Kanaele Bog Map (../images/kanaelebog3.jpg) The Nature Conservancy in Hawaii Press Releases Search All Press Releases Grady Timmons Phone: (808) 587-6237 E-mail: gtimmons@tnc.org

Rare Community Of Native Hawaiian Plants To Be Protected On Kaua`I

Lihue, Kauai—October 9, 2003—A one-of-a-kind community of native Hawaiian plants will be protected thanks to a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed by The Nature Conservancy and a Kaua`i-based subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. The MOU with landowner Alexander & Baldwin will allow the Conservancy to construct a fence around the bog that will prevent pigs from entering and allow the natural regeneration of the native plants and invertebrates to occur. Targeted invasive plants will be removed from within the enclosure.

The 80-acre Kanaele Bog, located in the mountains above Kalaheo town on the south side of Kaua`i, has long been the object of admiration and concern among conservation scientists. The bog, which sits at an elevation of 2,100 feet and receives an average annual rainfall of 161 inches, is home to several endangered plant species as well as the showy hâhâ-‘ai-a-ka-manu (Lobelia kauaensis), with its multi-flowered stalk of cream-colored flowers streaked with purple. Tiny endangered bog violets can be found in the bog along with carnivorous sundews (mikinalo) that trap insects on their sticky leaves.

"Kanaele Bog is the only known well-preserved low-elevation bog left in the state," said Suzanne Case, Executive Director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i. "This unique bog and native plant community has somehow withstood the invasion of feral pigs and invasive alien plants that have severely degraded most of the area south of it. Thanks to Alexander & Baldwin, we will now be able to work to ensure its protection."

"The Kanaele Bog area has long been an important resource for the company as a source of water for our businesses on Kauai," said Alexander & Baldwin Vice President Meredith Ching. "Through the years, we have also learned how distinctive and valuable Kanaele is from a biological standpoint, and we are pleased to partner with The Nature Conservancy and others to pursue our common goal of ensuring that this resource is protected for generations to come."

A bog is a special class of wetland maintained by high rainfall or groundwater levels. The soil is shallow, poorly drained, acidic peat (partially decomposed vegetation). Plants found within bogs are severely stunted. The challenging water-saturated, acidic conditions result in special bog-adapted plants that can exist in no other habitat. These signature bog plants distinguish Hawaiian bogs from other wetlands.

Hawaiian bogs are relatively few in number. The principal bog regions in the Hawaiian Islands are the Alaka‘i plateau and Kanaele on Kaua`i, Pçpç`ôpae and Pu‘u Ali‘i on Moloka`i, the Hana Rainforest bogs (East Maui) and Pu`u Kukui (West Maui), and the Kohala bogs (Island of Hawai‘i). The Alaka`i "Swamp," which occupies the central plateau of Kaua`i is not, in fact, a true swamp, but consists mostly of wet montane ‘ôhi‘a forest and small pockets of open bogs scattered throughout. All intact Hawaiian bogs are at montane elevations (3,000 to 6,000 feet) with the exception of Kanaele, which is Hawaii's only lowland bog ecosystem.

Kanaele Bog is located within the Wahiawa Drainage Basin of the Lihu`e-Kôloa Forest Reserve in the Kôloa District of southern Kaua`i. The Wahiawa Basin is characterized by rugged, mountainous terrain and is flanked by the Kâhili Mountains to the north and east. The drainage basin is an important watershed and source of the Wahiawa Stream and the Alexander Reservoir owned by the McBryde Sugar Company.

Kanaele Bog contains dwarfed shrubby forms of trees such as `ôhi`a, ‘ohe, kôpiko, ‘olapa, and kawa‘u, as well as the native sedge kuolohia (Rhynchospora spicaeformis) and uluhe mat fern (Dicranopteris linearis). But according to Sam Gon, Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i, many rare and unique plants are also found in the bog and in the surrounding Wahiawa Basin. "Kaua`i is the oldest of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, and because of its great age and relative isolation, it has a very distinct botany, with plants not found elsewhere in the archipelago," he said. "Kanaele is an ecologist's gem, as the state's only lowland bog community. In fact, in the U.S. National Vegetation Classification, it stands as the world's only example of a Metrosideros / Rhynchospora / Dicranopteris Mixed Lowland Bog."

Among the rare and endangered plant species at Kanaele and Wahiawa are a species of `ôhâ wai (Cyanea undulata), na`ena`e (Dubautia pauciflorula), kâmakahala (Labordia lydgatei), Viola helenae (a bog violet), and Hesperomannia lydgatei (a native thistle).

According to Allan Rietow, the Conservancy's Kaua`i Field Representative, invasion by alien plants, such as strawberry guava, pose the greatest threat to all of these species. Other threats include rooting by feral animals, disease, and predation by insects and rats. "Bogs are especially susceptible to damage from rooting pigs," Rietow said. "Pigs favor bogs because the moist soil makes digging easier."

Trae Menard, the Conservancy's first natural resources manager for Kaua`i, will oversee management of the bog. Menard, who previously served as the Conservancy's natural resource manager for O`ahu, recently relocated to Kaua`i, where he will take a lead role in developing a management plan for the Kaua`i Watershed Alliance, as well as strengthening conservation efforts in the Alaka`i Swamp and Lumaha`i Valley.

The Conservancy will monitor, collect data, maintain the fence, control alien threats and perform other management work over the 10-year period of the contract. Project implementation costs and labor will be shared by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Conservancy and other partners. Initial expenditures are expected to total between $80,000 and $120,000.

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