How Lahaina’s 151-year-old banyan tree is coming back to life after Maui’s wildfires
In summary:
The 151-year-old banyan tree in Lahaina, Hawaii, was almost destroyed by forest fires last year.
Although charred and blackened, the area’s oldest banyan tree was resurrected with the help of arborists and conservationists.
What’s next?
To restore the tree to its former glory, an irrigation system is planned.
When a deadly wildfire raged through Lahaina, Maui, last August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree along the historic town’s Front Street.
Planted in 1873, the Front Street banyan tree is the oldest of its kind on Maui.
It does not originally come from Hawaii, but was delivered as a gift from India to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first Protestant missionaries in Lahaina.
It was founded a quarter of a century before the Hawaiian Islands became a U.S. territory and seven decades after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom.
According to Maui County Arborist Board Chairman Duane Sparkman, approximately 25,000 trees were damaged in the 2023 Maui wildfires in Lahaina.
Although the tree was charred by the fire and many of its leaves were blackened, the banyan tree survived the blaze and is recovering a year later.
Why is the Lahaina Banyan Tree so significant?
The tree is popular and remembered by millions of tourists who have visited Maui over the years.
For many others, however, it is a symbol of colonial rule that robbed Native Hawaiians of their land and suppressed their language and culture.
For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place on Lahaina’s waterfront.
By many accounts, it was the heart of the seaside community – rising over 60 feet (18 meters) high and supported by multiple trunks that spanned nearly an acre.
The huge tree has leafy branches that unfold majestically and provide shade from the sun.
Aerial roots hang down from its branches, which eventually take hold in the soil and become new trunks.
The branches spread out widely and have become sleeping places for choirs of birds.
What happened to it during the fire?
Mr Sparkman said that although the tree was charred and partially blackened, the flames were less of a threat to it than the intense heat of the fire.
The heat caused most of the tree to dry out and the loss of moisture caused about half of its branches to die.
“Once that part of the tree dried up, there was no turning back,” he said.
But other parts of the tree are now growing back healthily.
How was it saved?
Those working to restore the tree removed the dead branches so the tree’s energy could flow into the living branches, Sparkman said.
To monitor this energy, 14 sensors were screwed into the tree to track the flow of cambium – or sap – through its branches.
“It’s basically a heart monitor,” Mr Sparkman said.
“As we treat the tree, its heartbeat becomes stronger and stronger.”
Sparkman said there are also plans to install vertical tubes to support the tree’s aerial roots, which appear to be vertical branches that grow downward toward the ground.
The tubes contain compost to provide the branches with essential nutrients as they take root in the soil.
A planned irrigation system will also direct small drops of water into the pipes.
The goal, Sparkman said, is to help the aerial roots “build mass and develop into the next stabilizing root.”
The system will also irrigate the surrounding land and tree canopy.
“You see a lot of long, long branches with hundreds of leaves on the tree,” Sparkman said, adding that some branches even bear fruit.
“It’s pretty amazing to see how much of the tree grows back.”
What other trees were destroyed in the fire?
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Among the 25,000 trees in Lahaina destroyed in the 2023 Maui fires were fruit trees that people had grown in their gardens, as well as trees that play an important role in Hawaiian culture.
According to the Hawaii Ulu Cooperative, these important trees include the ulu, or breadfruit, trees. The fire charred all but two of the twelve remaining ulu trees.
Before colonization, commercial agriculture and tourism, Lahaina was home to thousands of breadfruit trees.
Since the fire, a group of arborists, farmers and landscapers – including Mr Sparkman – have set out to save the ulu and other culturally significant trees.
To help restore trees in Lahaina, Mr. Sparkman founded a nonprofit organization called Treecovery.
He said the group had potted about 3,500 trees to grow in “micro-nurseries” across the island, including in some hotels, until people can return to their homes.
“We have growing centers all over the island of Maui where we can grow these trees as long as we need them. When people are ready, we can ask them to pick up the trees and plant them in their gardens,” he said.
“It’s important that we do this for the families.”
AP/ABC
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