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MISC. PUBLICATION 217, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



extensively planted for wood and forage for livestock. Various spe- 

 cies of eucalyptus, native of Australia, have also been planted and 

 now furnish timber. 



The total forest area is a little over a million acres (1,031,840), or 

 about three times as much as the forested land of Delaware or two- 

 thirds as much as that of Connecticut. This is an average of 4 acres 

 to each inhabitant, as compared with 2 acres per capita in continental 

 United States. The forests occur on 7 of the 8 islands making up 

 the Territory and comprise one-quarter of the total land surface. 

 Four-fifths of the forest lands, or about 800,000 acres, have been 

 created as reserves, of which about 560,000 acres are in Government 

 ownership and the balance privately owned. Two-thirds of the total 

 is on the Island of Hawaii, while the remainder is mostly on Kauai 

 and Maui. The present forests are very greatly depleted, largely 



Figttre 10.— The forests of Hawaii are of the wet and dry types or regions. Forests occur on 7 of the 8 



islands. 



because of extensive browsing of goats, hogs, and cattle and severe 

 unchecked fires. Prior to 100 years ago the overflow of lava from 

 volcanoes was the only source of destruction to timber. The forests 

 of today do not yield sufficient products for the people, and timber 

 has to be imported. 



The forests are composed mainly of five distinct types: Pure 

 growths of ohia lehua, koa, mamane, and kukui, and mixed forests 

 composed largely of the above and koa, koaia, kopiko, kolea, naio, 

 pua, and other trees. 



The ohia lehua tree is found extensively in pure stands or with 

 some mixture of other trees, in dense junglelike growth over districts 

 of very heavy rainfall, such as northeastern mountain slopes and tops 

 up to 6,000 feet, as shown in plate 14. This type comprises about 

 three-fourths of the native forest. The tree at its best reaches 

 heights up to 100 feet and trunk diameters up to 4 feet. Koa, known 

 as Hawaiian mahogany, also forms pure stands and occurs widely 

 in mixture with other species. As it is a high-grade cabinet wood used 



