The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-04-22
THE HAWAIIAN FORESTS
AND HOW TO SAVE THEM

the number of wild cattle on Mauna
Kca to be 10000.
That cattle did the first serious dam
age to the forest can scarcely be doubt
ed when one considers their great num-
bers and the extent OF the forest. At
very early day they must have gone
through all the accessible parts. The
more inaccessible and impcnetrable
parts remained intact till later. for cat
tie could only work around the edges
of these, entering little further each
year. But now in many instances they
have gone through the entire forest.
The character of the Hawaiian forest
jury by cattle. The tender, succulent
and much of it, especially le-ie, banana
for stock. Yet this underground is
ground dries quickly, and the shallow
rooted trees soon die.
Goats were introduced into the is
lands many years ago, and have been
particularly active agents of destruc-
ton. They are now found on all the
F.! important islands. Their work, though
localized, is more thoroughly destruc-
tive than the work OF cattle. Ridges
where they rendezvous may be dis
| tnguished for miles by their utter
barrenness and eroded condition. Goats
are especially hard on precpitous
slopes. They will lay completely bare
| places so steep as to be Stunned alto
gether by cattle.
Wild pigs, the progeny of stock in
troduced years ago, have done some
damage on all the islands. They tear
up the tree fern, seeking its roots for
: food.
Deer, brought to Molokai in the early
| sixties, have taken their share in the
! destructive work. Several years ago
they had increased to such immense
numbers as to damage the forest COIL
siderably by browsing on and trampling
down the underground and rubbing the
| bark from the young trees
Insects.-Following the attack of
stock have come other agents of de-
! struction Injurious insects have at
/ times appeared in numbers sufficient to
! dcaden thousands of acres at a time.
! Ohia-ai, which grows in dense stands
in low, wet valleys, was so completely
defoliated a few years ago as to be
almost ruined. Koa is periodically de-
folated. 1t has upwards of dozen
insect enemies which threaten its utter
extinction. Borers are even more COM
mon than leaf-eating insects. In nearly
all cases insects have been most severe
where the forest was enervated by graz
ing. Portions of the ungrazed forest
have at times been destroyed by insects,
but only in consequence of the head
way gained on nearby areas which have
suffered by grazing.
Grasses.-Many thousand acres of
forest land despoiled by cattle have
been overrun by rank-growing grasses
which have rendered conditions prohib-
tive of forest reproductions. Prob
ably the worst of these is Hilo grass
| (Paspalum conjugatum), which grows
2 to 3 feet high in the rainy districts
and forms dense mat several inches
thick over the surface of the ground.
Tree seeds cannot terminate beneath it.
| Another coarse grass of similar habits
| is the so-called rice grass (Maulike).
| But it is neither so common nor so
| prohibitive of reproduction as Hilo
grass.
In drier districts Germuda grass (Ma-
nienie) obtains such hold as to pre-
vent forest reproduction and even hind
err tree growth. Some of the forests
of Hamakua and kohala in Hawaii
! have died from no other apparent
cause than a predominant growth of
this grass.
Fire.-Fire has done far more injury
in Hawaiian forests than would be sup
posed in regions of so great rainfall.
The most serious fire within recent
years occurred two years ago in south
ern Hamakua. 1t burned an area fiji
teen miles long and two to four miles
wide, leaving unburned only occasion
al patches Trees, underground and
humus were generally completely de-
stroyed The forest was a normal one
for the islands, consisting of a fairly
heavy growth of Lehua and Koa, with
a heavy underground of fern and a
deep accumulation of humus. Ordin-
arily this forest could not have been
burned, but a severe drought prevailing
for several months previously had dried
it out to the point where it burned with
great rapidity, At the present time the
land is covered with fallen trees and
debris, and in places growth of weeds.
But little reproduction has as yet taken
place, and as practically all seeds and
Steu trees on lnt area were DulllCu,
there is no possibility OF immediate re-
production. Whatever growth comes
up on the land must come from seeds
carried in from other places.
Other forest districts, particularly on
Kauai and Maui have also suffered
from fire, though there have been no
other recent burns so severe as the one
mentioned above
There is distinct evidence of severe
fire upwards OF fifty years ago in the
southern part of llamakua. This fire
burned over a tract OF large, though
unknown, extent, II killed practically
all the forest and underground, and
consumed the humus, It's heat must
have been intense, for il baked the soil
Ia such an extent that at the present
time 1t shows as hrick-like LAYER
from ? 10 o inches thick In many
eases It burned the roots OF trees se,-
eral irrl below tbs surface The forest