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Saving native species when clearing land
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06-10-2008, 10:47 AM
quote: Mitzi (or someone!) - can you explain the difference between indigenious, and native in relation to the above statement? (being around the mangroves, I truly understand INVASIVE! ha ha ) -Cat
06-10-2008, 12:49 PM
DAMON, I am aware all the plants are non native but who the heck are the native Hawaiians?
vickiboe@aol.com
vickiboe@aol.com
06-10-2008, 12:52 PM
quote: I know you just didn't go there [}  ]------- Lower your expectations and be ready for anything.
06-10-2008, 01:01 PM
As far as lawns and clearing, I'm thinking a certain amount of clearing around one's house might be a good idea in case of fire. Not necessarily lawn - could be gravel or...? but something that might deter a fire from reaching your dwelling. I'm one of the homeowners who can't get ANY insurance on my place because it's not permitted.
06-11-2008, 06:40 AM
quote: [V] eia ko'u manao'o ia 'oe e vicki e aue noho'i e! aue kakou! nana aku 'oe ke kukulu maila ke oe ho'i no kau me 'oe e aue ana i ke aloha o ka aina a me na pua o hawai'i kulia e lo'a ka na'auao o vicki 'o ka mea i ho'op'i'i 'ia e mana'o 'ia no 'oia he wahine no na pua mae 'ole 'ia e ka la a me ka ku makani. [  !]malia paha o lohe aku perhaps they will hear
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
06-11-2008, 07:04 AM
I ask a perfectly logical question in a respectful way in English and I get back a reply in a language unknown to me. I will request an answer to my orginal question. Which palm trees are considered native to these islands? I know everything and everyone does not have be here since the beginning of time to be consisered native.
vickiboe@aol.com
vickiboe@aol.com
06-11-2008, 07:09 AM
Vickie -
Gumapac attempted to answer your question here btw - asking "...who the heck are the native Hawaiians" may not sound insulting to you, but it sure sounds like it offended Kani-lehua [  ]I'm married into a Native Hawaiian family, and I wouldn't dare ask that question of them. ------- Lower your expectations and be ready for anything.
06-11-2008, 07:26 AM
quote: "who the heck are the native Hawaiians?" i'm sure i am not the only HAWAIIAN who was offended by this remark. it's not that you ask, it's how you asked it! a more appropriate remark would have been to ask, who are the native Hawaiians. a matter of semantics? not to me. a general synopsis/translation of my previous post directed to you: OMG!!!!! here we are grieving for our land and our people. there you are, you know nothing of our plight. you should strive to obtain wisdom. the people of hawai'i will not wither away but stand tall. malia paha o lohe aku perhaps they will hear
"a great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."
w. james
06-11-2008, 08:35 AM
Vicki
Check out this white paper form UH. I was searchnig for salt tolerant plants one day and found this paper. It is a list of groundcovers, shrubs and tress and indicates if they are native using the codes below. n = Native or indigenous Hawaiian plant p = Polynesian introduced or “heritage” plant http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl/manuals-repo...erance.pdf [ ]Susan
Susan
06-11-2008, 08:58 AM
That's exactly right. These islands rose from the ocean floor (actually a geologic hot spot) and so were at once like blank slates. We're sitting very near the tail end of the Emperor Seamounts, a very long chain of islands, pinnacles, and seamounts, created by this same hot spot, that stretch from the ocean off of Siberia.
Because of our extreme isolation, plants and animals got here only by the most fantastic of coincidences - seeds stuck to bird's feet or in their gizzards, spores blown in from a variation in high altitude winds etc., etc. So it’s correct that everything that arrived here started out from somewhere else. The amazing part is that for all the already rare occurrences of stranded birds or floating seeds, it’s even rarer that whatever made it here could reproduce and establish itself. Based on the number of species and the age of the islands, scientists estimate that only one species successfully established itself every 20,000-50,000 years! Some of those began living here and didn't change much, so there are other colonies of them other places in the world that are pretty much identical (like hala which also grows in other parts of the Pacific). Those would be called natives, because they got here the hard way, without human help, but since they also live other places, they're called indigenous. Some things that got here on their own found themselves in a place where they didn't have to defend against the predators of their homelands anymore and so began to evolve and change. They took advantage of many different niches and evolved into remarkably different creatures than their original ancestor. The Hawaiian Honeycreepers are good examples. (I'm sure Les could tell much more about them!) These native species are unique and live only here - sometimes only in one little area or on just one island. These are called endemic. The Hawaiian Islands have the highest percentage of endemic species anywhere on Earth. When humans began to arrive they brought plants and animals with them, which we'd call introduced. I've read estimates between 22 and 30 species were introduced by the Polynesians, including taro, coconuts and ti. These plants were already cultivated (or originated) in other parts of the Pacific and are sometimes called Polynesian heritage species. Since James Cook's arrival the number and type of introduced species has steadily increased. The HI Ag Dept. says we now have 20-30 new species introduced each year. A small percentage of them become invasive - which is to say that they cause substantial harm to native plant communities, usually by aggressively displacing them. Interestingly, most of the invasive plants were intentionally introduced as ornamentals or crops, like strawberry guava. All of this adds up to make Hawai'i an incredibly diverse and unique environment. That's why it's always worth thinking very carefully about what you do on the land here. Sometimes it calls for creative thinking. If you're building a house on a forested lot, chances are you'll need to do some clearing. If you begin by identifying what's native and what's really special (maybe it's a rare tree) then you can situate your home so that you'll do minimal damage and keep a lovely, perhaps irreplaceable, piece of forest. Removing invasive plants will actually help things. Houses built with respect for the land are a lot more appealing to me, and their value is almost always much higher than your typical fully cleared place. Paying attention is really the least we "late-comers" can do for these plants and animals (and people) that made incredible journeys long ago and adapted to life on these islands against staggering odds. The only palms native here are the Pritchardias. They are fan palms and are now very rare to find in the wild outside of a few isolated places. P. beccariana is a tall one native to our windward wet forests. Malama Pono, Mitzi
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