Early Uses by Ancient Hawaiians, and Environmental, Geographical, and Ecological History, of Haleakalā Crater, East Maui

Abstract

This research assesses the environmental uses of Haleakalā Crater, and adjoining east Maui areas, by native Hawaiians during recent centuries, and evaluates the modern utilization of this volcanic depression. The study methods examine, and focus on, numerous historical and modern accounts and reports. Three historical periods were identified as follows: (1). A phase, from the ~1400s until contact with foreigners in 1778, characterized by the development of settlements, population expansion, the intensification of traditional agriculture, and the political consolidation of Maui. The construction of the Kiha-a-Pi‘i-lani trail across the crater enhanced travel between distant island areas. (2). Following the collapse of Maui’s human populations during the late 1700s, and until the 20th century, came a period distinguished by scientific exploration of the crater, and intentional or accidental introductions of animals, including goats, horses, cattle, and wild dogs. (3). After Haleakalā became a National Park in 1916, efforts to eradicate introduced animals and to encourage the reproduction of silverswords and other plants were initiated. Unfortunately, in retrospect, construction of a modern paved road, improvement of hiking trails, and building of facilities allowed swift access to the Park and substantially increased tourist numbers, up to ~2 million yearly visitors. Faced with such crowds, the long-term planning of Park resources appears to be a formidable task.

‘It would seem that the crater, so high in the sky, so remote in location, so difficult in access, so desolate in appearance, so dread in origin, should have been shunned by the early native. Quite the contrary, many marks of frequent and varied use may be discovered in the crater’. George Cornelius Ruhle, 1959 [1], p. 18.

1. Introduction: The Scope of the Study

At some point, about 30 years ago, I was captivated and fell in love with the Hawaiian Islands. However, this was not the idealized postcard Hawai’i most visitors encounter, of beautiful beaches and palm trees; but that of tall volcanoes, cinder cones, sparse vegetation, and solitary expanses of high-elevation, barren landscapes. My personal romance actually started the day I first visited the immense Haleakalā Crater in Maui, and stopped at its rim, gazing at a vast depression filled with a myriad of tall, graceful cinder cones and rugged lava flows (Figure 1). Today, to our peculiar 21st-century minds, that place may seem distant, remote, and forbidding, but that was certainly not the way ancient Hawaiians perceived this crater many centuries past. My growing interest in Haleakalā gradually induced me to appreciate this high-mountain landscape—however poorly—through Hawaiian eyes, and to try to understand the actual historical, geographical, and spiritual roles of that imposing island summit on the lives of ancient Hawaiians.

Numerous recent geographical studies have focused on historical human–environment interactions in different world areas. Detailed anthropological and archaeological analyses have determined the historic and prehistoric ecological development of the high-altitude Basin of Mexico’s lakes, assessing the different processes of natural and cultural history of these lacustrine systems, as well as the human transformation and adaptation of aquatic ecosystems by different recent Mexican civilizations. In the nearby Lake Chalco region, alluvial deposits indicate that during prehispanic times, before the establishment of sedentary lifestyles, alluvial sedimentation was low [2,3,4]. In the Pacific coast of Mexico, long-term environmental changes along the Sonora River watershed were reconstructed after the careful examination of archaeological artifacts; these determined complex linkages between Mesoamerican and North American cultures, and the spatial association between agriculture, soil erosion, and human settlement patterns [5]. Palaeoenvironmental changes in the Azraq oasis of eastern Jordan’s desert were documented with stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses; these allowed for the reconstruction of landscape evolution and human–environment dynamics in an arid environment [6,7]. Investigation of historical records, as well as ecological and geomorphic research on large granite domes in central Texas, evaluated the multiple connections and changes among different landscape elements, and the impact of recently increasing human use in a protected State Park area [8].

2. Study Methods

The methodological approach I followed for this project was basically this: I have been steadily involved in research with Haleakalā Crater for more than three decades, during which I have hiked and wandered—mostly alone—over 50 times across this vast crater emptiness, and have had much time—then and later—to wonder about the actual significance of this crater in Hawaiian history. I have persistently focused on tracing and locating numerous chronicles, Hawaiian and Polynesian chants and myths, old publications, state and federal government documents and maps, newspaper reports, memoirs, travel and exploration accounts, academic theses, new and old editions of geographic atlases and maps, and all kinds of miscellaneous studies and reports of restricted circulation, written during the past two centuries. I was actually able to directly consult the original text for all bibliographic sources cited. I have thoroughly read widely about Hawaiian geography, history, anthropology, ecology, geomorphology, vulcanology, politics, agriculture, literature, poetry, folklore, and anything else that I could find. I have personally obtained, and carefully examined, several thousands of high-definition photographs—including those from other sources—from the crater and surroundings. I also scrutinized numerous topographic, geological, ecological, topical, and historical maps of this area and of the island of Maui. I tried to learn, and understand, the meanings of Hawaiian toponyms and various aspects of material culture, as well as the spelling and grammar intricacies of historical records. I corresponded with academic and Hawaiian researchers, and with personnel working at Haleakalā National Park. In short, I have tried to become, in some unattainable way, part Hawaiian.

