Young and old trees, both native and introduced, are dying in Koke’e.
And state officials aren’t sure why.
They speculate that a combination of drought-related and hurricane-related stresses are taking a toll on the timber.
“There’s a lot of trees dying up in Koke’e, and no one really knows why,” said Wayne Souza, state parks district superintendent in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
“We think it’s just because of the stress of the hurricane and the drought, because a lot of the old trees are dying, native and introduced,” Souza said.
Even some younger trees that seemed healthy are observed with leaves changing colors, followed by the trees dying, said Alvin Kyono, acting manager of the DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
“There are some that are dying. Why, I’m not sure,” said Kyono, who for several years has been in charge of the division’s forestry section.
While primarily the older trees are falling, there are some younger ones dying, too, including koa, pine and some eucalyptus, Kyono said.
He thinks the deaths are stress-related, too, mostly from the drought, and added that sometimes a black tree bore (like a beetle) attacks a stressed tree, which can quicken tree death.
Further, Kyono said survival of the fittest occurs where trees are growing too close to each other and compete for water, sunlight and nutrients. “It’s probably a natural process that happens,” he said.
“Some sort of weird fungus material” has been seen on some koa trees that have been harvested under his state permit, said Bill Cowern of Hawaiian Mahogany Company.
Cowern isn’t sure if the fungus attacks the trees after they have died or before, but is sure “it’s a serious problem.”
Hurricanes in 1982 and 1992 likely loosened root systems, particularly of the larger, older trees, and being denuded twice in 10 years is a traumatic experience for a tree, too, said Cowern, who is growing two different kinds of trees on around 4,000 acres of leased land near the Tree Tunnel.
Combined with five years of “severe drought” at Koke’e, tree deaths there were inevitable, he feels.
A possible upside is that there is a 10-year-old koa forest rising from areas left barren by Hurricane ‘Iniki in 1992, said Cowern.
The state began issuing permits allowing people to harvest certain dead and dying trees, as well as some in public areas that could pose threats to people or property if they fell.
“It’s really a salvage operation,” for dead and down trees, and for some trees that are standing but just about dead, “removed for safety concerns,” said Souza.
“Property and life we’re concerned about,” he said.
Even with a process that allows legal harvesting of wood through permits that don’t cost much money, DLNR officials are still finding people taking koa wood without permits in both state parks and forestry sections of Koke’e. There a few theft cases under investigation now.
“It kind of surprises us that people are still stealing wood up Koke’e. I mean, the process is so simple, it’s so nominal (the permit fee), we think, why are those guys so stupid?” Souza said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
