The dry
forest

Diverse dry forests once thrived across the low-rainfall areas of Hawaiʻi Island — the leeward side especially — and played a vital role in the life of the Hawaiian people. A little over a hundred years ago, broad expanses of healthy forest stretched across the landscape. Due primarily to human impacts, only a small number of scattered remnants survive, reminding us of the highly diverse community of plants and animals that once dominated these lands.

Dry forests sit across a wide range of elevations. High-elevation māmane forests host rare native plants and birds unique to the upper mountains, while many dry forest plants thrive on the coastal strand. Low-elevation slopes carry their own dry-adapted communities, like the ancient lama forests of North and South Kona. Because these ecosystems are now so rare, every dryland species is at risk — federally listed or not.

Hawaiʻi Island,
mapped

Almost all remaining dry forest work sits on Hawaiʻi Island — through Kona and Kohala, up the māmane belt of Mauna Kea, and south into Kaʻū. Filled markers are sites that hold public volunteer days. Outlined markers are the restoration areas named by Nāhelehele.

Other islands have their own dry forest efforts — the Auwahi project on Maui, work in the Waiʻanae Mountains of Oʻahu, and restoration on Molokaʻi. Extending this map statewide is the next step.