In this study, I specifically propose to evaluate the following: (1). The different ways in which ancient Hawaiian society perceived and utilized Haleakalā’s volcanic depression; (2). The historical significance of the crater for the adjoining areas of east Maui; and (3). The more recent environmental history and events affecting this locality. The spelling and accenting of Hawaiian geographical names follow Pukui et al. 1974 [9] and Pukui and Elbert, 1986 [10]. Words from the Hawaiian language will be italicized, but not Hawaiian toponyms [11,12]. Diacritical marks include the’u’ina [literally, snap] a reversed apostrophe that identifies glottal stops and guttural breaks, and the ‘okina [break]. The kahakō [i.e., macron], a small straight bar, appears above vowels that are long and stressed. The English translation of the majority of Hawaiian words will be shown in square brackets [].

‘Akāka wale ‘o Haleakalā [Haleakalā stands in full view]. ‘Said of anything that is very obvious or clearly understood.’ Mary Kawena Pukui, 1983, ‘Ōlelo No’eau n° 96, ref. [13].

3. Study Area: Haleakalā Crater

Haleakalā [house (used) by the sun] is an active volcano that reaches its summit at 3055 m and constitutes the eastern portion of Maui; the crater is a vast, ≥900 m deep erosional depression ~42 km² in an area that extends across the island summit. This so-called crater developed when two rivers eroded their high watersheds on two sides of the island, eventually coalescing from the Ko’olau Gap [Ke-’anae valley, the mullet fish] in the north side and the Kau-pō [landing of canoes] Gap in the south side [14] (Figure 2); massive landslides on valley headwalls also contributed to the development of this huge summit depression [15]. The crater floor, at ~2150–2500 m, is crisscrossed from west to east by the Southwest Rift Zone, which forms a gentle arc from the Molo-kini islet on the SW coast of east Maui through the East Rift Zone, which extends to Hāna, on Maui’s eastern end [16]. This Rift Zone is closely associated with ~16 large cinder cones, neatly aligned along a west–east axis; several extensive lava flows originated along the cone bases (Figure 3A,B).

A permanent climatic subsidence inversion layer develops at ~1200–2400 m; high-altitude crater areas remain isolated from moist marine air masses, causing intense summer drought and cloudless, clear skies [17]. Seasonal mean temperatures in the Haleakalā National Park (HNP) fluctuate narrowly, ~9.6–13.4 °C, but daily variation may be ~24 °C [18]. Rainfall rises dramatically across the crater, from a low of ~1037 mm/year near its western margin to ~3404 mm/year along the eastern rim [19]. The floor contains a barren alpine desert, with a sparse vegetation cover of ~35 vascular plant species. Among these, the most characteristic crater plant is the spectacular ‘Āhinahina, Haleakalā silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephallum). This is a tall, columnar, monocarpic ‘giant’ rosette, endemic to this mountain, with a single woody stem, capped by a dense crown of shiny silvery leaves that dies after flowering once during the dry season (Figure 4). Important plants include shrubs like kūpaoa (Dubautia menziesii), māmane (Sophora chrysophylla), pukiawe (Leptecophylla tameiameiae), and perennial grasses such as pili uka (Trisetum glomeratum), Hawai’i hairgrass (Deschampsia nubigena), and Hawai’i bentgrass (Agrostis sandwicensis); the taxonomy conforms to Wagner et al. (1990) [20]. A rich cryptogamic flora, containing ~128 epilithic mosses, or minute biological epedaphic crusts, thrives on the crater [18].

4. Results

‘The Hawaiians of Ka-’U did not fear or cringe before, or hate, the power and destructive violence of Mauna Loa. They took unto them this huge Mother mountain… they loved Pele, whose home was their land: they endured her furies, and celebrated the drama of creation with which they lived so intimately.’ Handy and Pukui, 1950 [21], p. 236.

4.1. Traditional Hawaiian Ideas about High Mountains

Ancient Hawaiians were deeply haipule [religious]; to them, gods were ever present, guarding, guiding, warning, blessing, and punishing [22]. All components of the natural environment, including mountain peaks and valleys, lava flows; physical and meteorological processes, such as winds, clouds, and rains; and even all forms of life, were believed to be incarnations of gods and deities [23], p. 8. Some spirits (‘aumākua) were family ancestors that had become gods, who might assume the shape of animals, rocks, clouds, or plants [22], p. 121 [23,24]. Mary Kawena Pukui, born and raised in the Ka-’U area, Hawai’i island, is recognized today as the foremost modern scholar on Hawaiian culture and language [25,26,27]. Nali’ipo ‘aimoku, Pukui’s maternal grandmother sang to her the Pule Ho’ōla—a traditional Hawaiian chant—addressing the ‘deities of high places’; Pukui commented ‘…these high areas are… the forested hills where live the kānaka, the ‘men’ of the mountains, who are not human, but gods or ‘sacred men.’’ [22], p. 127. To old Hawaiians, remote, desolate high-mountain areas, thought to be inhabited only by gods and spirits (akua) were designated as wao akua, the realm of gods, literally the ‘jungle of gods’ [10], ref. [21], p. 236 [28].

