This morning, when opening the Honolulu Advertiser I came across the article entitled “Cut-down trees dumped alongside H-2″, written by Reach Mike Leidemann, at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com. It so happen that every Sunday morning I go hiking with my dog, and in particular I like to scout out places alongWaikalaniDrive
Valley, which goes from Kam Hwy, and underneath H-2 towards
Koolau
Range. I remembered that the medium section of the H-2 freeway bridge crossing Waikalani Drivehas been cleared of trees and brushes lately, certainly at the same time those famous Albizia trees were cut , mostly for no other reason than for a well connected tree cutting company to make a fast and easy buck, but this is my personal opinion. If it is really about erosion and liability, than the agencies in question should remove the Eucalyptus trees which are famous to drain the soil and create erosion. Albizia, on the other hand does just the opposite, its very large and solid root system keeps the dirt in place. It is also a favorite tree for a variety of birds. I also remembered that Koa (Acacia koa) and Formosa Koa (Acacia confusa Merr) and some other variety of hard wood was growing in that area. Some other people knew about this as well, in particular Bart Potter, a well known tree cutter and member of the Hawaii Forest & Industry Association. I was curious to know what happened to all those trees and went scouting the place early this morning. I was not prepared for what I discovered and would have never thought that something of that nature would ever be allowed to happen on this
Island. Every tree and brush was cut down, but how..Trees were cut down 2 to 3 feet from the ground, leaving hundreds of tree stumps like some hurricane struck landscape. It was clear also that none of the tress or brushes was ever collected to either mulch or bring to the dump, they were thrown all over the place. In some instances, the cut trunks or branches were just dumped down ravines. But what filled my heart with outrage was the fact that the various types of Koa trees and other hardwood trees have all been cut down. I knew those trees were no danger to nobody, whether to the structure of the bridge itself, not to the circulation above. So why cut them ?? I noticed that some cut trees had markers on them, either orange or yellow, but whatever the color, all those trees were cut down. Now nearly every school kid learns in school that Koa is a rare tree and its wood precious. But it seems that the agencies and companies most concerned with trees alongside our roadways do not know what are Koa trees, or what is a rare or precious wood. And the latter is only interested in the bottom line, not wood, really. All this leads to a wider question; isn’t there really anybody, amongst either the City& County or State agencies , responsible and competent to advise the hired tree cutting companies which trees to cut or not to cut ? Obviously we do not have foresters on our islands responsible for managed tree cutting, like it is the case in
Germany,
France and most European countries. But if nothing of that sort, State or City & County should at least show kokua, or be the good shepherd when it comes to recycling wood, and recycling shall not just mean “mulching”. For most woodworkers on our
Islands, recycling wood means collecting cut trees, dress its dried wood, and make some of the most beautiful pieces of furniture or Art out of it. And if anybody wonders what can be done with “recycled wood”, just visit the annual juried woodworking exhibition, or
HAWAII’S WOODSHOW in
Honolulu. City & County, and State should really set aside some space to collect and store some of the cut down rare tress and auction them off on a regular basis rather than mulch what could have been a beautiful Hawaiian Kou calabash, or a Koa rocking chair, or a
Milo table. Having said all this, I still wonder what will happen with those cut Koa trees…? They shall not end up as mulch. Please help !
