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(Copy) 



Honolulu, August 23, 1913. 



Kealia Forest Reserve. Kauai. 



Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, Honolulu, 

 Hawaii. 



Gentlemen : — The purpose of this report is to recommend the 

 elimination from the Kealia Forest Reserve, District of Kawai- 

 hau. Island of Kauai, of a portion of the government lands of 

 Kamalomaloo and Anahola, lying on the upland hetween the 

 Kaneha Reservoir and the present forest reserve boundary line 

 across those lands. The new line passes just mauka of a pro- 

 posed reservoir on Anahola in a lateral gulch on a plateau above 

 the Anahola stream. By pushing the boundary mauka from its 

 present location, the size of the reserve is reduced from 9935 to 

 9050 acres. The area to be taken out of the reserve is now open 

 grass land with only a few scattering individual trees. It is 

 crossed by three or four small gulches that are in part lined with 

 shrubs, ferns and other low growing vegetation. But the reloca- 

 tion of the line brings the reserve boundary to what may prop- 

 erly now be considered as the permanent forest line. 



When the Kealia Forest Reserve was created, in March, 1906, 

 this area was included in the reserve because it was then ex- 

 pected that there would be put into operation a somewhat elab- 

 orate tree-planting proposition, suggested by Mr. George Fair- 

 child, then manager of the Makee Sugar Company, which was 

 to be carried out by his company. The argument was that this 

 land was not suitable for agriculture, the soil being too heavy 

 and cold, and further that it would be of more benefit to have 

 it planted in trees rather than used for grazing. But the tree 

 planting never was consummated, and now conditions on Kauai 

 have so changed that all available grazing land is urgently needed. 

 As the essential purpose in all government land work is to put 

 each tract to the use for which it is best adapted, it seems wise 

 to eliminate this particular section from the forest reserve and 

 let it be used in other ways. If the suggested modification is ap- 

 proved by this Board, it is proposed by the Land Office, after 

 the Governor has issued the proclamation changing the boundary, 

 to lease the area taken out of the reserve, with the requirement 

 that a fence be built and maintained on the new line. There is a 

 clause in the present leases of the Anahola and Kamalomaloo 

 lands that requires the construction of a fence on the present for- 

 est reserve boundary. Owing to the fact that this proposed 

 change was pending, that fence has not been built. The fencing 

 of the proposed line will effectively prevent stock from getting 

 into the dense forest mauka. 



