The "Eco" of Laughter

The Haha Plant Breathes New Life Into A Native Hawaiian Forest

Zento Hawaii Magazine
Fall 2003

Zento is a beautiful magazine covering the culture, mystery and magic of Hawaii. You can visit them at www.zentomag.com

by Michelle Myhre
photography by Tim Orden

Sometimes the smallest thing changes everything. A piece of native forest, where Hawaiian plants, birds, insects and animals are being destroyed, has found hope and sanctuary through the re-emergence of a little known plant Hawaiians call haha. Last seen in 1920 in West Maui, the haha was thought to be extinct for over 80 years. In fact, when it was discovered in East Maui, it took some time to even identify this strange little plant. Officially known as Cyanea asplenifolia, the haha has no value as a medicine or food. The gift of the haha is simply - that it exists. So why is the haha so special and how can a little plant save a forest?

Cable Ridge is one of Maui's last remaining native forests. It is a koa forest; a canopy stretching out towards Kaupo at the base of Haleakala. The ridge is a unique ecosystem occupying the edge of a wet forest adjacent to a dry land area. This gives the ridge diversity as it contains elements of both wet and dry forests, thereby creating a home for plants that thrive in each.

This aina (land), crazy beautiful and exploding with lush abundance, is a fragile area. Hawaii occupies only one fifth of one percent of the land mass in the United States, yet leads the nation in extinct and endangered species. It's an ecosystem that has evolved over millions of years without heavy competition. The plants and creatures that live here have few defenses as poisons, thorns, aggressive growth and copious amounts of seed were not necessary to survive here. Hawaiian plants focused their energies on growing huge green leaves, and producing colorful flowers and sweet fragrances to attract pollinators. As non-native (alien) species, like strawberry guava and Australian tree ferns take over, native habitats disappear with lightning speed. Animals also contribute to the loss of biodiversity. Goats eat native plants; cows stomp on them. Pigs dig plants up, making trenches where stagnant water accumulates, creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes which often carry diseases such as dengue fever and avian malaria that kill off native bird populations. Insects that pollinate the plants are also going extinct as rats, alien ants and wasps also hurt native plant and insect populations.

Then the haha plant showed up, and everything... changed. Its presence on Cable Ridge in Kipahulu, Maui, sparked revitalization and restoration projects in an area whose native habitat would soon be gone forever without it.

Steph Reeve, whose efforts at haha protection have inspired everyone from Hana High School students to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, tells how, shortly after the haha was finally identified, disaster struck when goats got to the only known mature seed producing haha plant.

"We went up and the haha plant had been girdled - goats had eaten around the bottom of it." Reeve explains, "They only took one bite inside of the bark, but that was enough. Six weeks later the plant was dead. That plant had flowered. It wasn't flowering at that time, and had produced seed so there were a few seedlings around the bottom of it."

Reeve knew he had to work fast. "First priority was putting individual fences around vulnerable haha plants. Pink ribbons mark endangered (and extinct!) plants on the ridge. Next will be exclosure fencing (fences that keep goats and pigs out) to protect the haha and surrounding plants, many of which are unofficially endangered. When we put in the exclosures we'll also plant koas to fill in the canopy and to re-establish the koa forest. In the nursery we have hundreds of little koa trees from seedlings collected up there that we'll put back," smiles Reeve.

The koa canopy is essential to the life and vitality of this forest and supports all native fauna and flora living there. The leaves of the koa trees create a quality of filtered light under which plants thrive and grow. Koa leaves falling to the forest floor create a natural mulch-duff in which ferns, flowers, tiny mosses, fungi and lichen are nourished. Smaller trees grow under the koa's protection, like the federally endangered Melicope ovalis, and ohia lehua trees whose bright red flowers attract native insects and birds.

"Think of it as an ecosystem and not just a breeding ground for food," says Reeve. "Without human intervention the native plants will be gone, all of them. They'll be totally wiped out... that's a lot of members of that forest, gone in 10 years."

But thanks to the emergence of the haha, human intervention at the grassroots level is also saving Cable Ridge's koa forest and other glorious native lifeforms that reside there.

According to Reeve, "Everyone in the community is interested in helping with this project. People call me saying we've heard about this, can we participate too? When you hike up the crater can I come along?"

"It's a tremendous amount of effort and in some ways it's just our generation creating the opportunity for future generations. Basically it's up to us."

Finally the haha plant has something to giggle about.

Original article URL: http://www.zentomag.com/z/Natural-Resources/The_Eco_of_Laughter/index.htm