A ground blessing was held Wednesday for a new U.S. Geologial Survey facility on the University of Hawaii at Hilo campus.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland attended the blessing, along with U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and USGS Director David Applegate, university staff and students. A ceremony — a kipaepae — focused on coming together in a new location.

The facility, to be completed in late 2025, will house the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center.

“We selected this location because of its unique qualities and partnership opportunities,” said Applegate in a news release. “One quality in particular that is critical to our future success is access to a very precious resource: students who can become our next-generation workforce, helping bring science to bear on some of the most challenging issues facing our nation and the planet.”

HVO monitors and assesses hazards from active volcanoes and earthquakes in Hawaii, and provides important science for emergency managers and local communities. The observatory, previously at the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, was irreparably damaged during the 2018 Kilauea eruption.

The USGS Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center conducts research to support the management and conservation of biological resources in Hawaii and the Paficic, including studies of imperiled and invasive species and plant diseases such as rapid ohia death.

“Partnership and collaboration are at the heart of everything we do,” said Haaland at the event. “I’m so excited about the collaborations that will be formed in this facility between USGS scientists and personnel, the brilliant faculty and the students who have already accomplished so much. As we celebrate this facility today, we celebrate the enduring relationship it represents for the Department of the Interior and the community at large, as well as and the benefits this partnership will bring long after our time doing this important work is done.”