Hikers, hunters propose trail fixes

Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part story on problems and solutions in the drive to preserve the Na Pali Coast Trail and the surrounding areas. The first part appeared on the front page Wednesday.

NA PALI COAST — Feral goats and pigs are trampling over the rugged cliffs and lush valleys along the North Shore, creating an unnatural erosion process that hampers trail maintenance and silts the reefs, environmental advocates say.

The damage caused by these invasive species must be repaired if residents are serious about protecting native ecosystems and preserving the world-renowned Na Pali Coast Trail, they said.

Hikers, hunters and assorted local experts recently offered solutions to better manage the state wilderness park.

Bill Summers, 42, spent the last 16 months voluntarily improving the most dangerous portions of the 11-mile path that connects Ke‘e Beach to Kalalau Valley.

He invested thousands of hours of sweat to widen and reshape sections of the trail that force hikers to almost literally hug the cliff as they skirt around exposed corners hundreds of feet above the ocean. After finding himself being forced to return to the same spots for maintenance, he realized the first step in a lasting solution is tackling the source of the erosion.

More hunters need to kill more wild pigs and goats, Summers said.

“They have no natural predator and breed like crazy,” he said.

If those populations can be drastically reduced, Summers said efforts could then go toward restoring native vegetation and implementing long-term maintenance plans.

Part of the problem may lie in how the animals are designated. Some see them as invasive, some as game and some as somewhere in between.

“Feral animals in Hawai‘i play several roles — they damage native forest, cause erosion and they serve as a hunting resource,” said Trae Menard, director of The Nature Conservancy Kaua‘i Program. “We believe it’s important to protect native ecosystems from non-native animals and weeds, and to maintain hunting opportunities in non-native forested areas. Decisions to manage populations of non-native animals must be balanced to consider multiple uses, the need to protect Hawai‘i’s extremely rare and threatened native ecosystems and the need to protect all lands and coastal waters from erosion and sedimentation.”

Mike Wysong, the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s natural area reserve manager, deferred comment to the DLNR’s public information officer.

“Although there are some similar characteristics, goats and pigs are not considered invasive species, rather game mammals,” DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said in a statement.

The Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee considers any ungulates, or hoofed animals, damaging to an ecosystem in great enough numbers. But due to limited funding, which comes from grants, goats and pigs fail to make it into the top 10 priority species list, Project Coordinator Keren Gundersen said.

One solution could be to legitimize unofficial volunteers like Summers, Hanapepe resident Arius Hopman said.

“Nonprofits don’t want to touch him because he’s illegal,” he said. “If we get a grant for three or four people, we could lick that trail.”

Hopman, an avid hiker, said he has researched options to make volunteers official, such as a state kokua partnership program.

“We just need to get some cooperation from the DLNR,” he said.

Summers was cited last month by state Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers for bow hunting goats along the trail without a permit and having a weapon on state property. They each carry fines of up to $500 and 30 days in jail.

The lone trail soldier has postponed that battle until his court date in January, opting to continue putting his energy toward solving the problem.

Charlie Cobb-Adams, who has worked for years in forestry and wildlife conservation, agrees these certain non-native mammals cause significant erosion but said the bigger issue lies with how the trail system is managed.

“Granted, if you have too much goats in a given area you will have a lot of erosion,” the Kaua‘i resident said. “As for the pigs, they are primarily located from Hanakapi‘ai to Hanakoa and they can be destructive for native plants but where they are most destructive on trails is the outer edge because the outslope of the trail is not compacted and hard like the middle of your tread. Also, when it rains the trail gets somewhat softer so the pigs will dig for worms, etcetera.”

The DLNR is doing all it can do to maintain and control the animals, he said, noting that the state allows archery hunting with a permit year-round at Na Pali Coast State Park.

Cobb-Adams, a registered Hawai‘i hunting guide, said the goat population is nowhere near where it was the past few decades.

“When I did the last search and recovery for the missing person in Kalalau, I found illegal camps with goat skins stretched out to dry,” he said. “The people back there have been poaching and living off the goats and dramatically kept the population down.”

