Saving the valley

Wainiha Valley on Kauai and part of the Alakai summit plateau have been turned into a private nature preserve

Kauai's remote Wainiha Valley and a portion of the Alakai wilderness are now the state's third-largest private nature preserve, the Nature Conservancy and Alexander & Baldwin announced yesterday.

The 7,050-acre parcel of A&B land includes a summit region of Mount Waialeale, one of the wettest areas on Earth; Hinalele Falls; and acres of rare, intact ecosystems in Wainiha Valley.

The rugged valley and summit plateau are home to more than 100 plants that exist only in Hawaii, 46 of which are only on the island of Kauai, and rare and endangered Hawaiian forest birds, the 'akikiki, akeke'e, 'apapane, 'amahiki and 'elepaio.

"It would be hard to overestimate the importance of these lands to Hawaii," Suzanne Case, the Conservancy's Hawaii executive director, said at A&B's Honolulu offices.

"It is a wilderness area almost beyond words, with an incredible biological diversity and sheer beauty," Case said. "It's just a wonderful place to be able to protect."

A 10-year agreement lets the Conservancy manage the wild lands, which will mostly involve strategically fencing out feral pigs and working to reduce the presence of Australian tree ferns, said Trae Menard, the Conservancy's Kauai program director.

The towering ferns shade out and overcome native Hawaiian plants, much like miconia, and have begun to infiltrate the valley.

"We are very pleased to have the Nature Conservancy actively manage these lands, before they get to a place where irreversible damage can be done," said Allen Doane, A&B chairman and CEO. The A&B Foundation also is giving the Conservancy $100,000 over four years to use "in any way they see fit," Doane said. "We trust them."

When Menard and botanist Ken Wood of the National Tropical Botanical Garden helicoptered into Wainiha Valley in 2004, they found a native mint plant previously thought to be extinct.

The new preserve encompasses a "density of rare plants that occur only on Kauai that is remarkable," Menard said. "If they are lost from there, they are lost from the planet."

In addition to its biological worth, the preserve also is culturally important, said Sam Gon III, a Conservancy senior scientist and cultural adviser. The original "fragrant laua'e" fern of many Kauai hula chants still thrives in Wainiha Valley, he noted.

Since the early 1900s, a non-native laua'e has been "hanai'ed" into use by hula halau because the real thing was no longer available, Gon said.

The new preserve agreement continues extremely limited access to the remote and rugged area. However, hikers who take Alakai Trail can look down on the valley at Kilohana Lookout, Gon noted.

Water from Wainiha Valley powers the 101-year-old Wainiha Hydroelectric Plant, which still supplies electricity on Kauai, and recharges several aquifers.