184 
PUNA FOREST RESERVE. 
Honolulu, June 8, 1911. 
The Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and P'orestry, 
Honolulu, T. H. 
Gentlemen : — I have the honor to recommend the creation of a 
forest reserve in the District of Puna, Island and County of Ha- 
waii, to be known as the Puna Forest Reserve, covering a tract 
of 19,850 acres of government land. 
The area in question is the tract of government land known 
generally as Kaohe, lying mauka of the homesteads near Pahoa, 
on a portion of which the Hawaiian Development Company is 
now conducting logging operations under a license from the Ter- 
ritorial Government, granted in January, 1910. 
It will be recalled thai in the autumn of 1909 the question was 
before the Board of setting apart this area as a forest reserve. 
But because certain of the area proposed to be set apart was re- 
garded as potentially agricultural land, which, after it had been 
cut over was to be subject to homesteading, the Governor thought 
it inadvisable to set the land apart as a forest reserve at that time. 
During the past year the area supposed to be most fit for agri- 
culture, that is, the section nearest the existing Kaohe Home- 
steads above Pahoa, has been logged. As the land further mauka 
is not deemed as suitable for agricultural use, the Governor is now 
willing to waive his objections and to set apart the portion of 
the tract that still remains uncut, as a forest reserve. 
To this end a new description has been prepared by the Survey 
Office, eliminating the area of prospective agricultural land. The 
area originally proposed to be reserved was 23,850 acres ; the area 
now recommended is 19,850 acres. 
The proposed Puna Forest consists of a but little explored tract 
covered by a more or less heavy stand of Ohia Lehua forest, in- 
terspersed with open lava fields, and areas of scrub growth. The 
logging operations of the Hawaiian Development Company are 
gradually opening up the section, but as yet much of it remains 
inaccessible. The value of this forest is primarily because the 
wood and timber from it is of commercial importance and can be 
sold. As pointed out by me in earlier reports, especially in a 
report dated June 1, 1910, that was published in the Hawaiian 
Forester and Agriculturist for January, 1910, Vol. VII, No. 1, 
pp. 29-35, the Puna forest is now at a point of growth where it 
is ready to be cut. All things considered I believe it was good 
policy to grant the logging license now in force. 
If this land is now set apart as a forest reserve it will bring 
the supervision of the logging under the Board of Agriculture 
and Forestry, and further, will make it possible for the Board to 
receive the money paid for the timber cut, for as soon as the land 
is set apart as a forest reserve, all revenues from forest products 
