KILOHANA CRATER, Kaua'i — Two hundred Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts yesterday planted a range of native species in more than two acres of sloping land overlooking Kaua'i's east coast.

The project, entitled Grove Farm Ecological Restoration, was a joint effort of landowner Grove Farm, the National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kaua'i Community College and the Makauwahi Sinkhole project, and represents the first phase of a planned 30-acre native forest restoration project.

The Kaua'i scouts, about 150 Girl Scouts and 50 Boy Scouts, also participated in craft projects and hikes to the rim of Kilohana Crater, where they heard talks on natural history. Scouter Tom Shigemoto said the scouts have committed to a five-year plan to maintain the trees they planted.

The site of the work is the eastern slope of Kilohana Crater, below an old plantation manager's home called Iliahi. The property was once owned by Lihu'e Plantation, and was acquired by Steve Case, who added it to his acquisition of the neighboring plantation, Grove Farm.

The site of the planting was heavily infested with weeds and dominated by the downy rose myrtle, Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, also known locally as Isenberg bush. The scouts planted native plants, among them koai'a, lama, naio, olopua, mamaki, and pokalakala, and Polynesian-introduced species such as kukui, mai'a, 'ohi'a 'ai and milo. They were planted in lines to ease irrigation, but may later be thinned and some species transplanted to more closely resemble a natural forest, said Lida Pigott Burney, of the Makauwahi Cave Reserve.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.