Gods and goddesses inhabiting remote expanses near the heavens were thought to control everyday life. Hawaiian—as well as Polynesian—gods adhered to a rigid ministerial approach, and different deities were in charge of specific activities or events [29], p. 273. The god ruling Hawaiian mountains was Ka-haku-o [30,31], but massive mountains had their own special deities. Līlīnoe was the snow goddess of Haleakalā, in charge of dead fires and desolation, as well as of fine mist and rain, as the literal meaning of her name reveals [10], p. 206. Līlīnoe also possessed the power to hold back and control the eruptions of old cinder cones in the Haleakalā Crater and could reveal herself by sometimes clothing the summit with a glorious garment of snow several miles long [1], ref. [31] p. 14, ref. [32], p. 56. Līlīnoe resided in Pu’u-’ula’ula, the cinder cone on Haleakalā’s summit, at 3055 m [9]. Poli’ahu, the older sister of Līlīnoe was, in turn, revered as the goddess of snows on Mauna Kea, where she dwelled, on the island of Hawai’i [13], n° 2687.

Wao akua areas were part of geographical elements that would nowadays be considered environmental or ecological. The concept of altitudinal belts is implicit in Davida Malo (1908) [30], pp. 37–39, and Samuel Mānaiakalani Kamakau (1992) [33]. Their somewhat imprecise explanations described the highest elevations as ‘wilderness or uninhabited regions… the abode of gods, spirits and ghosts [who] chiefly inhabit the waste places of the earth… in which trees of a smaller size grew’, whereas ‘… the belt below… where the larger sized forest-trees grow is called… wao-nahele.’

Nearly 75 years ago, Handy and Pukui [21,34] presented a detailed map compiling all these traditional Hawaiian names of mountain zones; their classification of altitudinal vegetation belts along the Ka-’U district—on the southern flank of Mauna Loa, Hawai’i—is a landmark zonation study of Hawaiian volcanoes which has been—inexplicably—largely ignored by most geographers and ecologists (Figure 5). This pioneering Hawaiian model closely parallels the concepts involved in the much better-known Tableau Physique, developed by Alexander von Humboldt in 1807 and 1824, for his physical geography essays of tropical Andean mountains in South America [35]. Like Humboldt’s, Handy and Pukui diagrams combined traditional Hawaiian concepts of vertical zones of ‘natural’ vegetation with important crops and agricultural uses, and thus their attractive maps include common names such as taro, sweet potato, yams, and banana; these detailed descriptive charts [21,34] represent an invaluable—but regrettably, underestimated—resource to understand native Hawaiian biogeographical concepts.

The elevational zones most heavily utilized by Hawaiians ranged from sea level to ~3500 feet [~1067 m] altitude; the wao akua extended above this elevation [36] and comprised cloud forests, where local patterns of cloud cover and precipitation settled upon mountain slopes; this covering was interpreted as concealing from view the activities of gods and deities living there [33,37], p. 10. Particular clouds—kino lau [changed forms]—were considered distinct manifestations of the gods, who took the shapes of clouds [22]. As noted, the wao akua were in direct contrast to the lower elevation wao kanaka—‘the realm of man’—where human settlements were located [33,36,38]. Malo [30], p. 38, defined this altitudinal zone as ‘…the belt called wao-kanaka or ma’u… here grows the am’au-fern and… men cultivate the land.’ (Figure 5). To ancient Hawaiians, wao akua areas should be preserved and respected—and even feared—as the mountain environment, its native species, and all intangible components there were part of a sacred landscape, where each form of native life was protected in a manner consistent with cultural subsistence; the kūpuna [ancestors] expressed this as ‘Ho’ohana aku, a ho’ola aku!’ [Use it, and let it live!] [37], p. iii. To this day, Hawaiians openly revere their mountain gods. I have often come across many kinds of offerings to deities at high elevations on many islands, especially on cinder cones, volcanic craters, and heiau [ancient temples]; these intriguing religious presents might include small pouches of poi [pound taro, Colocasia esculenta] or avocados, carefully wrapped in corn or ti (Cordyline fruticosa) leaves; flower arrangements; bottled spirits; money—bills and coins—flower lei [garlands]; and delicately hand-crafted wreaths and kūpe’e [wrist bracelets] (Figure 6).

