A guide compiled by members of the Kula Community Watershed Alliance to support the health of our local ecosystem.

The Hawai`i Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program and Hawai`i Department of Health (HDOH) have developed this guide to watershed management.

The Māʻalaea Bay Watersheds Management Plan offers specific guidance about our area of Upper Kula and the impacts of erosion on our watershed, which ultimately drains into Māʻalaea Bay.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) is the lead agency in the development of the Hawaiʻi Forest Action Plan. This plan all forest land ownerships —state, private, and federal — and views forests as a whole rather than by programs. It will enable DOFAW to continue to seek funding for landscape-scale management and to integrate the many programs the division administers through one planning document. The plan identifies nine priority areas for Hawai‘i’s forests that include:  water quality and quantity; forest health, invasive species, insects and disease; wildfire; urban and community forestry; climate change and sea level rise; conservation of native biodiversity; hunting, nature-based recreation, and tourism; forest products and carbon sequestration; and US tropical island state and territorial issues.

At-a-glace information about forestry and forest management on State and private lands in Hawaiʻi, published by the Department of Land and Natural Resoruces (DLNR), Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) and US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region.

Best management practices are effective, practical, structural or non-structural methods which prevent or reduce the movement of sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and other pollutants from the land to surface or ground water, or which otherwise protect water quality from potential adverse effects of silvicultural activities. (Silviculture is the art and science of controlling the establishment, growth, composition, health, and quality of forests and woodlands.)

Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death is a new fungal pathogen that attacks and can quickly kill ʻōhiʻa trees (Metrosideros polymorpha). The disease has been recognized as two distinct species, Ceratocystis huliohia (ROD canker disease) and C. lukuohia (ROD wilt disease), with significantly different disease behavior– although both ultimately lead to tree mortality. It was first identified on Hawaii Island in 2014. ʻŌhiʻa is endemic to Hawaii and comprises approximately 80% of Hawaii’s native forests. It is a keystone species in the forest, and its loss will negatively impact watersheds, cultural tradition, natural resources, wildlife, and way of life in the Hawaiian Islands.

Koa wilt is a devastating vascular disease caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. koae (FOXY). It affects koa trees statewide, causing severe mortality in low- to mid-elevation native forests and reforestation plantings. To combat this, our partners at Hawaii Agriculture Research Center (HARC)—in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW)—has led a multi-island tree improvement program aimed at saving the species.