Updated at 9:46 a.m., Friday, May 25, 2007
Experimental forest on Big Island gets $300,000 boost
Advertiser Staff
The Big Island's Hawai'i Experimental Tropical Forest, established in a historic federal-state cooperative partnership to be an internationally recognized forest research center, will receive $300,000 in initial funds from the U.S. Forest Service.The announcement was made yesterday.
The funds will be used for baseline biological surveys and mapping of resources, and for development or improvement of infrastructure needs such as buildings, roads and trails, a Department of Land and Natural Resources news release said.
"It's exciting to see the establishment of the Hawai'i Experimental Tropical Forest because it adds a missing component to our nation's network of climate change sentinel sites," said Forest Service Deputy Chief of Research and Development Ann Bartuska. "It will be the 80th experimental forest in the Forest Service network and the site is among the biggest, farthest west and south and with the highest rainfall."
The Hawai'i Experimental Tropical Forest was officially designated on March 23 when it appeared in the Federal Register. The DLNR and Forest Service have begun a 35-year cooperative agreement with the designation of two sites on Big Island — at Pu'u Wa'a Wa'a and Laupahoehoe forests — as the first tropical forest landscapes dedicated to forest and watershed research.
