Degradation and Recovery of Vegetation on Kaho'olawe Island, Hawai'i: A Photographic Journey

Abstract

Over the past five centuries, the Hawaiian island of Kaho'olawe has suffered the ravages of slash-and-burn agriculture, interisland warfare, severe overgrazing by domestic and feral livestock, and military training. During the 1930s, Bishop Museum personnel photographed portions of Kaho'olawe and documented the degraded condition of the island. Many of the same locations were photographed during the early 1990s. Paired comparisons of the photographs illustrate a remarkable recovery of the vegetation on the island. The recovery is attributable to early introductions of plant species for livestock forage, followed by eradication of the livestock, and more recent erosion control and revegetation efforts. Barring renewal of environmentally deleterious activities, the outlook for Kaho'olawe is promising.