Forest restoration, food sovereignty interests take student around the world
Gabi Kics helped to prepare a rice field for planting as part of a research field school in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
With an eye for adventure and an interest in nature, Gabrielle (Gabi) Kics, participated in a summer work exchange program on a permaculture farm in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador following high school graduation, sparking her interest in sustainable land management practices. After growing up near Chicago, Illinois, this experience started Kics on a path that has taken her around the world, with native forests and the interconnectedness of nature and humans as the throughline.
“I am interested in native ecosystem restoration as a means to address climate resilience and watershed stability, and as a means for individuals and communities to continue having relationships with native plants and spaces,” shared Kics, who is Global Environmental Sciences (GES) major in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST).
Kics was drawn to the GES program as an opportunity to learn about a broad spectrum of environmental issues, take a wide range of courses, and conduct research for the required senior research thesis. Now, as she’s nearing the end of her degree, Kics is wrapping up the latest research experiences, which included projects in Mākaha Valley on O‘ahu and South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Mākaha Valley to Indonesia
Working with Tamara Ticktin, UH Mānoa botany professor, and Travis Idol, UH Mānoa natural resources and environmental management professor, Kics’s senior research project centers around native forest restoration in Mākaha Valley. The project explores how planting a native sedge at different densities and weeded at different intervals impacts native and invasive plant recruitment.
“As a result of western contact, native Hawaiian forests have been degraded, which includes habitat loss, species extinction, invasion of foreign species, changes in watershed, and alteration of soil stability,” Kics explained. “The project I’m working on supports restoration of native forests in order to increase ecosystem stability, protect endangered species, and maintain the connection between people and native plants and animals.”
“Conventional forest restoration starts with planting one or two native overstory trees to create an overstory canopy and favorable environment for planting other native species in the understory,” Idol shared. “Gabi’s project is using a native ground cover to hopefully suppress invasive species and thus create a more favorable environment for natural regeneration of native species. This would help rebuild ecosystem resilience, along with biodiversity.”
Additionally, Kics received a grant from the UH Mānoa Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program to support her participation in research projects in South Sulawesi, Indonesia for the past two years in partnership with a university in Makassar.
“Through this research, I learned that government-imposed land management policies harm local livelihoods and connections to forests,” Kics shared. “We further learned how villagers resist these pressures through upholding their cultural practices and identity. This experience has really emphasized the importance of co-creating management practices with communities in order to address ecosystem and community resilience.”
Looking ahead
Adding on to her academic and research training, Kics is president of the Environmental Justice Club at UH Mānoa, a group that focuses on education and advocacy through community involvement, speaker series, and workshops.
“I was inspired to take a leadership role because solving any environmental issue requires addressing the social injustices that coincide with the problem,” Kics said.
After graduation, planned for December 2026, Kics plans to continue working in native forest restoration and, in the long term, hopes to work with sovereign food systems.