How Lahaina’s more than 150-year-old banyan tree is coming back to life after devastating fire

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — When a lethal wildfire tore by means of Lahaina on Maui final August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree alongside the historic city’s Entrance Avenue. However the sprawling tree survived the blaze, and because of the efforts of arborists and devoted volunteers, elements of it are rising again — and even thriving.

One 12 months after the hearth, right here’s what to know in regards to the banyan tree and the efforts to revive it.

Why is Lahaina’s banyan tree important?

The banyan tree is the oldest residing one on Maui however just isn’t a species indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. India shipped the tree as a present to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of the primary Protestant missionaries to dwell in Lahaina. It was planted in 1873, 1 / 4 century earlier than the Hawaiian Islands grew to become a U.S. territory and 7 a long time after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom.

The tree is extensively beloved and fondly remembered by hundreds of thousands of vacationers who’ve visited Maui over time. However for a lot of others it’s a image of colonial rule that has dispossessed Native Hawaiians of their land and suppressed their language and tradition.

For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place alongside Lahaina’s waterfront. By many accounts, it was the guts of the oceanside group — towering greater than 60 ft (18 meters) excessive and anchored by a number of trunks that span almost an acre.

The large tree has leafy branches that unfurl majestically and provide shade from the solar. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and finally latch onto the soil to grow to be new trunks. Branches splay out extensively, and have grow to be roosting locations for choirs of birds.

What occurred to it throughout the hearth?

The 2023 hearth charred the tree and blackened a lot of its leaves. However it wasn’t the flames a lot as the extraordinary warmth that was generated that dried out a lot of the tree, based on Duane Sparkman, chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee. Because of this lack of moisture, about half of the tree’s branches died, he stated.

“As soon as that part of the tree desiccated, there was no coming again,” he stated.

However different elements of the tree are actually rising again wholesome.

How was it saved?

These working to revive the tree eliminated the lifeless branches in order that the tree’s power would go towards the branches that had been alive, Sparkman stated.

To observe that power, 14 sensors had been screwed into the tree to trace the flows of cambium, or sap, by means of its branches.

“It’s mainly a coronary heart monitor,” Sparkman stated. “As we’ve been treating the tree, the guts beat’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

Sparkman stated there are additionally plans to put in vertical tubes to assist the tree’s aerial roots, which seem like vertical branches that develop down towards the bottom. The tubes will comprise compost in order to offer the branches with key vitamins once they take root within the soil.

A deliberate irrigation system may also feed small drops of water into the tubes. The aim, Sparkman stated, is to assist these aerial roots “bulk up and grow to be the following stabilizer root.” The system may also irrigate the encompassing land and the tree’s cover.

“You see a whole lot of lengthy, lengthy branches with a whole lot of leaves again on the tree,” Sparkman stated, including that some branches are even producing fruit. “It’s fairly wonderful to see that a lot of the tree come again.”

What different timber had been destroyed within the hearth?

Sparkman estimates that Lahaina misplaced some 25,000 timber within the hearth.

These included the fruit timber that folks grew of their yards in addition to timber which might be important in Hawaiian tradition, such because the ulu or breadfruit tree; the hearth charred all however two of the dozen or in order that remained.

Because the blaze, a band of arborists, farmers and landscapers — together with Sparkman — has set about attempting to avoid wasting the ulu and different culturally necessary timber. Earlier than colonialism, industrial agriculture and tourism, hundreds of breadfruit timber dotted Lahaina.

To assist restore Lahaina’s timber, Sparkman based a nonprofit known as Treecovery. The group has potted some 3,500 timber, he stated, rising them in “micro-nurseries” throughout the island, together with at some resorts, till individuals can transfer again into their properties.

“We have now develop hubs all around the island of Maui to develop these timber out for so long as they want. So when the individuals are prepared, we will have them come choose these timber up they usually can plant them of their yards,” he stated. “It’s necessary that we do that for the households.”

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AP author Audrey McAvoy contributed from Honolulu.