Hawaii’s last remaining native lowland bog thriving again, officials say
COURTESY OF THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
Kanaele Bog on Kauai, part of The Nature Conservancy Preserve, is the last lowland bog in the Hawaiian Islands.
Officials say Hawaii’s last remaining native lowland bog is thriving again following a more than decade-long restoration effort.
The Garden Island reported Monday that conservation groups have worked to restore native plants to the Kanaele Bog on Kauai after it became overrun with nonnative weeds and feral pigs.
The Nature Conservancy signed a management agreement in 2003 and built a fence around 58 acres (23.4 hectares) to keep out the pigs. They then pulled tens of thousands of weeds.
The conservancy’s director of the Kauai forest program, Melissa Fisher, says the bog now has 95% plant coverage with 97% native plants.
The bog is home to unique flowering plants, native grasses and sedges, as well as Hawaii’s only carnivorous plant — the mikinalo.
