A fence has been built around some of Kauai's pristine forests. The idea is to preserve the wilderness by keeping out some destructive invaders.
The Garden Isle's Wainiha Valley is home to some of the oldest forests in the state, with native Ohia trees, and some 300 endemic plants, 29 of them on the endangered list. These trees also provide a good source of our most precious natural resource, fresh water.
"The forest is the perfect sponge for attracting rain and cloud and moisture to put good clean water into our streams and aquifers for our use," says Mark Fox of The Nature Conservancy.
But an invasion of sorts has taken place here, non-native animals that are threatening the health of the pristine wilderness.
"That's primarily feral pigs and goats in addition some weed species are a problem and feral animals actually contribute to the movement of weed species up into the forest," Fox says.
Pigs and goats dig up the ground and allow the weeds to grow in. So the Nature Conservancy has built a fence to protect some eight thousand acres of forests. One fence cuts through the Alaka'i Swamp, and another sweeps between cliff faces in upper Wainiha Valley.
"Getting a good fence up under, around the coordinated forest area and then removing the non native animals from the area really allows the forest, the parts that have been damaged, to recover and compete against invasive plants," Fox says.
Fox points out that the idea is to keep the invaders out. But hunters and hikers who want to make the trek to public land within the protected area can still get access.
"Most of our fences, when they do have areas that the public can access, we'll put step overs in the fences so that people can continue to get access for hiking, gathering, and hunting," Fox says.
Cost of the fence is $700,000, most of it funded by the federal government.
