Puu Makaala in the Olaa Rainforest

Posted: July 2, 2009

I hiked in Pu’u Maka’ala Natural Area Reserve over the Memorial Day weekend, to see the giant ohia trees and hapuu tree ferns that grow in the ‘Ola’a Rainforest.

Pu’u Maka’ala Natural Area Reserve (NAR) is part of the much larger ‘Ola’a Forest Reserve and is managed by the State of Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife. To reach Pu’u Maka’ala from Hilo, drive towards Volcano on Hawaii Belt Road (Hwy 11) and turn right onto Wright Road at Volcano Village. Follow the paved road for a distance of about 3 miles, take the dog leg turns, and continue onto the dirt road until you reach the fenced forest reserve.

Pete Morton climbs a set of stiles over the fence to start our hike at 4,600 feet elevation through Puu Makaala. While a number of native forests on Hawaii Island have large gnarled ohia trees, the trees at Puu Makaala are even bigger, older, and gnarlier. I speculate that the rich soil and heavy rainfall — over 120 inches per year — have conspired to create especially large ohia trees and hapuu tree ferns.

Hapuu tree ferns dominate Puu Makaala. While most reach an impressive 20 feet into the air, a handful of giants tower even higher — up to 30 feet high – the largest hapuu tree ferns I have seen. I would guess that about 80% of the biomass of this forest is comprised of tree ferns.

The dominant tree in this area of the reserve is ohia lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). While the ohia tree in the photo above is about 2-1/2 feet in diameter, some of the trees are 4-5 feet thick and are just covered with mosses, ferns and other epiphytes.

While making our way through the native forest, Pete ducks under a low tree and hikes through native ferns along the trail.

Native forest birds thrive in Puu Maka’ala — an important bird catching site in ancient times. We heard the fluttering of wings and the calls of many forest birds in the canopy of trees above. I was thrilled to photograph this pair of apapane (Himatone sanguinea) in the tree tops.

One of the surprises in Pu’u Maka’ala are huge nai’o or bastard sandalwood trees (Myoporum sandwicense) two feet in diameter. When the sandalwood trade began to collapse in the mid-1800’s due to over harvesting, nai’o was sometimes fraudulently supplied instead — hence its name.

Naio is indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. On Oahu, naio rarely grows larger than shrubs. As a result, it was an unexpected surprise to see a canopy of naio leaves high up in the trees.

While hiking through the forest we saw a number of olomea trees (Perrottetia sandwicensis) which have leaves with vibrant red veins and stems.

One of the more amazing sights is when sunlight shines through an olomea leaf, revealing the entire vascular system of the leaf and its blood red veins.

Another amazing sight in Puu Makaala is this large ohia lehua tree about 5 feet thick that was toppled in the distant past but still lives and even thrives in the forest. Ohia are slow-growing trees – it takes several hundred years for them to reach this impressive size. Trees of this age have lived through hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural calamities, which probably toppled the tree.

Red akala berries (Rubus hawaiensis) greeted us along each turn of the trail. Akala is the native raspberry which has lost most of its thorns.

Some of the most extraordinary ohia trees I have ever seen grow in Pu’u Maka’ala. These giant trees have multiple side trunks which elevate the main trunk in a horizontal position off the ground. Ohia and other seedlings have sprouted on top these trees creating a complex scaffold of branches and limbs high in the air. These giant tree complexes tower over the floor of the forest and create a thick canopy of foliage.

Multiple species of trees – olapa, naio, and other native trees — have integrated themselves into this 3 dimensional structure in the air. Multiple trunks allow the structure to better withstand high winds and earthquakes. Note how the roots of other trees make their way down the thick “legs”of the giant ohia tree. Well over a dozen plant species live as epiphytes in this symbiotic community — painiu, alaalawainui, ohelo papa and a host of mosses and ferns such as wahine noho mauna, ekaha, hapuu, and kupukupu.

This symbiotic structure of trees, plants, and ferns occupies an area 40 feet by 30 feet on the ground and is over 60 feet high. As we admired the unusual sight from the ground we could hear the fluttering of wings and the songs of native birds. In all my hikes around the Hawaiian Islands this is the only place I have ever seen giant ohia tree complexes like this. Puu Makaala is an exceptional place to explore.

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SOURCES

He Mo’olelo ‘Aina” A Cultural Study of the Pu’u Maka’a;a Natural Area Reserve Distructs of Hilo and Puna, Island of Hawai’i, Kepā Maly, Cultural Historian & Onaona Maly, Researcher, Kumu Pono Associates

‘Ola’a Forest, Botany Department, University of Hawaii

Pu`u Maka`ala, Natural Area Reserve, Department of Land and Natural Resources

Pu`u Maka`ala Natural Area Reserve Management Plan, State of Hawaii

One Response to “Puu Makaala in the Olaa Rainforest”

Brooks Rownd says:

October 26, 2009 at 1:44 am

Have you been to the Army Road area on the Stainback side of the NAR? It has a richer flora than the Volcano side, though the pigs are still digging up and munching on everything, and the weeds are moving in. Some of the less chewed up areas have a spectacular understory.

Naio is one of the more common canopy trees in some of the island’s forests, where the conditions are right.

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Puu Makaala in the Olaa Rainforest

Posted: July 2, 2009

One Response to “Puu Makaala in the Olaa Rainforest”

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