Kaua`i’s Rare Plants Need Protection from Goats
On San Clemente Island off Southern California, the problem was simple: goats were eating the myriad of endemic species almost to extinction. The Navy, which was managing the area, set forth on a major goat eradication effort. Almost all herds were hunted until only a few remained. The last hiding populations were found with the release of a few “Judas” goats outfitted with radio tracking collars that disclosed their location when the collared goats joined up with the remaining herds. Most goats were eradicated, and the native species came back.
Regretfully, no such simple solutions exist for Hawai`i. Goats are present on all the major Hawaiian islands except Ni`ihau and Lana`i, and their management is enormously complex. Consider for example, the famous Na Pali Coast of Kaua`i.
If you flip through any in-flight magazine or pick up a travel brochure for Hawai`i, you’ll be hit with more pictures of Na Pali Coast than any other attraction. If you have not seen its sheer cliffs and gorgeously chiseled valleys, you are missing out on one of Hawai`i’s major natural wonders. Hanakapi`ai and Kalalau valleys are the main destinations, complete with cascades down the steep and wonderfully high jutting cliffs and white sand beaches.
Part of the goat equation in Na Pali is the large number of nature lovers – often tourists – who are drawn to the fabulous beauty of this place. This makes getting a camping permit highly competitive, especially in the summer. But the summer is also when the coastal waters are calm and boats can land on Kalalau beach and hunters can take out of the valleys great quantities of goat meat. Often, though, because of competition from hikers, hunters cannot get summer camping permits, so they have to settle for less popular months. This means they cannot ferry out the goat meat, but must pack it out over the demanding trail. No legal bag limit exists for goats northeast of Kalalau, but the weight of meat hunters can carry – around 40 to 60 pounds – effectively caps at about two the number of goats a hunter will be able to take out on foot at any one time.
Another way to decrease the number of goats by hunting is to use helicopters to airlift out the meat. On several occasions, the Division of State Parks has organized a lottery that lets the winners pay $150 to hunt as many goats as they want and have the meat helicoptered out.
The state has been trying to come up with still more ways to increase the number of hunters in the area and reduce the number of goats. Between July 1, 1999 and June 30, 2000, hunters made 371 trips and took 204 goats. To make it easier on the hunters to get their prey, the Division on Forestry and Wildlife has asked State Parks to hold six camping permits at all time for hunters or else have special hunting times during the less popular season where only hunters are allowed to camp. The state has also conducted helicopter shoots for goats that cannot possibly be reached by hunters. This has occurred in just two places, both above 2000 feet elevation. Still, many hunters persist in thinking that the state is making a widespread effort to eliminate the goats that they could have hunted.
But is eradication of goats needed to “save” the area? Tom Telfer, a wildlife biologist working for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, argues that goats can be beneficial. They hold down the fuel load for fires and eat alien plant species that displace native ecosystems. Though often blamed for causion erosion, Telfer says, goats can actually help save soil by eating weeds such as fleabane that do not hold the vital soil. Drought can also cause erosion, independently of goats, he adds. For these reasons, Telfer and many others say a “managed population of goats” is desirable.
But if a major justification for goats is weed control, that is only worthwhile if there are natives to protect. Goats don’t discriminate in what they eat; they control weeds, but they’re just as good at “native species control.” When goats clear a native area, weeds often fill the gap. Browsing by goats is also extremely damaging to some native species because of their rarity – some having populations down to just a handful of individuals. The destruction of these scattered populations could eliminate entire species, even ones that have never been discovered. The isolation created by the marvelous landscape has aided in the genesis of new species, which are being continually found in scientific surveys. Recently, three new plant species were found. One, a hibiscus relative has a total population of just four known plants.
Regeneration of another kind of hibiscus, the absolutely radiant Kokia kauiensis, has been a primary goal of volunteers who are trying to protect them by putting up fences to keep the goats out. Perhaps the success of these exclosures will show the need for more fencing and fewer goats for the pristine native areas. Also, they hope it will show that replanting is a feasible way to reintroduce plant populations that have died out in Na Pali. It is true that there are areas that are definitely overtaken by weeds, but there area also pristine areas, one that should not be sacrificed.
To understand more about the plants and the threats to them, more surveys are needed. This can be exciting work, due to the occasional need to rappel or rope down the vertical cliffs. For some of the extremely rare plants, in situ propagation and subsequent replanting is another goal, as well as fencing off those individuals. Weed control, done by selective humans who, unlike the goats, that can tell natives from aliens, is also a necessity, though it is difficult and time-consuming.
Above all those measures is goat removal from pristine, native areas. In places that hold the marvelous ecosystems and shockingly rare plants, goats are the number one threat. And since it is impossible to keep herds of goats from straying into native forests, reducing goats’ numbers and increasing fencing efforts are the only way to keep goats on the right path.
As it turns out, the goat “problem” on San Clemente took an ironic twist of its own when the goats were found to be a unique breed. Now, environmentalists are struggling to save the goats’ gene pool, with conservation plans to bring back their imperiled population.
— Emma Yuen
Volume 11, Number 12 June 2001
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