42-foot redwood
log bane, gift
to Hanauma
It caused minor damage
By Greg Ambrose
to coral, but will be used for
park benches, tables
Special to the Star-BulletinTHE ocean provided an unexpected gift to Hanauma Bay Nature Park Monday when a 42-foot redwood log washed ashore.
City tree-trimming crews quickly whacked the massive specimen into manageable 7- to 9-foot lengths, which are slated to become benches and picnic tables, according to park director Alan Hong.
Lifeguards spotted the unwelcome guest Oct. 15, and for more than two weeks the visitor seemed more bane than boon as currents and waves nudged the saltwater-soaked, 5-ton log into the reef, the marine preserve's most precious resource.
The city quickly sent a bulldozer to the park to pull the log ashore if it washed close to the beach as anticipated.
Most park visitors were oblivious to the havoc wrought by the submerged log, which joined other flotsam and jetsam in the Witches' Brew area in the south portion of the bay. But when waves washed the log onto the reef flat Oct. 30, people began to take notice.
A few sharp-eyed bay regulars had noticed the log soon after it first arrived, and called Sea Grant Extension Service agent Chris Woolaway to express their concern that the log was destroying the reef.
Woolaway called the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and city agencies and was outraged to learn that they planned to wait until Nov. 10 to try to remove the log from Hanauma Bay.
"It's just wrong," she said. "The message is, we believe in protecting the environment when it's convenient."
Hong was well aware of the log's destructive potential, and solicited help from the military, as well as the state.
"The Marines wanted to help, but their helicopters were being worked on," Hong said. "The Coast Guard couldn't help, neither could the Army or Navy."
So Hong devised a plan with the state to bring in one of their conservation boats during the high tide on Nov. 10 when the park was closed and no visitors were in the water.
Late Sunday evening, those plans were rendered moot when the high tide floated the log off the reef and close to shore. Monday morning a bulldozer operator looped a chain around the log's 4-foot diameter trunk and hauled it to shore.
"Logs float over here all the time, but this is the first I remember one coming into Hanauma Bay," Hong said.
The bulldozer operator told him that ever since a log killed someone at Ewa Beach 20 years ago, the city quickly dispatches bulldozers whenever one is sighted near shore.
Hong and city parks specialist Robin Bond went out to record the log's damage with an underwater camera, and found a narrow corridor of broken coral and algae scraped off the reef.
"The algae was already growing back, and fish were having a field day, scooping up worms and crustaceans that were exposed by the broken coral," Hong said.
Responding to criticism of his apparent inaction, Hong said if a log showed up in Hanauma Bay tomorrow, he would follow the same procedure, calling the military and state for help.
Before the city crew could cut the log down to size, marine biologist Scott Godwin arrived from the Bishop Museum to collect samples of the hitchhikers the log picked up on its journey -- an array of worms, crabs and barnacles.
"This is the typical way organisms get to Hawaii," Godwin said. "This is how they arrived before people came here."