Haleakalā’s highland zones—including its crater—were considered to be well within the wao akua realm, and thus ancient Hawaiians did not cultivate, or permanently settle, on them. However, these areas were gradually influenced by the expansion of the human population in lowland Maui, especially in its eastern section; as a result, the environmental history of Haleakalā Crater was closely associated with historical and cultural events taking place on this island and in nearby Hawaiian islands.

‘How many people inhabited an area tells you something about the entire social system of that area. The Hawaiians had to have had a sophisticated system of social organization and resource distribution to have taken care of so many people.’ De Naie and Donham, 2007 [39], p. 110, ref. [40].

4.2. Population Expansion and Agriculture in Eastern Maui and Vicinity of Haleakalā Crater

Archaeologists assign various chronologies to the discovery and population of the Hawaiian Islands; based on several hundreds of ¹⁴C dates, it is widely accepted that an initial phase of Exploration and Settlement (phase I—A.D. 400–1400) for the archipelago was followed by an unprecedented period of development and population growth (Expansion phase II—A.D. 1400–1600), and then a final period of Consolidation, phase III—from A.D. 1600 to 1778, the year of European contact [41], p. 205, ref. [42].

The 15th and 16th centuries are considered a golden age in Hawaiian history [36]. During this period, social and political events in Maui had significant environmental impacts on Haleakalā Crater. By the end of the 16th century, the entire island of Maui—initially controlled by warring factions of local ali’i [chiefs]—became unified under just one ali’i nui or mō’ī [island ruler, or king] during the time of king Pi’ilani [ascent to heaven]; he reigned ca. A.D. 1570–1600, and his younger son, Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani, who reigned until ca. A.D. 1618, was succeeded by Pi’ilani’s grandson, Kama-lālā-walu. Based on royal oral genealogies, ref. [41], Figure 3.9, it is believed the three kings ruled until A.D. ~1638. These rulers apparently controlled Maui during the period A.D. 1570–1630 [43,44].

After conquering all of western Maui, the Pi’ilani dynasty greatly expanded the territory ruled by Maui’s polity, all the way to Honokahua Bay, and also took over the neighboring islands of Lana’i and Kaho’olawe [9,39,41] (Figure 2). By A.D. ~1650, Maui and other large Hawaiian islands attained their apex of social complexity and population growth [42] and the neighboring island of Kaho’olawe reached a peak density during the period A.D. 1500–1550 [45]. After Pi’ilani conquered all of Maui and adjacent islands, he completed Pi’ilanihale Heiau, a large, ~12,000 m² platform that is the largest temple in the Hawaiian Islands—and possibly in all of Polynesia—near Hāna, east Maui [41], p. 159. The engaging mo’olelo [story] of the early Pi’ilani dynasty is well documented by many Hawaiian chroniclers [30], ref. [33], pp. 22–23, refs. [46,47,48] and needs not to be retold here.

Around A.D. 1400–1500, large areas previously considered marginal were put under intensive cultivation, and the population in Maui steadily expanded [36,49]; leeward areas of Maui, nowadays sparsely populated, eventually supported large populations [50]. Polynesian farmers gradually established numerous permanent settlements along the arid southern flank of Haleakalā, notably at the Kau-pō area [51,52,53,54], which readily offered direct access to the eastern end of Haleakalā Crater (Figure 7).

This location in SE Maui presented several distinctive advantages to settlers. The massive accretionary fan of lavas, mudflow debris, and alluvial and colluvial deposits that accumulated below the Kau-pō Gap—Nāholokū fan [the cloak]—[43] provided relatively young substrates (≤120–140 k years of age) with high nutrient availability, favorable to intensive dry-farming. Haleakalā’s rainshadow allowed a moderate precipitation range on the Nāholokū fan, from ~2000 mm/year on its eastern edge, to ~800 mm/year along its western side [43]. At Kau-pō, this rainfall was adequate to support a system based on root crops including ‘uala [sweet potato] (Ipomoea batatas) and dryland kalo or taro (Colocasia esculenta). Sweet potato needs >750 mm/year but does not flourish at ≤500 mm/year. Additionally, precipitation was not so high as to have leached essential nutrients from the soil [43,49]. At rainfall values ≤1800 mm/year, chemical soil properties reach a critical threshold, as Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, K⁺, and other cations important for plant growth still remain abundant in the soil [52]. Satellite images reveal the sharp contrast in vegetation density and cover—due to a strong spatial east–west rainfall gradient, and soil fertility—on the Nāholokū fan (Figure 7).

