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Along the Northeast side of Kaholopoohina, at its base, for a long while now I have noticed an area that appears dead. I say 'appears' in that the Kaholopoohina puu is a fairly inaccessible area in the Kohala's that is only visible from a limited number of vantage points. It can be seen, when the weather is cooperative, from highway 19 in the area of the Mehau Ranch, which is several miles away. Am I seeing dieback? Does anyone know anything about the forest in that area?
Dieback or Ohia wilt? The wilt is still spreading like a wild fire, we see it now past hilo spreading towards hamakua. Where did this wilt start? Why has it been allowed to spread for so long? Why does it take more than a couple years of public warning just to send someone out to Puna to have a look?
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The large undeveloped acreage along Ainaloa Blvd (between Tiki Gardens and Orchidland) has many many many dead Ohia.
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Ohia trees sprout, grow up together, then die together... if they grown on newer lava.
thats also what is happening right now to all those huge Ohias in Kipuka Puaulu ('Bird Park' in HVNP) but for slightly different reasons, the trees there are 'missing generations' when cattle roamed the kipuka they stalled generations of trees, thus the older trees are now mostly dead or dying w/o the next generation ready to replace the canopy... now mostly only med small ones from the 1930's+ (after fencing and removing cattle/etc.) are the oldest...
the larger Ohias when dead will still stand for dozens of years (ie all those dead larger trees in the Volcano Dump Area, thus they all seemed to have died at the same exact time when in reality they die over a period of time, just dont fall down for a while.
another reason that stands of Ohia die is because the ground (drainage) changed over a few years, it may have had areas with sediment plug up drainage this turning swampy and the Ohia is not used to that unless it originally sprouted in that situation.
seen easily on a few somewhat boggy spots up on Saddle Rd especially Kaumana Trail/Pu'u O'o Trail areas of Mauna Loa.
another reason is drought Kohala is the driest spot in the US, especially over that last few years before this year.
100% natural for Ohia trees to die..... thats why they grow so easily and everywhere (its a 'weedy' native tree in reality)...
its name is polymorpha, meaning 'many forms' thus adaptable to any conditions over time, from sea level to last tree, hot to cold, wet to dry
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha
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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.
