If you want to learn more about the importance of our forests and the benefits they have on our peace of mind, sign up for the tours offered at Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary to celebrate the spring equinox.
Hawaii Island Land Trust is offering a tour from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, March 18. The focus will be protecting our aina, especially Hawaii’s forests. Call Janet Britt, Hawaii Island director, at 769-4343 to reserve your space as soon as possible. Space is limited.
Yoga Hale is sponsoring an additional tour from 1:30-3:30 p.m. March 21, focusing on meditation in the forest. According to Dana Strang with the nonprofit, this visit to the sanctuary will be hosted in conjunction with celebration of the beginning of spring. Call Dana at 938-0040 to sign up and for other information about the tour.
Global warming no longer is a theory and is being accepted as fact by most scientists and governments. This will affect our islands by causing more extremes such as drought, floods and severe storms. Many of Hawaii’s forests and forest watersheds are threatened.
We might not be able to do much about other parts of the world, but here at home we as individuals are either part of the solution or part of the problem.
If each one of us on the Big Island planted only 10 trees this year, we will have planted more than 1 million! Trees not only produce oxygen, they supply shade, act as windbreaks and lock up the carbon that is the main cause of global warming.
In East Hawaii, many ohia forest areas are subdivided into small lots of 1 to 3 acres. Unless the owners of the land really commit to protecting the forested lots, they are bulldozed and flattened.
In West Hawaii, the same situation occurs with private lands being subdivided and cleared.
One exception is the Kaloko Mauka subdivision. This is one of the most accessible native forests in West Hawaii. It, among other high-elevation areas of Hawaii, is being developed for agriculture and residential activities. However, county planners are making an effort to encourage developers and landowners to protect the forest by placing requirements that the lots remain in forest.
The county also is requiring a forest management plan and is allowing owners to dedicate to native forest or tree crops, thus reducing the tax burden. Information about how to apply for agriculture and conservation dedications can be obtained from the Hawaii County tax office.
Much of Kaloko Mauka remains covered with native forest. Although it is sparsely populated, the gardens of residents are a fascinating mixture of hydrangeas, hoawa, calatheas, camellias, koa and kopiko. The area abounds with ancient ohia (Meterosideros polymorpha) and gigantic tree ferns, some of which are 30 feet or more in height. These ferns can be more than 100 years old since the trunks only grow 2 to 3 inches per year.
The native forest contains many rare and endangered species that Big Island residents are committed to protect through the Hawaii Forest Stewardship and Hawaii Land Trust programs. These programs allow residents to dedicate and manage their properties to enhance this important and unique watershed. They are administered through the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Forestry Division and Hawaii Island Land Trust.
In the heart of the subdivision, the 70-acre Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary was set aside for protecting native forests. Approximately 15 acres that were previously pasture were reforested with native and non-native species supplied by the Forestry Service, nurseries and plant societies for testing, including palms, tree ferns, bamboos, tropical rhododendrons, orchids and other plant materials. Observations are being made as to their adaptability for reforestation, agricultural and landscape use.
Even though most of the sanctuary is preserved in native forest, the upper portion is now reforested as a montane tropical forest and includes koa, ohia and conifers from the high tropics such as New Zealand and New Caledonia. Even California redwoods and Southeast loblolly pines are grown successfully.
Kaloko Mauka is the home of the Hawaiian hawk, apapane, iiwi, elepaio, amakihi and many other endemic and exotic birds. Kaloko Mauka was identified as essential wildlife habitat and forest watershed.
It is the goal of residents of Kaloko Mauka to set an example that they can live in harmony with the forest and still have homes and some forest-friendly agriculture activities. This is essential if our island is to have the rainfall and watershed needed to supply communities at lower elevations.
Tropical forests include not only trees but understory palms, bromeliads, orchids, ferns and bamboos. Many palms worldwide are endangered because of the destruction of rain forests. Fortunately, Hawaii is becoming a kind of Noah’s Ark thanks to the efforts of the palm society, bamboo society, orchid societies, rhododendron society and other concerned groups on the Big Island.
Not only is it vital to protect our remaining Hawaiian forests, but to reforest those abandoned cane lands of Hamakua, Puna, Ka‘u and Kohala with biodiverse forests, thus ensuring valuable resources for future generations. This is especially critical as we are losing our ohia forests because of a fungus killing trees in many areas of the Big Island.
For further information about forest planting and management, contact UH Extention forester J.B. Friday at 959-8254 or jbfriday@hawaii.edu.
For general gardening questions, you can contact the Master Gardeners in the Hilo and Kona Extension offices.