Sweet potato was the main food crop of native Hawaiians living on the leeward slopes of Haleakalā; Kau-pō was even famous for its many sweet potato varieties [50]; as in other Hawaiian areas, the Kau-pō agricultural system provided a diet heavily based on carbohydrate staples [43,53]. Farmers at Kau-pō developed an altitudinal zonation system of agriculture over the composite sedimentary fan that encouraged them to migrate upwards toward Haleakalā Crater, with sweet potatoes dominating the lower fan slopes (‘apa’a) below ~600 m and dryland taro on the forested slopes (‘aina malo’o) above and up to ~900 m elevation. Sweet potatoes were planted following different techniques, most often along neat rows of well-drained, hilled spots, where ‘plants were mounded up, and the vines wound around the mounds’ between large furrows [54], p. 28, where stony soil was heaped into conical piles spaced 3-4 m apart, to prevent the growing vines from becoming entangled with each other; ‘uala were also planted on scattered pockets of good soil and in moist crannies on exposed lava substrates. Varieties of sweet potato or taro requiring more water were cultivated under a mulch of dry grass and ferns to preserve soil moisture [28,34,54].

These two starchy staples were supplemented in Kau-pō with uhi [yams, Dioscorea sp.], kō [sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum], kī (Cordyline fruticosa), and several types of mai’a or waoke [bananas, Musa sp.] refs. [43,51,55,56]; there is even a kau-pō banana variety developed in this area [1]. Similar indigenous agricultural systems were also described in detail elsewhere in other Hawaiian Islands [30], p. 269, ref. [33], ref. [54], p. 23, ref. [57]. After examining comparable cultivated areas on the leeward flank of Mauna Loa, Hawai’i, Handy and Pukui [28], p. 91, remarked, ‘The early visitors saw the fertile sections of… this now largely barren lower land as’ one continuous garden’.

4.3. The Geographical, Political, and Historical Significance of the Kau-Pō Area

As small villages developed in the Kau-pō area, the population eventually reached 8000–10,000 people and densities of 43–57 persons/km² by A.D. 1700–1800; the absence of residential sites above ~900 m is spatially coincident with low agricultural potential at higher altitudes [43]. Traditional Hawaiian agriculture was ritually structured about the veneration of Lono—god of dryland agriculture and sweet potato—and Kane—god of taro and irrigation. Ceremonies to ensure land fertility were performed in special temples—heiau ho’oulu ‘ai—Ref. [10] associated with these gods; as a result, the temple system expanded rapidly; a 1929 reconnaissance survey reported 24 heiau just from the Kau-pō district [43].

The Kau-pō area also became important for other political reasons. Its strategic location on the southeastern side of Maui made it an excellent vantage point from which to observe and intercept an invading fleet from the island of Hawai’i and made it also a staging area from which war canoes could best be launched to attack that island [41], p. 342]. Fittingly, Kau-pō means ‘landing (of canoes) at night’ (ref. [9]). This actually happened during the bitter war between Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani and his brother, Lono-a-Pi’i-lani to gain control of Maui ca. A.D. 1600 [46,48]. Ke-kau-like [the equality] (reigned 1730–1736) was an ali’i nui descended from the Pi’ilani line; he made Kau-pō his royal residence, where he built Kane-malo-hemo, a residential center and heiau, at Popo’iwi, right along the eastern edge of the Nāholokū fan, as well as three luakini [war temples] nearby [43,58]. Ke-kau-like reportedly quarreled acrimoniously with his younger brother, Kaoao, who then fled Kau-pō and took refuge far from him, high up in the Haleakalā Crater.

Emory [59] found several 90–120 cm high Pā [enclosures] built with dry stones on the southwestern (lee side) of Pa Ka’oao [white hill], at the western crater rim, at ~2975 m; he believed these shelters (Figure 8) were used as bivouacs by Kaoao’s soldiers. Soon, Ke-kau-like and his army marched up the Kau-pō Gap, and confronted Kaoao at Keahuamanono heiau; according to oral tradition, Kaoao jumped over a pali [cliff] in an effort to escape his brother and was killed [1]. Ke-kau-like later assembled a canoe fleet and attempted an invasion of the rival polity in Hawai’i island, but was repulsed at Kohala; he regrouped to Kau-pō to launch another attack, but suddenly became ill with ka-maka-huki-lani [eyes drawn heavenward, or epilepsy] and died in 1736 [33], p. 69, ref. [39], p. 116, ref. [43].

Ka-hekili II (ca. 1737–1794), son of Ke-kau-like and Ke-ku’i-apo-iwa-nui, one of his wives [33], p. 69, ref. [41] was an imposing pahupū [cut in two] warrior, with half his body tattooed solid black from head to foot: ‘on the back he was like stone from head to feet; in front he was like a human being’ [34], p. 138. He conquered and added Moloka’i to the kingdom of Maui in 1765 [41], ref. [48], p. 40. Between 1775 and 1779, there was continuous fighting between Ka-hekili II and Ka-lani-’ōpu’u from Hawai’i. Ka-hekili II successfully repelled an invasion at Kau-pō in the battle of Ka-lae-hohoa [forehead beaten with clubs] which—suitably—took place in the sweet potato fields. The hostile force from Hawai’i attacked from the seashore, but was routed by Maui’s fighters, who slaughtered the raiders as they tried to advance uphill; the renowned Hawaiian warrior Ke-ku-hau-pi’o ‘stayed the flight of the army among the furrows of the potato patch until he got entangled in the [potato] vines and was saved only by the prompt action of Kamehameha, who brought men to his rescue.’ [33], p. 84, ref. [43]; this was the first battle in which Kamehameha, half-brother to Ka-lani-’ōpu’u, attained great distinction as a soldier. Ultimately, Kamehameha would command a fleet of 960 canoes and 10,000 warriors, and conquer Maui and Moloka’i at the battle of Kawela, in 1795 [33], p. 171, ref. [60], p. 33.

