as an intern and later a land agent with the Hawai‘i State Department of Land and Natural Resources, where she gained a broad understanding of land tenure and ownership in Hawai‘i.
At the University of Hawai‘i, she earned undergraduate degrees in political science and Hawaiian studies and completed graduate coursework in urban and regional planning, then went to work in the private sector, doing everything from cultural and environmental assessments to masterplan developments. In 2002, she joined Kamehameha Schools Land Assets Division, and during her 14-year tenure there rose to regional director, responsible for a 200,000-acre portfolio and the natural and cultural resources programs.
As Hawai‘i executive director, Lee oversees forest and marine conservation programs on five islands and a climate change research laboratory at Palmyra Atoll. She resides in the community of Waimanalo in windward O‘ahu and during her spare time enjoys serving on community organization boards, hula, hiking and traveling.
Make Investments to Protect Our ʻĀina
By Ulalia Woodside Lee and Puni Jackson
Last year, we saw firsthand the devastating consequences of not being attentive to ʻāina, when raging fires on Maui and Hawai‘i island caused unprecedented destruction. These avoidable disasters were exacerbated by numerous environmental issues, including invasive brush and drought conditions driven by climate change.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
We can act now to aloha ʻāina. By adequately funding conservation, we not only preserve our islands’ unique native plants and animals and the lands that nurture our health and well-being, we protect communities from further devastation while investing in our natural heritage for future generations.
Surveys show that this is what the people of Hawai‘i value.
A statewide poll commissioned by The Nature Conservancy and the Care for ʻĀina Now coalition showed 99% of voters agree that our beaches, reefs and parks are essential to Hawai‘i’s quality of life. An overwhelming 97% believe that it is our kuleana, or responsibility, to protect our ocean and lands for future generations.
Significantly, 4 out of 5 Hawai‘i voters believe that state government programs are critical to protecting natural resources. These results are striking considering that many of us no longer have the opportunity to directly experience Hawai‘i’s healthiest native ecosystems, which remain protected by being remote and inaccessible.
While we may not often get the chance to walk through a native cloud forest, harvest maile or see the scarlet flash of an ‘i‘iwi in flight, we are still in pilina—connected to ʻāina through relationship.
The people of Hawai‘i understand that the pilina between us and our environment is unbreakable. Even if we never walk among ‘ohi‘a lehua, we know they are why we have fresh, clean water. Even if we never see native birds, we know they are part of our ‘ohana. We are all connected. That is why we must act now to invest in conservation and stewardship before the next disaster.
There are many ways to invest. Places like Ho‘oulu ʻĀina, a 100-acre nature preserve in Kalihi Valley, demonstrate how caring for the ʻāina connects and heals us. A project of Kokua Kalihi Valley (KKV), we celebrate the reciprocal benefit of caring for land and human health.
We know we have the power to change; we’ve done it before. At a time when Hawaiian language and traditional practices were nearly extinct, our kumu imagined a different future, a pono future. They took action.
Today, ‘olelo Hawai‘i is spoken in our streets, canoe voyaging traditions connect the world and keiki are born into a world where aloha ʻāina is normalized.
Today, we are the ones imagining a pono future. We imagine a future with clean air and water, healthy reefs, thriving forests and native birds from mauka to makai.
We imagine a future safer from disasters like fire and flood. And we imagine a future where Hawai‘i’s people find healing and connection through access to healthy native forests and shorelines.
But to get there, we need to invest and act. Investing in nature means growing your knowledge, building your pilina and getting serious about land management tools. It also means sharing stories of the land and dreams for the future. It means appropriately funding conservation and natural resource management.
Join us in calling on our state lawmakers to invest in aloha ʻāina—may our actions today create a pono future for our beloved Hawai‘i.
Ulalia Woodside Lee is executive director for The Nature Conservancy, Hawai‘i and Palmyra; Puni Jackson is Hoʻoulu ʻĀina director for Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services.
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