Maui group to aid
native forest, birds
WAILUKU >> Nine Maui landowners are forming a partnership to restore a former belt of koa forest at the 3,500-foot level of leeward Haleakala from Makawao to Kaupo.
"We're kind of excited about it," said Donald Reeser, superintendent of Haleakala National Park, one of the partners.
Reeser said last week that he believes with proper fencing to keep out foraging animals, the native forest could return, along with endangered native birds such as the Maui parrotbill, once common in forests near Ulupalakua and Kahikinui.
A signing ceremony for the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Development is scheduled at Ulupalakua Ranch at 1 p.m. on June 2.
Landowners include the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, James Campbell Estate, Haleakala National Park, Haleakala Ranch, Kaonoulu Ranch, Nu'u Ranch, state Department of Land & Natural Resources, Ulupalakua Ranch and John Zwaanstra.
Art Medeiros, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said leeward Haleakala once supported the tallest and most extensive koa forests in the islands.
"Historical sources stated that these regions produced most of the canoes found throughout the islands," Medeiros said.
Medeiros said koa forests occupy only about 5 percent of their former ranges on leeward Haleakala.
"It is clear that without some conservation measures, the koa logs that are being harvested today and in the near future to make canoes are likely to be the last ones ever gathered," Medeiros said.
He said these regions were clearly some of the richest forests in the archipelago, and restoring them would secure the long-term survival of native plants and animals, and also Maui's watershed.