The Kau-pō area also became important because it provided the fastest and easiest land access to Haleakalā Crater [39,41]. Ka-hekili II took advantage of this when he planned a pincers movement and divided his forces in the 1781–1782 war against the invading fleet of Kiwala’o, son of the recently deceased Ka-lani-’ōpu’u; he marched one group south through the Haleakalā Crater by the Pi’i-lani trail (see Section 4.4 below) down the Kau-pō Gap, whilst sending the other army group out of the crater down the Ko’olau Gap, to the north side of Maui, to take the rock fortress of Ka’uiki at Hāna, in the battle of Kaumupika’o [33], p. 116, ref. [48], p. 39.

4.4. The Kiha-a-Pi’i-Lani Trail and Travel across Haleakalā Crater

Haleakalā Crater soon became the main traveling route between the north and south coasts of Maui. In the literature, there are several brief references to the ‘Pi’i-lani highway’; most actually refer to an extensive trail system, Ke Alaloa [the long road], a kīpapa [pavement] road that encircled both Maui’s east and west ends, with a length of approximately 138 miles (~221 km) [61]. The footpath providing access to Haleakalā Crater will be specifically referred to here as the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail. After winning the war against his brother and hoping to gain the trust of his vassals in Maui, Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani decided to do something substantial for the good of all the people, and so he undertook the upgrading of roads, particularly those that were dangerous. In fact, improved roads also gave the ruling mō’ī better access to all districts, to fetch and deliver goods, collect ho’okupu [tribute, or taxes], put down rebellions, and conduct ceremonial rituals [39]. After the trail was built in the early 1600s, it was gradually improved by Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani’s descendants [41], p. 67. The historian Fornander [46], p. 173 tells the story of the ‘Legend of Kihapiilani’: ‘Kihapiilani was one time king of Maui. It was he who caused the road from Kawaipapa to Kahalaoaka to be paved with smooth rock, even to the forests of Oopuloa in Koolau, Maui.’ [1]. The eastern starting point of this trail, Ka-wai-papa gulch, is near Hāna; O’o-puloa point is on the north coast of Maui, at the exit of Ke-’anae Valley (Figure 2), and Kahalaoaka in the isthmus between east and west Maui’ [1,9,11].

Different coastal communities were linked with upland areas by Alanui pii, or mauka-makai [mountain-coast] trails [23]. The construction techniques for these roads have been amply described [39], p. 77, ref. [46], ref. [61], p. 27, ref. [62], p. 5. Footpaths were built with smooth rocks, passed by men standing in line from seashore to upland; the ground was paved with flat, hard stones ‘artfully put into position’ in regular lines, and trails were flanked by large boulders solidly sunk into the ground. Development of the main mauka-makai trail accessing Haleakalā Crater through Kau-pō is also credited to Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani [1,31,48,63].

Emory [59], p. 249, appears to be the only researcher who directly examined the trail on the crater, which reportedly was ‘6–8′ wide’ and ‘paved with blocks of basaltic lava’; Emory could trace the pathway over lava flows at ‘Dante’s Inferno’, around the base of Pu’u-māmane cinder cone, but lost it over the loose tephra and sand substrates. Surprisingly, the trail did not continue toward the Ko’olau Gap; instead, it headed NE toward the Hanakauhi valley [cover of mists], above the Mauna-hina cone, and then along the Kalapawili [twisting] ridge. Emory considered the waterworn pebbles along this section as evidence of the former trail, which continued toward the Wai-’ale pond, on the NE outside slope of the crater; here, Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani is said to have built a dam to hold the water of that small pool [31], p. 41, ref. [59], p. 249. This pond, at ~2073 m elevation, is now believed to be Wai-’ānapanapa [glistening water] in the Hāna Forest Reserve [1], p. 12, ref. [9]. Regrettably, Emory [59], p. 249, did not find further traces of the trail on the western part of the crater; even after repeatedly looking for the pathway exiting through the Ko’olau gap, he ‘…could discover no evidence of another road anywhere in the gap.’ (Figure 9).

