Tree clearing good
Tree clearing good
I think the selective clearing on the Panaewa stretch (of Highway 11) is long overdue, and I am very pleased with the results. A rainforest down the middle of a highway is a danger in many ways and shouldn’t be falsely romanticized.
It attracted pigs, which are a traffic hazard twofold: as roadkill and creating mud holes in areas needed to pull safely off the road. Overgrown branches blocked lines of sight when pulling out into 60-mph traffic with no merging lane.
Invasive species like the African Tulip used it as a crosswalk from one side of the highway to the other. People pulling over to pick fruit or flowers endangered themselves. Why stop on one of the island’s most dangerous highways when there are hundreds of miles of road with the same free offerings islandwide?
Clearly, the creators and executioners of this task put thought and effort into their plan. At first, I was worried they were going to clear-cut it, but now we have a well-groomed, beautiful selection of singled-out trees down this road. Mahalo. Job well done!
Kendra Tidwell
Pahoa
About Hanohano
Hopefully, a viable candidate will come forth in the next election for State House to represent our Puna District. Another Native Hawaiian would be just fine.
Our elected officials are often referred to as “civil servants.” And, in this particular case, we Puna constituents would be especially watchful of the first word of this label.
Don Bremer
Keaau
GMO disclosure
Thanks for the article (by Tribune-Herald reporter Colin Stewart) on the lawsuit over the GMO papaya. I thought it was interesting that someone described the reporting requirements as intrusive.
While the reporting requirements may be intrusive, I don’t think they are more intrusive than selling someone a GMO papaya and telling them it is a real papaya. Also, what if that papaya fertilizes non-GMO plants? Wouldn’t that also be intrusive?
While I don’t think GMO should be outright banned, farmers that choose to grow them should have to tell people what they are.
The same rules should also apply to pesticides that are inside the plant. The right of the people to choose should trump the farmer’s right to trade secrets.
Adrien Gonzalez
The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business