Water is an important resource to the indigenous people and endemic aquatic species of Hawaii. Both freshwater fish and crustaceans are amphidromous, reliant on the stream-to-marine continuum to complete their life cycles. These organisms are vital to the indigenous people of Hawaii as a food source, and require certain stream parameters to thrive. With the advent of sugar farming in the 1800s, nearly all of the streams in East Maui experienced extreme water diversions, with many perennial streams becoming dry for part or all of the year. Resulting changes in water parameters had strong negative impacts on taro cultivation, native species habitat, and water quality. In 2018, partial or full stream flow was restored to 22 streams in East Maui, reconnecting the stream-to-marine flow. However, stream water quality and communities have not been formally documented after flow restoration.

Preliminary data was collected in August 2023 and 2024 by Dr. Seth Bybee and Dr. Rachel Wood, and two teams of undergraduate students. As part of this research, they collected and identified native Odonate species in the East Maui Watershed, assessed the water quality of the restored streams, as well as the presence and identity of aquatic invertebrate and vertebrate species through eDNA analysis.