Function
A Giant Living Sponge
A Conserver of Water
A Reef Saver
Our defense against drought and flood
The Hawaiian forest is the ultimate watershed.
A Giant Living Sponge
Millions of years of evolution have made the Hawaiian forest highly efficient at capturing and retaining water.
Generally speaking, the more complex the structure of a forest, the more enhanced its watershed functions.
The Hawaiian rain forest, with its multi-layered structure - tall canopy, secondary trees, shrubs and fern layers, ground-hugging mosses and leaf litter - act like a giant sponge, absorbing water and allowing it to drip slowly underground and into streams.
A Conserver of Water
The many layers of vegetation blunt the erosive effects of rain, and once saturated, buffer the release of stored water, reducing immediate flow in wetter times, maintaining it in dry. Long after rain subsides, the forest delivers fresh water for human use.
A Reef Saver
There is a direct correlation in
Without a healthy forest to anchor the soil and temper the erosive effects of heavy rain, large amounts of sediment wash off our steep mountains and into the ocean, polluting streams, destroying coral reefs, and degrading coastal fishing resources.
Our defense against drought and flood
Perhaps the greatest value of the thousands of native species in the West Maui Watershed is the function they perform together, as parts of a complex, natural ecosystem.
The balance achieved among these species over the millennia has produced forests that can best weather the typical cycles of drought and flood in the region, and are uniquely adapted to the climate and soils of the mountain.
Because of the buffering effects of the forest, our human communities enjoy a more comfortable climate with a lowered risk of extreme conditions.