Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary A Living, Teaching Tool T
he sun goes in and out of rain-filled clouds while driving up Koloko Mauka to the Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary (KCFS). Upon arrival, the air is cool and damp, smelling of dew and moist earth. The sun reappears, giving wet leaves a joyous sparkle. There’s a feeling of freshness and life anew. All this lushness is a mere 15-minute drive above the barren lavascape of Konaʻs airport. Located at a 3,000-foot elevation, KCFS is part of Kona’s cloud forest stretching 50 miles long, according to Norm Bezona, the sanctuary’s visionary and horticulture director. “The cloud forest is an important watershed that has been continually pecked away through the years for agricultural use and urban sprawl,” he continues. “Here, we hope to preserve the native forest, keep it functioning as a cloud forest, and be an example of what others can do to reforest an area.” A professor emeritus and retired extension agent with the University of Hawai‘i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, Norm is a walking encyclopedia on growing plants—both in home gardens and as agricultural commodities. Many residents read Normʻs weekly horticulture columns on Sundays in both the islandʻs newspapers. Norm first started the sanctuary on property he purchased in 1980 for his family compound. He still lives on site with partner Voltaire Moise and, also residing at the sanctuary, are Norm’s children and grandchildren. However, Norm soon learned the sanctuary could have a broader purpose and opened it up for community use.
KeOlaMagazine.com | September-October 2020
Sharing a Community Resource “As an educator, I found you can teach students best when you get them out of a classroom and into the living environment,” states Norm. The sanctuary has been hosting botanical tours and educational programs since 1984 while serving as a meeting location for local horticulture-themed
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By Fern Gavelek
organizations. Today, the 70-acre KCFS operates as an educational nonprofit in partnership with the Bezona Family Trust. Part of it is protected as a conservation easement in perpetuity through the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust. Norm provides on-site classes and tours geared for horticulturists and allows select tour operators to provide guided visits geared for the public. One of them is Kelly Dunn of the Painted Trees of Hawaii Foundation who presents compelling forest treks through his nonprofit. Since 2015, Kelly and his teams of volunteers have painstakingly created trails—without the use of gas and electric tools—to better access the forest and, as Kelly says, “showcase what people have never seen before.” Kona’s Rainy Summer Weather Creates Nation’s Only Tropical Cloud Forest Also called “fog forests,” cloud forests are characterized by frequent, low-level cloud cover. They are dependent on local climate, elevation, and latitude. Norm notes the Kona Cloud Forest “is the only tropical cloud forest in the US” and attributes it to Kona’s unique weather. “Kona’s weather is ruled by a daily convection pattern involving sun, ocean, and mountain topography,” he explains. “Unlike the rest of the state, Kona is wetter in the summer and drier in the winter.” The way Kona’s convective weather pattern works is prevailing winds from the east are blocked by Mauna Loa and Hualālai. In the absence of strong trade winds, morning heating of the land draws moist air from the ocean to cause upslope winds during the day. When this warm, moist air reaches the cooler middle elevations, it condenses and turns into clouds, mist, or rain. Wind direction reverses at night when cooled mountain air moves downslope pushing the warmer air up and out to sea. Warmer summer temps intensify this process, resulting in Kona’s wetter summers. Serving as an Important Watershed There’s a Hawaiian proverb: Hahai no ka ua i ka ululā‘au (The rain follows the forest). The Kona cloud forest, with its sprawling canopy of vegetation, serves as a collection reservoir for Kona’s convective showers. “The trees are important because they attract and hold the clouds,” Plants, like this Hope’s cycad, thrive in the moist cloud forest environment at the sanctuary. Endemic to Queensland, it is the largest known species of cycad.
photo courtesy of Kelly Dunn