Sandalwood trees could once again flourish in Hawaii

Native Hawaiian sandalwood, iliahi, is Hawaii’s oldest tree species, evidence indicates. So why is Hawaii the only place in the world with native sandalwood that is not regulated from exploitation?

It was once prolific on all eight major Hawaiian Islands and on Laysan Island in the Northwest Hawaiian Island chain. That is until the Sandalwood Era, 1806 to 1829, when Hawaiian men were often called kua-leho or "callous backs" for their sore backs worn from carrying sandalwood logs from the forests to the awaiting western ships trading with Asia.

All stands of sandalwood on Laysan Island were cut in 1790. A century later, a German horticulturalist published in 1899 that he found sandalwood as Laysan’s tallest plant at 2.5 meters and a stem of 10 centimeters. He also recorded finding "cemented coral sand. At times their structure is so fine and dense that … blocks resonate sharply when hit with a hammer."

These Laysan rocks, sand castings, were also formed around Hawaiian sandalwood branches and stems long since gone, leaving hollow tubes of up to 5 centimeters in diameter. Examples of these iliahi sand castings are part of the Laysan Island Ecosystem Restoration Plan, now an effort of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. The 1998 restoration plan cites numerous Laysan findings of "Iliahi Alo’e, Santalum ellipticum var. s. freycinetianum."

This species of S. elipticum coastal sandalwood was once found on all the eight main Hawaiian Islands. Evolution likely was the cause of the species to evolve into six endemic Hawaiian sandalwood species, based on age of the island and climatic conditions. From the Hawaiian hotspot, as the Pacific plate moved northwest from its place of formation, the extruded lava created the Hawaiian island archipelago.

Laysan Island originated 20 million years ago with evidence of the iliahi alo’e species; Kauai and Niihau with origins 5 million years ago has Santalum pyrularium, S. involutum and S. freycinetianum; whereas Maui, 1 million to 2 million years old, has its own unique species of S. haleakalae and S. lanaiese, which is on the CITIES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) endangered list.

The Big Island, 600,000 years old and still growing, is home of the last remaining stands of native Hawaiian sandalwood, particularly the S. paniculatum, which is being cut in great amounts not seen in the past 200 years.

As the 22nd annual Hawaii Conservation Conference comes to a close Thursday, questions arise:

» How long does it take for a new species of hardwood to evolve?

» Isolated by islands and shifting climatic environments, what other Hawaiian hardwood has as many unique species as the six species of iliahi?

» Are there any other Hawaiian tree species that have rocklike sand castings comparable to the iliahi sand castings found on Laysan Island?

» Where on any of the Hawaiian islands can one see the once-abundant Hawaiian sandalwood as a mature tree, let alone a grove of iliahi?

» What is the state of conservation of Hawaii’s oldest tree species?

» Is Hawaii in a new sandalwood era?

Iliahi, Hawaii’s endemic sandalwood, is symbolic of what has happened to the land of Hawaii and her people. Now in his 90s, Hawaiian elder Louis K. Agard asked in his 1982 book "Politics, Hawaiian Sandalwood Trees and Hope": "Like the sandalwood, were they (Hawaiians and the aina) being over exploited? Some sandalwood trees survive and still grow today, and there is hope that in time the tree of old Hawaii and its people can flourish again as before."

There is still hope, if we care.