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Longtime Maui conservationist Evanson: ‘It’s not my world anymore’

Mary Evanson hikes Halema‘uma‘u Trail at Haleakala National Park in this undated photo. Evanson celebrated her 95th birthday on Tuesday, which was proclaimed Mary Evanson Day in Maui County. One of her loves is Haleakala National Park.

At age 95, longtime Maui conservationist Mary Evanson says, “It’s not my world anymore.”

Evanson moved from Oahu, where she was born and raised, to Maui in the ’70s. In her younger years she worked to keep Maui from overdevelopment and helped protect the environment from invasive species and also human impact.

“At that time, Maui was great. You could go anyplace, you go up to the crater, nobody. You got to Makena, nobody,” Evanson recalled of the less-populated Maui she remembers.

“It’s a different island,” she said on Wednesday.

Evanson keeps up with current events and reads The Maui News. She still urges people to protect Maui from being overrun by invasive species and advocates protecting Haleakala National Park, both its natural resources and its access to the public.

Mary Evanson, who celebrated her 95th birthday on Tuesday, has a proclamation read to her by Mayor Alan Arakawa on Sunday at a gathering in Kula proclaiming Tuesday Mary Evanson Day in Maui County. Evanson is a longtime community and environmental activist with a focus on protecting Maui’s environment.

To honor her 95th birthday Tuesday, Mayor Alan Arakawa proclaimed Dec. 20 as “Mary Evanson Day.” He delivered a proclamation to Evanson on Sunday at a gathering in Kula.

Evanson was cited for her work with the Sierra Club, as founder of The Friends of Haleakala National Park and for helping lay the groundwork to establish the Native Hawaiian Plant Society, the Kanaio Natural Area Reserve and the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens.

She was an early member of the group SPAM, State Park at Makena, and was active in the Mauna Ala Hiking Club, leading hikes all over Maui for years. She has also helped in replanting projects on Kahoolawe and at Auwahi.

Even though she is not as active, Evanson still has opinions about Haleakala National Park and the rest of Maui’s environment.

Evanson said she understands why the park is turning to a reservation system for its sunrise visits. Even more than 10 years ago, Evanson said, she and others, including the park’s administration, had sought  ways to accommodate visitors during sunrise. One idea was to have a staging area where people could park and have a shuttle take them to the summit.

But she said she’s not sure how it would work economically, since it would be needed only for a few hours a day.

But she agreed that “there’s got to be some type of system” to help the park with crowds.

In November, the park announced that an online reservation will be needed for sunrise viewing beginning Feb. 1. The pilot program is being enacted as crowds are growing beyond the capacity of the parking lots. People have been parking on road shoulders, putting endangered species and cultural resources at risk.

Evanson, a Kokomo resident, long opposed the internationalization of Kahului Airport, fearing that would bring in alien plants and bugs. She said more needs to be done to combat invasive species.

“I think we have to watch what we are doing. We have to be careful. Right here on my Kokomo (property) I have a vine coming in and taking over my lawn. I don’t know what that’s all about,” she said. “I can see how an invasive species can take over and just overwhelm everything. It’s scary.

“I think we are not doing a good job. We need to do a lot more. We need to do more education. We need to do more inspections,” she said.

Evanson admitted that her father, George McEldowney, an engineer and not a forester, worked for the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association on Oahu, where he was involved with raising trees to replace those cut down for use in the sugar mills.

“What they were growing were all foreign trees. They were not native species,” she said, calling the practice a “dumb thing.”

Evanson still walks her dog, Pip, and reads a lot. She is now rereading the works of Ernest Hemingway.

She attributes her longevity to her ancestors, but added that being active physically and mentally also helps.

“I never thought I’d get here, that’s for sure,” she said with a chuckle.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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