Lyon Arboretum
is a unique resource
that must be saved

Editor's note: The Lyon Arboretum, a unit of the University of Hawaii system, conducts research, instruction and public service in tropical biology and horticulture. The only university arboretum in the United States located in a tropical rain forest, it contains one of the largest collections of palms of any botanical garden in the world and includes greenhouses, classrooms and an herbarium. The university closed the arboretum to the public last month, saying the 50-year-old buildings are termite ridden and unsafe.

The closure of the Lyon Arboretum to the general public is a misguided decision that surely affects thousands of dedicated amateur botanists from across the state of Hawaii and from around the world.

Our contacts with the Lyon Arboretum in that mystical upper valley of Manoa have been nothing but positive over the decades. On weekends hundreds of volunteers drive up and fan out under expert guidance in rain and shine to work hard to plant native flora, weed out invasive plants at no cost to the Arboretum, maintain the hundreds of miles of almost sacred trails, and to provide a splendid place to communicate with nature in a pristine setting that refreshes the soul and spirit.

The good spirits of thousands of volunteers surely linger among the majestic trees, that are duplicated nowhere else in Hawaii or the nation for that matter.

The dedicated permanent and temporary workers and scientists at the Lyon Arboretum many of whom have been at the Arboretum for decades surely deserve all the wonderful support they so sorely need.

The temporary closing of the Lyon Arboretum can be written off to perhaps a series of misunderstandings and bottlenecks in communication at various levels of the University of Hawaii Administration and at other interested parties. But those misunderstandings surely are not enough justification to hold the Lyon Arboretum itself hostage to this misguided temporary closure.

Besides both of us being alumni of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, my wife and I have hundreds of hours of fond memories attached to the Lyon Arboretum at the Place in the Clouds.

We therefore urge all of those people involved in and affected by the closure to come together to make "things clean and good" for all of us "ancient ones" as well as the keiki of the present and the future. Everyone who has ever been up there in that magic spot called Lyon Arboretum will ever forget the wonderful experience. It truly belongs to all the people of Hawaii and beyond.

Let's get all parties together and save the Lyon Arboretum for all of us!