Deal seeks to restore
Haleakala uplands
ULUPALAKUA, Maui >> A group of Maui landowners signed a memorandum of agreement yesterday to restore a former section of koa forest at the 3,500-foot level of Haleakala from Makawao to Kaupo.
The Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership encompasses an estimated 43,175 acres of land, including large areas that have been made bare by cattle and wild animals, such as goats.
Government officials said the latest agreement completes a protective ring around the upper elevations of Haleakala.
A similar agreement in 1991 established a partnership to protect the watershed on the windward side of Haleakala from Makawao to Kipahulu.
Federal biologist Art Medeiros said that, based on historical accounts, the dry-land koa forest, with a canopy as high as 150 feet, was once so dense a person could probably walk from Kaupo to Makawao and remain in the shade.
Medeiros, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and the principal organizer of the leeward partnership, said Maui was known in the 1700s as the source in the islands for koa canoes.
Medeiros said some tentative plans include concentrating efforts on the area between Kaupo and Nuu.
Medeiros said the Kaupo-Nuu area does not have the kind of alien species, such as miconia, that could hinder the growth of a koa forest.
State and federal foresters said the plan will include installing fences to prevent the destruction of the saplings by wild animals, including pigs, goats and deer.
Donald Reeser, superintendent of Haleakala National Park, said there are thousands of goats in leeward Haleakala and an unknown number of deer and pigs.
Reeser said he was optimistic about the prospect of restoring a koa forest, in view of similar restoration projects at Hakalau on the Big Island.
Retired state forester Robert Hobdy said a number of bones of endangered bird species such as the po'ouli and Maui parrotbill have been found in leeward areas, indicating the area may have been their preferred habitat.
Hobdy said restoring the koa forest could help increase the likelihood of endangered species increasing in numbers.
Scientists say the species Acacia koa helps fix nitrogen in the ground and encourage other ground-cover plants to flourish.
Ranchers said they are looking forward to improving the watershed, especially after several years of drought.