81 



Fortunately the fire menace in our water producing forests 

 is practically nil, except after extended droughts. The dumb 

 beast must be excluded from the forest by erecting barriers on 

 the reserve boundaries beyond which he must not pass. Only 

 yesterday, the Legislature, cognizant of the damage done to the 

 forest by marauding stock and recognizing the benefits to be 

 derived from absolute forest protection, on its closing day of 

 the session passed a new law giving the Division of Forestry 

 greater authority for the removal of stock from forest reserves. 



Wilful and intentional damage to the forest by man is so easy 

 of detection that it plays only a very small part in the matter 

 of forest protection. It is the unintentional damage done by 

 man in utter innocence which results in far greater damage to 

 the native forest. The carrying into the forest of seeds of vigor- 

 ous weeds and introduced grasses, which have the ability to 

 spread with great detriment of the native forest cover on the 

 leggings, shoes, and other clothing of trampers, may and often 

 does result in damage to the forest which vastly outweighs the 

 pleasure which the trampers may gain from their outing. 



This damage is absolutely unintentional on the part of the 

 individual but is none the less real. It may be minimized, how- 

 ever, by confining one's itinerary to the ridges where the ancient 

 Hawaiians found the best going in the mountainous country and 

 by avoiding the construction of cut trails. The seed of these 

 deleterious grasses sprout more readily where the soil is exposed. 

 Hence, the grading of a trail through a native forest and pre- 

 paring the soil for the reception of seed of a destructive grass, 

 w^hich is inevitably bound to be brought in by pedestrians, is 

 about the harshest treatment that can be given a water-catchment 

 forest area. Moreover, a side hill trail cut in soft rock, particu- 

 larly if arr^ple provision is not made for drainage, often becomes 

 the starting point for land slips that not only destroy the trail 

 itself, but do damage as well to the forest on the steep slopes 

 below. 



No one is fonder of tramping in our steep mountain wet 

 forests than I, but I so fear the unintentional damage which 

 I may do by carrying in grass seed which may sprout with 

 detriment to the forest that I consider such forests sacred ground 

 and enter them only when duty calls me there. 



To my mind the foothill regions and the open drier moun- 

 tains, where the wet native forest is absent, offer far more allure- 

 ments and attractions to the tramper. Here are found no 

 tangling masses of staghorn fern to clutch at your wayward 

 feet or to be burrowed under when they overtop your head ; 

 here no jungles of ie-ie vine retard your progress or offer a 

 helping but treacherous hand hold on the steep palis ; and here 

 no wet forests keep you chilled with damp clothing or obscure 

 the unsurpassed view for hours at a stretch. 



The foothills and mountain spurs offer an itinerary for the 



