HILO >> The Rotary Club of Hilo and the International Student Club of the University of Hawaii-Hilo are planting high-value hardwood trees today in the Ookala Community Demonstration Forest, a 40-acre piece of former sugar land. Big Isle groups plant seed
for woodworkers’ forest
By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comThe groups are part of volunteer efforts under way since 1997 to create the commercial, educational and recreational project.
For Lisa Barton, coordinator of volunteers at the site, the short-term value is creation of a shaded, parklike coastal setting where people can picnic and schoolchildren can learn scientific topics such as plant identification.
For forester Mike Robinson, the long-term value, starting in 10 years, includes harvesting specialty woods to pump money into the economy.
As sugar went under in the early 1990s, the state Forestry & Wildlife Division began planting the land in native and non-native trees. But funds ran out, weeds including Guinea grass grew faster than the trees, and many plantings died.
In 1997, Robinson revived the project with a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Robinson is coordinator of the Hawaii Forestry and Communities Initiative, a partnership of nine state and federal agencies.
Barton and friends fought the Guinea grass with hand tools. "It was hard, hard, hard work," she said. Later they got a tractor.
The site is becoming a tourist attraction, drawing volunteers from as far as Fujisaki International School in Japan.
Community people already stroll the parklike area. Barton hopes for the day when a pavilion will provide shelter from occasional rains.
About eight acres will be restored as native rain forest, Robinson said. The remainder will be harvested at the rate of 20 trees per year.
Construction lumber is not the goal. "We're thinking craftsmen," Barton said.
Raw koa is worth $2 to $3 per board foot, Robinson said. With milling, its value jumps as high as $40 a board foot.
Robinson will tell owners of modest tracts of land, from 10 to 100 acres or more, how the state will share 50 percent of their costs in setting up similar hardwood investments on their property. He can be reached at 888-943-4335.
County of Hawaii
