Saturday was a sweaty volunteer day at the Kohala Watershed Partnership's leeward forest restoration corridor along Waiakamali Gulch. Weather was partly cloudy, hazy and hot. Got a bit dehydrated working out in the sun. Most people were planting native shrubs. I planted 4 large ones (oha 'wai, naupaka, 'akala and manono) and then climbed up and down Luahine Gulch to inspect the native flora. Typical trees are common mesic to dry forest types such as 'ohi'a, ho'awa, papala kepau, 'a'ali'i (tree form), pilo, 'alani, kolea, and in the more sheltered bits of the gulch there is some wet forest vegetation that came down from the upper elevations such as 'oha wai, kanawao, ala wai nui nui, and wet forest ferns.
I didn't get to cover much before finding a large banana poka infestation that I had to remove. The most exciting find was a native pala fern, which are a wet forest fern that's very sensitive to disturbance. The banana poka was covering one of the many na'ena'a bushes that are common in these gulches and I see nowhere else yet. It took me about 4 hours to remove the infestation and free the na'ena'e. I would have continued removing poka downstream for several more hours, but these volunteer days are always very short. When the clock told me people were probably waiting for me to leave I headed back across the pasture to Waiakamali Gulch. People were pulling out some poka there, and I took out a few vines. I found a hedyotis acuminata just before we left, which is the first wild one I've been able to find. Apparently they're pretty common in these gulches.
Leeward Kohala is all cattle pastures. The deforestation is very old, and nearly complete except for in the shelter of the narrow gulches. Birds were limited to eurasian skylark, house finch, Japanese white-eye and 'amakihi. I don't recall any 'apapane today. There was one game bird which was either a ring-neck pheasant or a (black?) francolin.
On the way back over the Saddle it was very rainy. My decision to do the volunteer day was difficult because I really want to search for more rare plants on the Saddle, but obviously this would not have been the best day to search.
I didn't get to cover much before finding a large banana poka infestation that I had to remove. The most exciting find was a native pala fern, which are a wet forest fern that's very sensitive to disturbance. The banana poka was covering one of the many na'ena'a bushes that are common in these gulches and I see nowhere else yet. It took me about 4 hours to remove the infestation and free the na'ena'e. I would have continued removing poka downstream for several more hours, but these volunteer days are always very short. When the clock told me people were probably waiting for me to leave I headed back across the pasture to Waiakamali Gulch. People were pulling out some poka there, and I took out a few vines. I found a hedyotis acuminata just before we left, which is the first wild one I've been able to find. Apparently they're pretty common in these gulches.
Leeward Kohala is all cattle pastures. The deforestation is very old, and nearly complete except for in the shelter of the narrow gulches. Birds were limited to eurasian skylark, house finch, Japanese white-eye and 'amakihi. I don't recall any 'apapane today. There was one game bird which was either a ring-neck pheasant or a (black?) francolin.
On the way back over the Saddle it was very rainy. My decision to do the volunteer day was difficult because I really want to search for more rare plants on the Saddle, but obviously this would not have been the best day to search.
