The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-10-02
FOREST PROTECTION NEEDED.

II something is not done by the Ter
ritorial Government 10 protect the for
ests which conserve the water supply
OF these Islands there will be a strong
movement towards vesting the admin
istrative control OF our public lands in
the United States. Under the Federal
system II Is easy to segregate forests
from the general domain and care for
them and this has been proved in sew
eral Western States. During the Har-
rison administration $4,000 900 acres OF
wooded land were reserved and put in
charge OF foresters and Cleveland set
aside 21,OOo,c 600. The process Of segre-
cation stin goes on.
/ In California United States cavalry
are employed 20 keep the cattle and
sheep men from entering the reserved
| tracts and sportsmen are not allowed
TO go there with guns lest they may set
I the uuderbrush on fire. Here in Hawaii
the woods TEEN with wild cattle, goats
and hogs and on Molokai the deer are
abundant Nor is care taken. as is be-
/ ing shown now in the mountain dis
! triCts Of Maui, to prevent forest fires.
| II the United States had charge of
. these wooded tracts all destructive ami
mails would be driven out or killed, es-
\ peciany the goats which are as objec-
tionable here as sheep are in the West.
| a herd Of goats will not browse at ran
dom like deer. They crop one place
bare before they move on TO another,
and as was said OF the Turk with par
donable exaggeration, Where they
have passed the grass springs up no
more" Cattle do much to break
branches and small trees and the wild
hogs root up tender growths. Added
, TO the other instrumentalities of loss Is
the man in the firewood business. "Koa
| firewood for sale" was "A late adver-
tisement in an Island paper. Why
. should there be any koa firewood for
sale?
Every country which has permitted
its forests 10 be destroyed has found
reason to regret the error. The his
torian Strabo notes the damage done in
the earliest times by deforestation; the
decline OF Spain as a great power Is
closely associated with the poverty that
icame Of the alternate drouths and
floods resulting from the same cause.
Centuries ago. taught by harsh expert
enCe, Japan began to conserve her ma
tive trees and now the land is we'll
wooded despite the fact that timber is
the most valued Of commodities there.
The people have been taught to warm
themselves over little dishes Of char
coal: they have been obliged to use
bamboo and thatCh instead Of lumber
and shingles for many Of their habita-
tlons: and az regards fences they either
use bamboo or hedges or they mark
boundary lines with bitches. AS re-
suit OF forest preservation JaLan has
few floods or drouths. In the wet sea-
sons the MOSES and porous earth hold
the surplus water back until IL flows
away by degrees; and when long dry
J spells come the shaded ground cannot
become hot and IL continues TO feed
the springs and rivulets, maintaining
an equilibrium which nature always
does when let alone. In China. how
b ever. conditions are quite the reverse.
Forests were long ago swept away,
and now vast foods In the Yellow river
and I'm the Yangtse alternate with fam
ines due TO drouth.
Weeks ago the Advertiser described
+ the effect Of forest denudation in 81.
Helena and an excellent article, from
which the following extract Is taken
now appears in the Star:
when FIRST discovered. 81 years ago. St
Helena was denscly covered with "A luNuri-
amt forest vegetation. the trees overhanE-
ling the seward preCipices and covering
Ievery part OF the surface with an ever.
green mantle. This indigenous vegcta tiOr
has been almost wholly destroyed. anC
b though an immense amount Of foreign
plants have been introduced and grow
.luNuriantly where the soil remains Other
parts remain denuded and barren and car
never again be reforested.
! The cause Of this IL plain and is a les
son 10 us In denudation II we can only
tlsarn 10. The rich soil formed by decom.
posed volcanic rock and vegetable depos.
Its could only be retained on the steel
Slopes so long as II was protected by tn,
vegetation, 20 which. In great part. Il
lowed IT, origin. when this was destroy
cd, the heavy tropical rains soon washct
Iaway the soil and left a vast expanse o.
Ibarc rock or sterile clay Any one will
Icycs 10 see can go about these islands ant
see similar results. The causes OF de
structlon have been at work a much les.
time than at 81. Helena. they are spread
over greater area, so they have not We,
proved as disastrous, but they will q,
II they arc allowed TO go on unchecked.
But IL Is not really necessary to mar.
shall evidences. The case Of the forests
W. the destroying hand is unassailable.
the point is TO profit by the lesson and
do something for Hawaii before 1t is toe
late. For many reasons our people dc
not want Island public lands to be ad.
mtnistered from Washington: but IN
less proper care is taken OF the re-
manning forests by the Territorial Gov
eminent there can be no other recourse
%