It's a simple idea: The best way to save native birds and plants is to nurture their habitat in unbroken swaths from slope to sea, removing alien species and protecting "entire ecosystems," said Larry Katahira, resource specialist at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
While scientists have written off some of the low-elevation forests as too damaged by pigs, goats, cattle and alien plants to save, the notion of uninterrupted corridors sustaining the diversity of native species is a key one.
Instituting it is the hard part, an effort that requires cooperation among state and federal resource managers, private landowners and residents, particularly in regard to animal control. Still, it seems to be working.
On Molokai, hunters are working with the Nature Conservancy and the state on a test program, where donated helicopter time transports hunters to remote areas. The goal is to remove animals from pristine lands, while not wasting the meat from the kill.
Four private landowners are taking a similar approach to protect the east Maui watershed, opening lower elevations to hunters and using snares and fences in less accessible uplands.
Maui Land and Pineapple Co. has closed some of its best west Maui watershed to hunters, while expanding hunting access in other areas. The key is communicating directly with hunters so they know what is happening, and why, said the company's Randy Bartlett.
On the Big Island, Kulani prison inmates are erecting pig fences that will cut across the state facility, as well as forest land administered by the National Park Service, the state Natural Area Reserve System and contiguous acreage owned by Bishop Estate.
The fencing can be costly - the Nature Conservancy estimates it costs $35,000 to $50,000 per mile of fence.
But scientists agree removing animals from an area can result in dramatic improvements for native ecosystems. They've seen it happen in Haleakala National Park, where the silversword recovered once goats were removed.
The transformation is evident at Kulani. From a vehicle, both sides of a dirt road north of the prison look the same: dense, green, wet. But under the ohia and tree fern canopies, differences are obvious.
On the fenced side, oha-wai and painiu (the Hawaiian lilly) - what Katahira calls pigs' "ice cream plants" - abound on the forest floor. On the open side, these plants - an essential food source for many endangered birds - grow only above pigs' reach. Woody, alien plants also dominate the open side, while the fenced lands contain many more native species, Katahira said.
"If we really don't care about Hawaii, we can turn this into a pig pen and put everything else into Bishop Museum," said Katahira, who advocates establishing hunting areas on marginal forest that can be stocked heavily with pigs.
"Pigs can be propagated. And they're much more prolific than cattle. But if we lose the native plants and birds, they're gone forever."
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