In 1995, Mark and K.B. Kimball began reforesting their Holualoa property in hardwoods. The project was supported in part by a grant from the
Hawai'i State Forest Stewardship Program. The property, which had previously been in pasture, was heavily overgrown with the invasive Christmas berry (
Schinus terebinthifolius) and strawberry guava (
Psidium cattleianum). The land was mechanically cleared of the unwanted brush in 5-10 acre increments and planted in hardwoods during the period 1996-2004. Trees are planted at approximately 8 ft x 8 ft spacing, which gives about 700 seedlings planted per acre. The areas are initially cleared by bulldozer, and weeds are controlled by judicious use of herbicide and some hand-clearing around the young trees. Side branches are pruned off to a height of about 20 ft.
Mark Kimball describes his reforestation project. Several different species with similar growth rates and size were planted together in areas of 1-5 acres. In the background, koa (Acacia koa) trees grow together with rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta).
On the right hand side of the above photo, the species combination includes Australian red cedar (Toona australis), large-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), koa (Acacia koa), and teak (Tectona grandis). On the left hand side, a combination of Australian red cedar (Toona australis), pink cedar (Acrocarpus fraxinifolius), and pheasant wood (Senna siamea) is planted.
In the foreground of this shot, there is a combination of slower growing species including narra (Pterocarpus indicus), small-leaf mahogany (Swietenia mahogani), and sandalwood (Santalum spp.).
This area has koa (Acacia koa), teak (Tectona grandis), Australian red cedar (Toona australis), and rainbow eucalyptus (Eucalyptus deglupta). The rainbow eucalyptus has grown faster than the other species, and dominates the other species.
Here, Australian red cedar (the tall tree left of center), seems to be growing a bit faster than the other species in its group, pink cedar, pheasant wood, and koa.