Nicolai Barca, an avid hunter who also serves as the field technician for TNC’s Kaua‘i Program, also noted the poaching.

“An illegal camper poaches goats to this day with his one dog,” he said. “As a result, some of the native forest in Kalalau are recovering to some degree, which is great to see.”

He proposed hunting the goats for quality instead of quantity.

“There are a few ways that this can be achieved, such as opening the area for nannies-only, year-round, and have seasons for hunting billy goats,” he said. “Or, a hunter could be required to harvest at least one nanny before he can shoot a billy. In that way, there would be less goats, they would be healthier, thus better eating and trophy quality would be improved.”

Barca’s multi-pronged solution also involves reinstating a special rifle season, reforesting disturbed areas with hardy beneficial trees of low invasive risk such as monkeypod, setting up soil-retaining dams with rebar and cloth and then planting erosion control plants inside these terraces, and intensively reducing goats in priority native areas such as the back of Kalalau Valley and the Hono O Na Pali natural area reserve.

“All are severely threatened by erosion and overbrowsing caused by goats and pigs,” he said. “The same processes that eliminated the forests in other areas are at work in these remaining forests and unless drastic measures are taken to reduce goat numbers, they will also be lost.”

Cobb-Adams, who worked as a trail technician on Na Pali Coast from 1990 to 1992, said a trail specialist supervising a crew could employ proven techniques, such as water bars and grade dips, to restore the path.

“You have huge and deep gullies that narrow down, in some places to only four- to six-inches wide, that can twist or break an ankle,” he said. “Water is trapped inside a berm on the outer edge of the trail and has nowhere to go but down the trail which accelerates erosion. You always want to minimize erosion not maximize it and right now it is being maximized.”

Beyond Hanakapi‘ai, a valley and beach 2 miles in from the trailhead, there are places where the tread is only six-inches wide or less on a steep angle, Cobb-Adams said.

“Your single track (hiking only) trail width should be minimum 24 inches, especially along cliff sides where you can fall into the ocean and out to sea,” he said. “Vegetation from the inslope of the trail is forcing everyone with a backpack to walk toward the edge therefore causing the edge to break away which narrows your trail even more and with time you won’t have any trail tread.”

Many “hunting areas” are actually conservation lands that are designated for hunting to reduce the number of animals in those areas, according to RareHawaii.org.

“However, this policy has never worked; the animals reproduce far too rapidly to be controlled through public hunting alone and remote areas see very few hunters,” the Web site states. “The number and range of game animals on every island continues to increase, while native species and land quality continue to decline.”

Another environmental Web site, www.hawaiiinvasivespecies.org, defines an invasive species as an alien species (plant, animal or microbe transported by humans to a location outside its native range) whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

“Hawai‘i is in the midst of a growing invasive species crisis affecting the islands’ endangered plants and animals, overall environmental and human health and the viability of its tourism- and agriculture-based economy,” the Web site states.

Yet goats and pigs are not on its list of 46 high-profile invasive species.

Kapa‘a resident Gabriela Taylor, who has hiked Na Pali Coast Trail annually since 1971, said Summers, an ex-military man, should remain a part of the solution.

DLNR officials said yesterday that he could have legitimized himself by signing a volunteer waiver and securing the free hunting permits. But that aside, the officials said they remain interested in working toward a win-win with the community.

Taylor said she learned volumes about erosion and trail repair after spending time with Summers, a former Florida stone mason, on her most recent trek into Kalalau Valley.

“He explained that erosion has created undercuts on some of the trail ledges that hang over the ocean 300 feet below. One step on that weak portion could one day send a hiker over the edge to their peril,” she said. “The solution? Bill broke off those weak undercut areas and then chiseled back the cliff to widen the trail.”

Finding a way that the state can accept and honor volunteers, rather than punish them, should be the goal now, Taylor said.

“After all, don’t we all want the Kalalau Trail to be safe for hikers?” she said.