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Kamehameha Schools and Nature Conservancy
Team Up to Protect Lumaha‘i Valley on Kaua‘i

Honolulu -- The Nature Conservancy has signed an agreement with Kamehameha Schools to manage the native forest in the back of Lumaha‘i Valley on the north shore of Kaua‘i.  Kamehameha Schools owns the property, which contains some of the best remaining native lowland forest in the state.   

“This agreement is our first with Kamehameha Schools, and it’s one that we highly value,” said Suzanne Case, the Conservancy’s Executive Director in Hawaii. “Lumaha‘i Valley is incredibly beautiful and worthy of serious conservation efforts. Our shared goal is to ensure the long-term survival of this natural and cultural treasure.”   

“Preservation of Hawaii’s native environment is critical to the understanding and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture,” said Neil Hannahs, Director of the Land Assets Division at Kamehameha Schools. “At Lumaha‘i, we have a chance to demonstrate how conservation and culture overlap.” 

Lumaha‘i is one of the large windward valleys on the island of Kaua`i, extending far into the island’s undeveloped central region, the Alaka’i plateau. The valley’s terminus above 1,300 feet elevation represents some of the most well preserved native lowland wet forest in Hawai‘i.   ‘Öhi‘a and dozens of other species of native trees cover the valley walls, while mämaki and other native shrubs and ferns clothe the stream banks. 

According to Sam Gon III, Director of Science for the Conservancy, Hawai‘i has already lost more than half of its original native lowland forest, defined as forest below 3,000 feet.  “The back portion of Lumaha‘i is as close to pristine as any lowland forest and stream system can get in the Hawaiian Islands,” he said. “There are very few places remaining where you can stand at low elevation in a river valley bottom and see native forest running from river edge to ridge top.  This is Lumaha‘i. Its conservation value is immense.”

But the need to bring protective management to the site is great.  Invasions of aggressive lowland weeds such as Australian tree fern, clidemia and strawberry guava coupled with the upward movement of goats and pigs from the lower valley threaten what is currently a gem of biological diversity.

“The back of the valley is in many places nearly 100% native forest and shrubland,” said Kalani Fronda, Asset Manager for the Land Assets Division at Kamehameha Schools. “Habitat modification is only in its early stages, but the time to stop it is now.”

 “The current scope and severity of damage from pigs and goats is fairly limited,” said Trae Menard, the Conservancy’s Natural Resource Manager on Kaua‘i. “However, based on experience in other forests statewide, the number of feral animals will likely increase to damaging levels quickly if we don’t act now.” 

Initial management efforts will focus on controlling priority weeds.  In the future, management efforts will likely include the use of community volunteer hunters to reduce pig and goat populations, and the placement of a fence to protect the most remote and undisturbed management areas in the upper portion of the valley. 

Contact:

Kamehameha Schools 
Kalani Fronda  (808) 523-6244

The Nature Conservancy
Grady Timmons (808) 587-6237