On my first day on Maui I participated in an Auwahi volunteer day at 'Ulupalakua Ranch on leeward East Maui (sic Haleakala). Auwahi was once at the heart of one of the most varied and interesting forests in Hawai'i, and a century or more ago was the focus of great interest for botanists such as Joseph Rock. Unfortunately nearly all the forest on leeward Maui was grazed away to pasture by livestock and feral animals, and it was reported that Rock wept when he revisited the ruined landscape. Many species were lost on leeward East Maui, including several spectacular lobelioids, as well as vast tracts of habitat for native birds and animals. There were early attempts to create a small exclosure at Auwahi to protect a tiny remnant of the former native forest, but they were occasionally given up or neglected. More recently these efforts were renewed and reforestation is underway in 3 small exclosures amid the pastures. During the volunteer day we worked in Auwahi 3, planting hundreds of 'a'ali'i shrubs and a few halapepe trees. Sparse battered remnants of the formerly magificent leeward forest were scattered across the pasture around us. The most common of these were olopua and 'a'ali'i trees. There were scattered 'ohi'a. I saw a small number of 'iliahi, halapepe, 'aiea and 'ohe mauka trees. Goats peered at us ominously from atop ridges and rocks on State land to the North, and cattle gave a lazy shrug at the futility of our effort to reverse their decades of deforestation. It was a sobering contrast with my usual explorations in the wilderness above Hilo, and the next few weeks we would spend in the lush Waikamoi Preserve and the native subalpine shrublands of Haleakala National Park. Hopefully in 100 years these small preserves will again begin to approach the diverse and lively forests Rock loved so much a century ago.

There were few birds here. Including flyovers, between 0930 and 1430 I counted 11 nutmeg mannikin, 5 house finch, 3 Japanese white-eye and 2 eurasian sky lark.