296 



ing to the Board of Agriculture and Forestry areas that are in 

 need of protection will be greatly appreciated, for much remains 

 to be done in this direction. 



When this protection has been accomplished attention will 

 then have to be directed to areas within the reserves which have 

 been so severely damaged that they will not come back into 

 forest unaided. Where the native forest, on account of a heavy 

 o-round cover of foreign grasses or plants, will not reproduce 

 itself naturally, artificial reforestation will probably have to be 

 resorted to. The problem of what species to use and how to go 

 about it will vary greatly in different localities, depending largely 

 on soil and moisture conditions and a great deal of experimenta- 

 tion must first take place before the cheapest and most 

 satisfactory methods are determined. 



It has already been pointed out that the native koa is a satis- 

 factory tree to handle in the nursery and is suitable for reforesta- 

 tion projects in certain situations where soil and drainage 

 conditions meet its requirements. 



The trees which have been tried out and found to be entirely 

 suitable for extensive use in reforesting our wetter forest 

 regions are very few. A lot of new work in this line lies befor'j 

 us. Trees such as those of the genus eucalyptus are not ideal 

 for this purpose because they demand a great deal of the soil 

 and also, as a rule, prevent a desirable undergrowth from coming 

 up in their shade. Yet, it is likely that introduced species must 

 be relied upon for use in building up parts of our depleted 

 forests, because such trees will take hold more quickly and may 

 gn^e better results than native species. It is very desirable to 

 secure trees which will seed freely and be able to reproduce 

 themselves naturally. , In the drier portion of the Kauai moun- 

 tain plateau at Halemanu, the introduced karaka tree from New 

 Zealand has become established and seems to be a type of tree 

 suitable for our purpose, for it forms a good growth and repro- 

 duces itself freely. Both the government and the H. S. P. A. 

 are now working on the problem and are hopeful of good re- 

 sults, although the work will necessarily require 3 long period 

 of time. 



In all such reforestation work it must be kept in mind that 

 the desired end is to secure a combination of trees and under- 

 growth which will form a ground cover which will serve efficient- 

 ly in preventing excess runoff and keep the soil porous so that 

 surface drainage will be converted to sub-surface percolation. 



In the drier regions or on the outskirts of our forest where 

 protection against strong winds is desired, -the fast-growing 

 eucalyptus are suitable for planting and give satisfactory results. 



In all of such plantings, however, where protection against 

 excessive winds and a permanent ground cover are desired, no 

 thought must be given to the use of such established forests as 

 supply forests. They must be retained strictly as protection 

 forests and no cutting should be allowed in them. 



