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What are the trees in Lava Tree State Park that have fallen and have been sectioned to allow the trails to pass through them?
I was under the impression that these were Albizia trees, but the species cited to be in Puna is cited as only growing up to 30 meters in Height with a 1 meter diameter trunk... that's merely a small fraction in size to that of what's laying on it's side at Lava Tree State park.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
I thought those were monkeypods that they took down a few years ago, but could be wrong. I remember going there and seeing massive monkeypod slaughter.
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Yep Kathy...
It does appear they are the Giant Monkey Pod Trees (Albizia Saman introduced in 1847) which does not appear to be the tree on the invasive list by the USDA forestry department which is the Albizia Falcataria.
I can't see all the alarm with regard to house dangers if we're talking Albizia Falcataria at perhaps 100' tall and a 36" diameter trunk. Seems typical for trees around houses.
The Monkey Pod Tree on the other hand is the one I would be fearful of with regard to crushing a house with 9' diameter trunks! That's a house crusher for sure (even a branch!).
So technically these are both Albizia but the bigger one does not appear on the invasive list?
After reading more about the monkey pod tree... it doesn't add up either. Those trees only get to about 60' in height.
What ever is in Lava Tree State Park and parts of Leilani Estates doesn't appear to make sense with regard to the cited species. These trees are 8 to 10 times more massive than what's cited for the species.
The reason for my inquiry is that we happen to have one Albizia tree but it's just inside our parcel line about 400'-500' from where our house is to be located (no concern there). It could potentially someday fall on our driveway... maybe, but it would have to grow another 100' taller still to potentially do that. It's only about 50' tall now. The others are still scrub size and most I've already cleared out (1/2 dozen). I'm not concerned about new ones cause we'll hack those away as soon as they appear. I'm just trying to figure out if these trees get that big when they fight for light or if its something like they are on steroids when growing in Puna. If it just a light thing... the big one we have now has no competition.
E ho'a'o no i pau kuhihewa.
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Those were all Molucca albizia.... fast growing & all. Those trees are all around the park area still. The decision to remove was based on the coqoui habitat & damages the trees were doing to the park grounds; a few branches damaged the bath, cars & narrowly missed visitors, so they were cut. CTAHR link on the project:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/coqui/clear_monument.asp
