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Healthy Forests Success Story

U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station
Volunteers, Military, and Scientists Restore Lowland Wet Forest, Hawaii
2008

Hawaii Army National Guard staff, community volunteers, and U.S. Forest Service and University of Hawaii scientists planted more than 400 native plants last week on the Keaukaha Military Reservation to preserve a vanishing ecosystem.

The unique partnership is helping military Environmental Programs Division personnel restore native plants to a closed canopy forest on the reservation near Hilo International Airport, while scientists at the U.S. Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry study the best way to preserve similar lowland wet forests.

The Environmental Programs Division works to protect the state’s fragile environment, while supporting Hawaii Army National Guard training missions. More than a third of all plants and animals on the endangered species list reside on the Hawaiian Islands, and 33 rare, threatened, and endangered species reside on land managed by the Hawaii Army National Guard.

Lowland Wet Forest Working Group volunteers from the local community, University of Hawaii at Hilo and public agencies planted seedlings in the forest’s under story last week. Keaukaha Military Reservation staff used an on-site nursery to grow the plants from seeds they collected there a year ago.

Lowland wet forests are revered for their ecological and cultural resources, and once covered the windward side of Hawaiian Islands. They are now greatly reduced, but some of the best remaining areas are found in the Puna and Hilo regions where volcanic terrain protected them from human development.

"We know little of the ecology of these forests, including the past species composition," said Dr. Susan Cordell, an Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry scientist and one of the project’s leaders. "But, it is certain many of the plant and animal species once found here are locally extinct."

Cordell said native canopy trees on the Keaukaha Military Reservation site remain largely intact. However, invasive species like strawberry guava, melastomes, and feral pigs have devastated the under story.

The work of the collaborative team of U.S. Forest Service scientists, Hawaii Army National Guard staff, and University of Hawaii at Hilo faculty and students is helping us understand lowland wet rainforests in three ways, according to Cordell.

First, the study plots show how invasive species are affecting light, water, and nutrient availability. Second, they reveal mechanisms allowing non-native species to compete with native species. Finally, they show the potential for restoring these ecosystems.

"This work shows how a project using appropriate species can benefit both restoration and research of native Hawaiian ecosystems," Cordell said.

Contacts

  • Dr. Susan Cordell, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, (808) 933-8121
  • Roland Giller, Pacific Southwest Research Station, (510) 559-6327