About Kauai

When Captain Cook came upon the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, he found islands covered with stands of sandalwood and koa. The Hawaiian Islands were covered with ample stores of these precious, highly sought hardwoods. Hawaiian royalty traded these forests for guns and other items of the “modern” world of that time. The wood was shipped to various destinations, particularly China, where sandalwood is highly sought because of its unique scent. Not comprehending the fragile limit of this resource, replanting was not of concern at the time. Today sandalwood, koa and many other endemic and indigenous species of rare and valuable hardwoods are scarce, some endangered.

History clearly demonstrates the forestry potential of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii is the only place in the U.S. where many of the tropical hardwood species will grow and flourish.

This unique tropical location is afforded the incomparable governmental stability of the U.S., an important consideration when contemplating such long-term goals (especially when governments such as Indonesia, are imposing laws to forbid some species of trees from being exported due to poaching and depletion of their forests) as those associated with a crop to be harvested in twenty or more years.

We're growing our trees on Kauai, the most lush of all the Hawaiian Islands, known appropriately as The Garden Isle. Our plantation is located just north of Mahaulapu Beach, minutes from Poipu. Ample sunshine at the base of the Ha`upu mountain range makes for a fantastic growing site. Kauai provides the ideal climate for sustainable forestry practices. By growing trees such as teak, mahogany and koa, we can add to the reforestation of this island to maintain and revitalize what it is and once was.