Vandalism at Kamakou

E malama i ka lako honua no na hanauna a pau. Take care of the resources for future generations. 

I was disappointed to hear that a fence in the Kamakou Preserve was cut and vandalized two weeks ago.  The fences of Kamakou Preserve protect some of the last and best native forests on Molokai and are home to species found nowhere else on the planet.  The native forest of Kamakou collects the water that is used by residents across the island, which includes Hawaiian Homes, county, private and other folks.  

We only have 13 percent of the native forest this island once had, pushed back miles inland by fire and hooved animals, now mostly at the tops of the mountains, such that many people now never see what a healthy forest looks like.  The generations that will follow will need to survive on the water that remnant provides, so please malama our forest — don’t cut off its future or your own.

Mahalo to partners Plant Extinction Prevention Program’s Kristen Coelho and Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s Justin Luafalemana for putting the fence back up again.

If you see or hear of folks damaging fences, please educate them or send them to us. 

Mahalo. 

Russell Kallstrom

Molokai Program Manager, The Nature Conservancy