Dr. Samuel M. ‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a Gon, III

Sam shares his expertise through several advisory positions, including as a member of TNC’s Native Network ERG Steering Committee and as a Commissioner for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is an especially effective communicator, often called upon to lend his knowledge to conservation agencies, educational institutions, and others, and has presented at the Smithsonian Museum (DC), Dalem Ethnological Museum (Berlin), Museum of World Culture (Paris), British Ecological Society (Birmingham), and the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille, France.

Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Sam currently resides in Honolulu with his wife of 40 years, Sheri. They have two sons.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Part of the Conservancy staff for 39+ years, Sam has offered his expertise in a variety of capacities. As Ecologist for the Hawai‘i Natural Heritage Program of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i (TNCH) from 1986 - 1999, he conducted biological inventories and produced biological reports and management recommendations for The Conservancy, our partner federal, state, and local agencies, and for private landowners and organizations. As the coordinator for the Hawai‘i Natural Heritage Program from 1992 to 1994, Sam managed a staff of 15 and an annual budget of over $1 million, conducting biological inventories across the archipelago. As Director of Science he guided the science behind the vision and operations of the Hawaiʻi Chapter. In his current role as Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor, Sam maintains his science and natural history guidance, and adds his Hawaiian cultural expertise to enhance the mission of The Conservancy. In 2025, Sam joined the Steering Committee of the newly-formed Native Network ERG.

Sam has nearly 50 years of experience in Hawaiian ecology. This experience includes biological inventories and research, field ecology, entomology, arachnology, ornithology, ethology, aquatic biology, natural community classification, ecological modeling, climate change vulnerability analysis, historical, ecological, and biological database management. He also is versed in Hawaiian culture, history, and language. Sam is instrumental in many facets of the Conservancy’s work. His knowledge of Hawaiian culture and history are an important asset when working with local communities and land management agencies. He has applied his island conservation expertise in cooperative projects and workshops in the Galapagos Islands, the Philippines, Pohnpei, Palau, Fiji, Jamaica, Okinawa, Amazonia, and Rapanui. As an excellent public speaker, Sam often lends his knowledge to conservation agencies, educational institutions, community groups, donors, and important visitors. 

He has presented on Hawaiian ecosystems and culture at the Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C., at The Dalem Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany (2011), at the National Museum of Natural History (2012), and the Museum of World Culture (2014) in Paris, France, The British Ecological Society (2018) in Birmingham, UK, and the IUCN World Conservation Congress (2021) in Marseille, France.

Sam served on the Advisory Committee for the ‘Ōhi‘a Project (Hawaiian natural history curriculum development). He serves as a Hawaiian natural history and culture consultant for the Moanalua Gardens Foundation (and its evolving status in the Papahana Kuaola Hawaiian Education Center), sat on the board of the ‘Ahahui Mālama i ka Lōkahi (Hawaiians for the preservation of native ecosystems), and on the Restoration Advisory Group for the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission. He has served on panels of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on the topic of traditional management of natural resources, on the Hawaiian leadership committee advising the Hawai‘i Life Sciences Consortium and on the State of Hawaiʻi Endangered Species Recovery Committee, on the Executive Committee of the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance (HCA), and on the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative (PICCC); he served on the Board of Trustees for the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program (NHCAP), the Bishop Museum Association Council, and as a member of the Hawai‘i State Board of Land and Natural Resources (2016-2021), and is a Science Trustee of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (2022-ongoing), the Plant and Animal Advisory Committee for the Hawaiʻi State Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (2022-ongoing), and a Board Member of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (2023-ongoing). 

Internationally, Sam is a Commissioner for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on the Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP) Theme on Culture and Conservation (TCC), and the Species Survival Commission (SSP) as a member of the Hawaiʻi Rare Plant Specialist Group. In 2016, he served on the Hawaiian protocol group that provided protocols for the opening of the plenary assembly at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi in 2016 and for the Congress in Marseille in 2021.

For 12 years Sam studied oli (traditional Hawaiian chant) and hula with Kumu John Keolamaka‘āinana Lake, a master of Hawaiian religion and cultural protocols; that culminated in his ‘ūniki (traditional rite of passage) in February 2003 as a kahuna kākalaleo, practitioner of Hawaiian chant and ceremony. In that capacity he serves as a Kahuna Pule Oʻo (prayer master) at the heiau (temple) of Puʻu Koholā at Kawaihae, Island of Hawaiʻi as part of Nā Waʻa Lālani Kāhuna o Puʻu Koholā. Kumu Lake, before his passing, gave Sam the kuleana (responsibility) to continue teaching oli for the hālau (traditional learning group) on Oʻahu, Hālau Mele, a heavy but joyful responsibility. Hālau Mele is current a hālau-in-residence at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum.

Sam strives to blend the richness of unique Hawaiian ecosystems with the equally rich culture that developed here. In 2013 Sam received from his peers the Distinguished Service Award in Conservation, which honors exceptional service, personal effort and unselfish interest, embodying long-term dedication and tenacity in environmental conservation for the Hawaiian Islands. Shortly thereafter (2014), Sam was conferred the designation of Living Treasure of Hawaiʻi by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaiʻi, for his rapprochement of conservation biology and Hawaiian cultural practice. That biocultural approach is reflected in a TED talk that Sam presented on Maui in September 2014. In 2017, Sam was a recipient of the Aliʻi Award recognizing 20 for the Next 20: Hawaiʻi individuals whose leadership will be instrumental in the coming decades.

Sam received his bachelor’s degree in Zoology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, his masters in Zoology and doctorate in Animal Behavior at the University of California, Davis. For his doctoral research, he studied the comparative behavioral ecology of Theridion grallator, the Hawaiian Happyface Spider. 

He holds affiliate graduate faculty posts at the University of Hawai‘i in the UH School of Natural Resource and Environmental Management, the School of Life Sciences, and in the UH Biocultural Initiative of the Pacific. He regularly lectures at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in the upper division course BOT/ZOO 450: Natural History of the Hawaiian Islands, and other upper division courses.

Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Sam currently resides in Honolulu with his wife of 40 years, Sheri. They have two sons.