106 



Withdrawal of Kahoolawe from the Forest 



.eserve 



R( 



Pursuant to the published notice, which appeared in the last 

 issue of The Forester, a public hearing of the Governor and of 

 this Board was held at the office of the Board on King street, 

 Honolulu, on April 4, 1918, to consider the withdrawal of the 

 Island of Kahoolawe from the forest reserve in order to return 

 it to the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Public Lands, who 

 alone has the power to lease government lands, so that the de- 

 mands for increased pasturage for fattening cattle for the mar- 

 ket could be met. 



The hearing which lasted for 2)4 hours was well attended and 

 much interesting information concerning the past history of the 

 island and its present condition was revealed. 



It was brought out during the hearing that Kahoolawe was 

 not one of the water-producing reserves which are of prime im- 

 portance to the main industries of the island on account of water 

 conservation and w^as therefore a side issue in the main forest 

 work which confronts the Territory ; that, so far as the reforesta- 

 tion of the island is concerned, the algaroba tree has been spread 

 by stock and is now satisfactorily established by the thousands 

 on about two-thirds of the island wherever there is good soil; 

 that it would be a foolish waste of money to attempt to reforest 

 the bare top of the island ; that for the good of the island the 

 remaining sheep and goats should be exterminated or entirely 

 removed ; that the Board had attempted in almost every possible 

 way to accomplish this with the result that during the past eight 

 years approximately 5000 goats had been eradicated, but about 

 1000 remained, and it was difficult to induce anyone to clean 

 these up; that there is a vast area of pili grass valuable for fat- 

 tening cattle for the market and tons of algaroba beans on the 

 island going to waste annually; that under a carefully prepared 

 lease of the island with due restrictions and limitations good use 

 could be made of these and at the same time the goats could be 

 required to be exterminated; and that only the Land Office 

 could issue such a lease. 



In order to accomplish this it was necessary to change the sta- 

 tus of Kahoolawe as a forest reserve and return it to the list of 

 public lands which may be leased. 



^ This was accomplished by the promulgation of the proclama- 

 tion, appearing in this issue, which was signed bv the Governor 

 on April 20, 1918. 



It is now proposed to offer a lease of the island under the fol- 

 lowing conditions which have been agreed upon by the Governor 

 and the Land Commissioner; 



"1. The extermination immediately of all goats on said island. 



"2. That not to exceed 200 head of beef cattle be pastured 