Ancient Hawaiians were undoubtedly traveling across Haleakalā Crater well before the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail was built; many old legends provide clues about this. As part of an oral Polynesian tradition, it is not surprising there are many alternate mo’olelo versions of the adventures of the demi-god Māui [31,64], and it is noteworthy that several traditional accounts provide specific details about locations and access to the crater. Westervelt (1910) [65], p. 12 mentioned that ‘One of Maui’s homes was near Kauiki’ [Ka’uiki, at Hāna] [1], p. 17; Thrum (1907) [66], p. 14, also noted that ‘Maui and Hina dwelt together… [and] launched their canoe from the beach at Kaupo, on the island of Maui’.

Probably the best-known story of Māui tells of when he captured and broke off the sun’s rays to slow down its daily path across the sky, allowing more time for his mother Hina to dry her kapa [bark cloth]. Westervelt [65], Ch. IV, p. 4, and Beckwith [47], p. 256, offered some additional tantalizing details to the story: ‘Maui, on his way [up to Haleakalā] to snare the sun, is directed by his mother Hina to his old blind grandmother who is roasting bananas for the sun at a place up the Kaupo valley [my emphasis], where there is a large wiliwili tree. The old woman gives him another snaring rope and an axe, and hides him by the tree until the sun appears’. Wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis) trees were formerly more abundant, but now grow mainly on the dry leeward forests of Maui below ~600 m [20,55,67]; its shimmering red beans were strung to make attractive lei [21]. In essence, these alternate mo’olelo indicate that Hawaiians believed Māui lived somewhere in the easternmost area of Maui, and that he specifically climbed up the Kau-pō valley to enter Haleakalā Crater.

Haleakalā Crater was frequently used as a travel route for kūkini [trained running messengers] between the windward and leeward sides of Maui, as this trail shortened travel time between distant island points considerably [31], p. 24, ref. [39]. Kūkini mainly acted as messengers for chiefs and also to bring fresh fish—said to be ‘still quivering’—wrapped in ki leaves, from distant ponds; they were also employed to steal many items from the enemy—even canoes!—so swiftness of foot and endurance were essential skills. The fastest kūkini could easily run down goats on the mountain, and some became legendary; Kalamea, a swift Maui runner in the service of Lono-a-Pi’i-lani, could allegedly run around (eastern?) Maui in a single day [30], p. 288, ref. [47], p. 337, ref. [66], p. 92. The above descriptions of traditional agricultural systems, complex accounts of ruling ali’i dynasties, and details about the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail highlight the complex historical and agricultural significance of the Kau-pō area and its impact on the contiguous Haleakalā Crater [43].

4.5. Religious and Spiritual Rituals in Haleakalā Crater

Emory [59] discovered three archaeological human burials and several sizable structures in the central crater, including 58 stone terraces, 9 groups of stone shelters, and dozens of small ahus [stone heaps] [1], p. 22, located within the summit craters of several cinder cones: Ka-moa-o-Pele, Halāli’i, Pu’u-naue, and Pu’u-māmane, as well as in Ka Pā Pua’a o Pele [Pele’s pig pen]—a small spatter cone near Halāli’i—and along the Hanakauhi valley above Mauna-hina cinder cone, toward the Kalapawili Ridge; all constructions were next to the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail sections Emory had explored. Emory [59], p. 257 thought terraces and ahus were ‘…altars to a special or local deity, perhaps to Lilinoe, goddess of Haleakala’ [68]. A curious finding near Ka Pā Pua’a o Pele was the ~20 m deep Kawilinau [bottomless pit], a nā piko haua [hiding place of navel strings], which was [59] ‘…found tucked away in crevices the umbilical cords of Kaupo babies…’ (including the cord of Mr. Leonard Poouahi, his adult guide from Kau-pō!). Umbilical cords left by native Hawaiians were wrapped in kapa or colored cloth, tied with the hair of the child’s mother or with fiber cord, and then hidden in crevices and sealed with wedged stones; or else, they were packed in small glass bottles. This ritual had several possible purposes, chiefly to ensure the protection of the newborn baby, to make the child strong, or for ‘preventing the child from becoming a thief’ [16,28,31,63].

Emory [59], p. 253 also discovered a heiau, Keahuamanono [the altar of Manono], with a small (~17.4 × 11 m) platform perched lengthwise atop the southern rim of Haleakalā Crater, at 2570 m. This heiau was reportedly built by Kaoao in the early 1700s [1], p. 21, ref. [69]. The heiau was described in 1923 as ‘…covered with smooth, water-worn stones from the shore’ and what arduous work it must have been to carry these kinds of stones up here to the mountain.’ Additional religious sites have been more recently discovered in the alpine zone [41], p. 38, ref. [42].

