EP 65 DLNR forester Ed Pettys and Na Ala Hele program manager Debbie Chang on the value of connecting people to places through trails and land stewardship

In this interview, Melissa and Clay interview husband and wife team Ed Pettys and Debbie Chang from their home in Paʻauilo mauka on Hawaiʻi Island about their work helping to connect people to Hawaiian landscapes beginning in the late 1960s. They talk about growing up in Hawaiʻi–Ed from Lihue, Kauaʻi and Debbie from Kohala, Hawaiʻi and meeting through their work in the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Debbie helped to spearhead the new Na ʻAla Hele trails and access program in the 1980s while Edʻs work took him across Micronesia–from Pohnpei to Kosrae, and eventually to Kauaʻi as Forestry and Wildlife District manager. Theirs is a collective understanding of the importance of teamwork and leadership especially in the wake of hurricane Iniki.