Forest Starr & Kim Starr

Forest was born and raised on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Kim is part Hawaiian and was born and raised on the mainland US. We met at Cornell University in New York, where we enjoyed rock climbing and the changing seasons. After graduating we moved back to Maui, switched to surfing, and worked in the real estate and hotel industries. In 1997 we entered the conservation industry, working as biologists for the University of Hawaii, and providing environmental consulting as Starr Environmental. Our primary focus is on plants, insects, birds, and other aspects of Hawaii natural history. Examples of our work include surveys of Hawaii's offshore islets and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, road surveys for non-native plants, and helicopter landing zone surveys. Our current work, when not in our own garden, includes early detection surveys for ants, monitoring non-native fireweed, surveys for native flies, surveying plant nurseries, and monitoring the native Haleakala silverswords.