Dieback Near Kaholopoohina?

[Midnight Rambler]

You can distinguish between dieback and ohia wilt (aka rapid ohia death) visually. ROD causes the trees to die so quickly that the leaves stay on the tree, usually for quite a while, so that even from a distance they have a red-brown color. The natural dieback that has occurred in other places like along Mauna Loa Road and that you can see the past effect of along the Saddle Road is slower so the leaves drop off, and the trees are left as skeletal branches.