Travis Voeller carefully planted an aalii shrub Wednesday in the bank of Kapakahi Stream in Waipahu. The native plant had been taken from Kuaokala Ridge near Kaena Point, where it had trouble surviving, and might eventually produce red flowers in its new home.

"I want to help perpetuate this land. I think it’s my kuleana as a Hawaiian to take care of the land and treat the land as if it were my brother," said Voeller, 21, a University of Hawaii-Manoa student majoring in natural resources and environmental management.

Voeller was part of a 10-person team that spent the past six weeks doing habitat restoration projects, often camping in the field, as part of the Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps summer program.

The program, which concluded Friday, is run by Kupu, an environmental nonprofit based in Kahala. About 150 students, along with team leaders, performed conservation projects on Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Kauai and Molokai.

Each team member will receive a $1,000 AmeriCorps educational stipend. Team leaders will each receive an additional $3,000 stipend.

Syd Kawahakui Jr., a field operations supervisor for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, helped organize the projects.

"One of the biggest challenges (for government) is lack of funding for positions. That’s why volunteer work is so appreciated," he said.

Voeller and the rest of the team spent Wednesday weeding invasive species and planting different types of native plants along the stream, across Waipahu Depot Road from the Honolulu Police Academy.

"The most rewarding thing is seeing more native Hawaiian plants in town. We did a lot of work to transform this side near the stream into a beautiful place," Voeller said.

Shannah Young, 17, a McKinley High School student who is president of her school’s science club, said she wants to be an archaeologist or explore a similar field.

The work has been labor-intensive but rewarding, Young said.

"We’ve done a lot of digging," she said. "We dug in the mud to create a loi. We went up in the mountains with Army Natural Resources and cut down trees and used herbicide on certain invasive species.

"People think Waikiki is the beauty of Hawaii, but it’s not at all. They could sit there and hang out and not know that Hawaii’s actually disappearing."

Hayley Haythorne, 16, a Punahou School student, said she wanted to expand upon what she learned in the classroom.

"This past year I took the AP environmental science class, and I learned a lot about conservation and it struck me as interesting. I wanted to get a more in-depth idea of what it’s about," Haythorne said.

Team leader Nathan Dube, 24, a University of Michigan graduate, said, "The most rewarding thing for me is seeing the younger kids take so much pride in what we’re doing and seeing how they really understand the big picture. I don’t know if I understood the big picture when I was in high school."