Timber inventory
finds far more
than expected
The Big Island alone has
By Rod Thompson
200 million board-feet
Star-BulletinHILO -- State officials have identified more than 200 million board-feet of nonnative timber growing on state lands on the Big Island, double the amount of a previous estimate.
Inventories done by a state crew in the Waiakea forest near Hilo and in Hamakua provided the new information, said Mike Constantinides, head of the inventory program.
Officials are trying to create a new timber industry throughout the state, which would harvest and market the wood on a sustainable basis -- meaning that it would continue for many years and new trees would be planted as mature trees are cut.
A four-person crew has been working for five weeks on Kauai, primarily in the Kokee area, to find out how much nonnative timber is there. They have another four to six weeks of work, Constantinides said.
Among the trees available are eucalyptus, Norfolk pine, Australian red cedar, tropical ash and a tree that officials are starting to call Hawaiian maple, although it originated in Australia and is more commonly known as Queensland maple.
In an attempt to explain the scale of the Big Island forests, a statement from the Department of Land and Natural Resources says 200 million board-feet is equal to the wood in about 15,000 houses.
But Michael Robinson, coordinator of the 24-agency Hawaii Forestry and Communities Initiative, said little of the timber would be used for structural lumber.
"It wouldn't pay to make two-by-fours," he said.
Instead, the wood might be used for decorative work like moldings, special plywoods, flooring, and wood for crafts, he said.
To ensure that commercial proposals are reasonable, the Board of Land and Natural Resources recently approved a Waiakea Forest Management plan that provides guidelines for assessing proposals from private industry.
If all goes smoothly, leases could be signed and harvesting started by March or April, Robinson said.
The guidelines call for industry to create "value added" products, not just raw materials, and to do so locally, Robinson said.
