Conservation Priorities - Strengthening forest protection

Hawaii's native ecosystems once extended from the mountains to the ocean. Today, the overwhelming majority of Hawaii's native plants and animals realize refuge within the upland forests, in giant native landscapes scattered throughout the islands.

The Islands' native forests ar among the world's biological treasures, sheltering quite ten,000 native species – quite ninetieth of that ar endemic or distinctive to those islands.

Hawai'i has nearly as many sorts of native forest as there ar U.S. states, as well as the nation's solely tropical rain forests. ‘Ōhi'a lehua and koa ar the dominant forest sorts however all total, there ar forty eight totally different|completely different} Hawaiian forest and timberland sorts and quite one hundred seventy five different species of native trees, the overwhelming majority of that ar found obscurity else within the world.

Hawaii's native ecosystems once extended from the mountains to the ocean. Today, the overwhelming majority of Hawaii's native plants and animals realize refuge within the upland forests, in giant native landscapes scattered throughout the islands.

The Islands' native forests ar among the world's biological treasures, sheltering quite ten,000 native species – quite ninetieth of that ar endemic or distinctive to those islands.

Hawai'i has nearly as many sorts of native forest as there ar U.S. states, as well as the nation's solely tropical rain forests. ‘Ōhi'a lehua and koa ar the dominant forest sorts however all total, there ar forty eight totally different|completely different} Hawaiian forest and timberland sorts and quite one hundred seventy five different species of native trees, the overwhelming majority of that ar found obscurity else within the world.

But today, for all their biological richness, these forests ar among the foremost vulnerable within the world. Hawai'i has already lost half its natural forest cowl. Currently, quite tierce of the plants and birds on the U.S. species List ar from Hawai'i. once spiders, snails, and insects ar enclosed, nearly hr of Hawaii's total native flora and fauna is vulnerable, out and away the very best share of any state.

Destruction and therefore the loss of forest surroundings ar the first causes of species decline.

WHAT'S AT STAKE

Propelled by a way of urgency, the Conservancy has stepped up our efforts to avoid wasting these last stands of vanishing Hawaiian forest and therefore the native

People additionally depend upon native forests for survival. wooded lands ar our islands’ primary watersheds, provision America with many billions of gallons of H2O every year. Our forests shield our reefs and beaches from harmful run-off and sediment, clean and funky our air, and ar our greatest defense against flood and drought.

The Hawaiian forest additionally shelters thousands of native species important to the survival of Hawaiian cultural practices. The native forest provided a foundation for the Hawaiian culture, and therefore the uplands were command sacred as wao akua, the realm of the gods, put aside from wao kanaka, the realm of the folks.

CRITICAL THREATS

Hawaii’s native forests ar the results of a lot of years of evolution, however since the onset of human arrival one,500 years agone, their history has for the most part been one amongst loss and destruction.

While the historical impacts from agriculture, grazing, logging, and development ar liable for abundant of this loss, the bigger threat these days is that the destruction formed by invasive plants and animals.

Impacts by humans, as well as the introduction of wild  bovine, pigs, goats, rats, weeds, insects, and alternative invasive species, has rendered the islands’ native forests among the foremost vulnerable within the world.

Invasive species prey upon and destroy the surroundings of native species, contend with them for food and surroundings, and unfold diseases. Over time, they remodel the forests they invade, dynamic  them from native to non-native, simplifying their structure, neutering soil composition, increasing the danger of fireplace, and endangering our future installation.

WHAT THE CONSERVANCY IS DOING

The Conservancy is functioning with native communities and our conservation partners throughout the islands to safeguard our precious wooded watersheds. Our strategic approach is targeted on:

Safeguarding made reservoirs of variety statewide: managing the Conservancy's ten preserves, which offer essential surroundings for rare and vulnerable native plants and animals;

Building watershed partnerships: collaborating with alternative landowners to safeguard nearly one.5 million acres of wooded lands and therefore the larger ecosystems of that our preserves ar a part;

Strengthening forest protection: advancing new strategies to regulate invasive animal and weed populations, to contain and scale back their harmful impacts on native forests.