OLD GROWTH

I have been neglecting the mountains!!!! I'm writing so much about the ocean, it's about time the mountain forests get some air time.

Did you know you can come to Hawaii and never see a Hawaiian tree? I grew up on the island of Borneo, and when I came to Hawaii for the first time and saw the coconut trees, plumeria, mango, and banana trees, it felt like "home". The very first week after I moved to Oahu I met 2 botanists who had just started a weekly hiking group to go into the forest looking for rare endangered plants. Being the Nature boy that I am it couldn't have been more perfect. So the first hike I am excitedly asking questions about the plants and trees I am seeing and was sent reeling. No, that's not Hawaiian, or that, or that or that... so what IS? Oh not until you get really high into the mountains. Pretty much everything down at sea level was brought here from somewhere else. WHAT???? Good grief. What looked like "home" to me didn't actually belong in these islands! So as we hiked higher and they began pointing out the actual Hawaiian plants and trees, I got really sad. Why are there so few and why are they only in these remote places where most people would never see them unless they climb a 2000 foot mountain? Well I learned a lot over the next 2 years hiking with that group, and saw some AMAZING wonders that very few ever get to see.

Hawaii has the dubious honour of having the largest number of endangered plants in the U.S.. Aren't we lucky? Because the islands are so remote many things evolved here that live no-where else in the world. And now because of the way we have stripped the islands and re-planted with species from other places, the endemics are dying out very quickly. Since I have been living here there are several species that the last known plant died. So unless one is hiding somewhere, that species won't ever recover from what we have done, unless it evolves again over the next 10 million years. Why are we not paying attention to this? How many people come to Hawaii and know they have not seen a Hawaiian plant? Once I discovered where they were I had to go visit them every week. I'd rush through the lowland scary alien forest, and then ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...there it is...the Old Growth. Original Hawaiian forest that has never been cut or altered. There is nothing like it on earth. And I have found in other Old Growth forests as well, like in the Cascades of Washington State, there is a feeling that is so different in a forest that has never been cut down or altered. It is POWERFUL. All forest is beautiful. But there is something about this that defies description. You feel it in your soul. They are soooooooo spectacular. Many of the Hawaiian trees are covered in flowers! After living here a few years and hiking in the Native forest every week I was back in Minnesota visiting my sister and while driving around I kept thinking "why does this look so unusual?" Then I realized, none of the trees had flowers!!!!!!!! Ah Hawaii. (don't get all uppity, Minnesota is gorgeous too...just different!)

When the Polynesians first arrived in the islands there were no fruit trees and very few edible plants. For humans anyway. The birds seemed to be doing fine! So they started planting trees like the coconuts and mangoes, and clearing areas to grow taro and other crops. I have read that the first people here had a belief that the high forests were Wao Akua, the realm of the Gods. So they left them alone and just cut down the lowland forests. But then trade began and Sandalwood was discovered in the mountains which brought a great price. This blew my mind: they BURNED the forests to get it out more easily because only the heartwood was used and it wasn't damaged by burning the outer bark. WOW. So entire forests were burned and then only the Sandalwood pulled out. Why is this o.k.? Oh ya, money. Yikes. The areas were re-planted with fast growing trees from other places because the Hawaiian trees grow too slowly! Ayah. And so the Hawaiian forests shrank. And STILL when there is a landslide in the mountains or some place that needs to be re-planted it is done with alien plants, not native. We haven't yet learned. Sigh. Then animal ranching was introduced and more forests were cut, and STILL ARE being cut. Enough already.

On the island of Kauai you can actually get to Old Growth without hiking up 2000 feet. You can drive! So if you ever visit, go up Waimea Canyon. Most people do anyway because it is so spectacular. The Hawaiian Grand Canyon. There are beautiful lookouts on the way up, so look and ohh ahhh, but keep going. Then there is the lodge at 4000 feet where they planted PINE TREES. Why, why, why. Keep going. Drive to the very end of the road, and look to the right. Close your eyes and BREATHE. This is Old Growth Hawaiian forest. Never been altered. Spine tingling. Magnificent. Plants that live no-where else on earth. Some even just on Kauai! They never made the jump to the other islands nearby. If you are a hiker there are great trails to take you deep into it's beauty.

So how do we preserve what is left of Old Growth? If you read a previous blog about animal agriculture you already know that is the biggest contributor to forests being cut down. But there are many other reasons as well, so here is another thing you can do: buy re-cycled paper everything. I have read that there is enough paper already in the world that we never need to cut another tree again EVER. Wouldn't that be EXCITING???!!!! Can you imagine no more forests threatened EVER? Wow. That is if we are willing to use what is already in circulation. It means putting paper products in the recycling instead of the garbage, ALL of them, and then when you buy, look for re-cycled. They have everything now made from paper already in circulation, you just have to look. Paper napkins, plates, towels, toilet paper, office paper, the whole shebang. (is that a word?) If you can't get to a health food store pretty much all the major chains carry re-cycled products now. Usually just one brand in a sea of "new trees cut down" brands, but they are starting. Supply and demand. The more people that buy re-cycled the more they will supply. So be one of the people to create a demand for re-using paper! And when you visit Old Growth you can know you did your part to help keep it alive. YES!
Thanks for listening.