17Nov2022

From 7pm until 8pm

In 2020 and 2021, Nels Liljedahl temporarily left his position of District Conservationist in the NRCS Conway Field Office to work in this remote island archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

Spending a total of 10 months on this NRCS work detail, Nels started this adventure by living and working in the small fishing village of Ollei. His task was to help a non profit organization called the Ebiil Society with a reforestation project. This encompassed gathering seeds, seedlings and cuttings of select trees from the Lowland Tropical Rain Forest, propagating them in a small nursery and finally planting them in old bauxite mining sites that were abandoned by the Japanese after World War 2. The soils are so difficult on these sites that nothing had grown back in 80 years. Sediment washes into the ocean through streams and cause deleterious effects on the ecosystems of the mangrove forests, seagrass beds and coral reefs, which are the lifeblood of Palau.

Program fee: $5/person or $10/household for non-members; members are free

Zoom link for those unable to attend in person: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89895969798