Eating Hawaii invasive species

[MarkP]

A century ago the mountains on Oahu and probably other islands would probably have looked like an alien landscape to those of us who know them today due to completely unrestricted grazing by feral and introduced ungulates. The negative impact on watersheds was recognized and rather no-holds-barred eradication efforts were made which reversed the trend. Then in the 60s priorities changed from managing the watershed to managing the game for hunting, much to the dismay of forestry officials. Cut to the modern era when hunters tried to introduce a notoriously damaging species, axis deer, here on Hawaii, and all across the mainland feral pigs are spreading with sometimes devastating consequences for both agriculture and native species in part because hunters are intentionally spreading them. Here in Hawaii there are stories of areas that have been fenced off to protect native forest from pigs, where somebody has gone in and cut the fence.

Hunters are actually part of the problem.