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community largely dependent on irrigation, the relation between 

 continued economic prosperity and the right use of the forest is 

 peculiarly intimate and direct. For this reason I consider it one 

 of the essential duties of my office to continue to emphasize the 

 principles that underlie the forest policy of the Territory to the 

 end that they may be well and generally understood. 



As I have pointed out in previous reports there are in Hawaii 

 two main classes of forest, which for the sake of convenience 

 may be termed the "water bearing forest" and the "commercial 

 forest." The water bearing class consists at present almost ex- 

 clusively of the native Hawaiian forests, situated for the most 

 part in the windward districts, covering the watersheds and catch- 

 ment basins of the streams that supply water for irrigation, power 

 development and other economic uses. The chief value of this 

 forest is that it protects the headwaters of these streams. Its 

 most important product is water, and the treatment indicated for 

 it is therefore the one which will best serve to produce the largest 

 quantity of water. For the Hawaiian forest to render to the full 

 its beneficial service as a conservator of water, it is essential that 

 the forest cover be kept strictly intact, for owing to its character 

 and composition it is easily damaged by the inroads of cattle and 

 other enemies. The method of management best adapted to 

 secure the result desired with this class of forest is to keep it as 

 a "protection forest," from which men and animals are strictly 

 excluded. Only by so managing it can it be made to yield per- 

 manently the largest share of its most valuable product, water. 



The other main class, the commercial forest, includes two sorts 

 of forest: (a) those sections of the native forest (for the most 

 part in the districts on the leeward side of the Island of Hawaii) 

 where from the nature of the topography and the remarkable 

 porosity of rock and soil there are no permanently running 

 streams and only occasional springs, and where, consequently, 

 the problem of watershed protection does not enter; and, (b) 

 the artificially introduced forests, like the belts of self-sown Alga- 

 roba, or the planted stands of Eucalypts, Ironwoods and other 

 exotic trees. The value of the forests of the commercial class 

 rests in the wood or timber that the forest can be made to produce, 

 or in some special benefit it may render, as by forming a wind- 

 break or shelterbelt for valuable agricultural land. 



It should be said in this connection that of the total area of 

 native Hawaiian forest the portion that can be classed as "com- 

 mercial forest" is relatively small. Considered on the basis of 

 area, or of money producing value, there is no comparison of 

 the worth of the native Hawaiian forest for wood as against 

 water. Wherever water is to be obtained, it is the chief and 

 most important product of the Hawaiian forest. A very large 

 percentage of all the now existing Hawaiian forests belongs to 

 the water bearing class. This area should, for that reason be 