4.6. Other Traditional Human Activities in Haleakalā Crater and Resulting Impact on Avifauna

As noted, Haleakalā Crater was primarily used as a traveling route for travelers, messengers, and warrior armies, and also as a site for several religious pursuits, rituals, and burials. Other traditional specialized human activities were permitted, including bird hunting for food or feathers, and plant gathering for medicinal and ceremonial uses [31,53,70,71]. The collection of weapon materials such as sling stones, or quarrying of fine-grained basalts for adzes was also significant [72]. Malo [30], p. 40, noted, ‘In the mountains were found some very hard rocks which probably had never been melted by the volcanic fires of Pele. Axes were fashioned from some of these rocks. Sling stones (ma’a pōhaku, aka. ‘alā) were essential war implements during battles. Small, high-density basalt rocks were gathered from specific outcrops and locations, and then carefully crafted and polished into biconically-shaped projectiles that could be vigorously hurled by an expert slinger. Ma’a pōhaku were not shaped by flaking, but by pecking, a technique in which rocks were continuously hit with a hammer stone to break up and remove surficial pieces; stones were also carefully polished by rolling them repeatedly between larger flat stones with lateral motions from left to right. Thus a double-cone shape gradually developed (Figure 10). This shape allowed the missile to quickly revolve around its main axis and attain high velocities after being launched by experienced warriors. Most Hawaiian ma’a pōhaku measured ~6–7 × ~5 cm and weighed ~135–140 g; these could easily be carried in bulk to the battlefield, in small handwoven baskets [10,56,58,73].

The physical strength and deadly accuracy of skillful-slinging warriors were legendary. Fornander [58], p. 224, tells the mythical and improbable story of Kemamo, a noted warrior from Kaua’i, who, during competition, ‘threw his stone, which went six miles and over, and it only fell and rolled after it had entered into the seventh mile…’; then, Kawaikuauhoe, the best kūkini runner of the island, went to pick up the projectile. These deadly weapons required combatants to use sturdy and ingenuously crafted helmets (mahiole) or at least simple skullcaps, which provided cushioning against impact or deflected projectiles, hopefully protecting their heads from being split open [53].

Even though human activities and heiau structures were concentrated on the eastern and central crater, its western end was also greatly impacted. Hawaiians likely reached the west rim by climbing Haleakalā’s outer flank, instead of crossing the crater westward from Kau-pō. Molohai heiau, an important religious site at 701 m near Kula (western Haleakalā flank), was intermittently occupied by bird hunters after the 11th century; Molohai yielded abundant bones of several forest-adapted perching bird species—including honeycreepers, finches, and flycatchers—that became extinct between A.D. 1057 and 1440. Kolb [41], p. 417, concluded the site is ‘…notable because it definitely links the role of human predation and the extirpation of terrestrial avifauna.’ About 57 archaeological campsites were discovered in the palis along the western rim of Haleakalā Crater, at 2020–3030 m [74] (Figure 11); these sites provided evidence of repeated short-term visits associated with the quarrying of high-quality basalt outcrops and the collection of birds for food and feathers. Excavations and sample examination by ¹⁴C analysis revealed the sites were recurrently occupied ca A.D. 1410–1670; abundant bird bones showing evidence of human consumption indicate that hunters harvested several bird species, including nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), ‘alalā (Corvus hawaiiensis), and ‘ōma’o (Myadestes lanaiensis), but particularly targeted ‘ua’u [dark-rumped petrels] (Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis) [53,72].

Petrel hunting was focused on the western crater rim, as this area contained—and still does—the largest u’au colony in the Hawaiian Islands. These birds, now listed as endangered species, nest almost exclusively in Haleakalā Crater, where they inhabit deep, 1–10 m long burrows tunneled in soft cinder Andisols on rock ledges below high-elevation cliffs at 2400–3055 m, near the summit [53,75,76,77]. This represents one of the highest nesting seabird colonies in the world; present surveys suggest that less than two thousand birds, including ≤650 breeding pairs, remain in the state of Hawai’i [78,79,80].

Smaller bird species, formerly more common, were also hunted in large numbers. Several lava tubes in east Maui, up to 2830 m, have yielded abundant bird bone deposits; these caves are clustered near cinder cones on the SW Haleakalā Rift Zone and on the upper Kī-pahulu valley, along the East Rift Zone and directly east of the Kau-pō Gap (Figure 3B). Lava caves contained many skeletons of small perching birds, including species of finches (Drepanididae), flycatchers, and honey creepers (Meliphagidae), as well as dark-rumped petrels [81,82,83]. Surprisingly, the only passerine remains preserved in two high-altitude rainforest caves—Lua Manu [bird cave], at 1830 m, and Puka Moa [fowl hole], at 1860 m—of Kī-pahulu valley were of an extinct thrush (‘ōma’o, Myadestes sp., also known as Phaeornis obscurus) and of an extinct finch-billed honeycreeper (Mauka grosbeak, Orthiospiza howarthi), whereas the abundant native species now found in the vicinity were not represented in the caves [81], p. 52, ref. [84]. Fossil remains of ‘ōma’o thrushes were also plentiful in other lava tube deposits of leeward Haleakalā [85] p. 343. The small ‘ōma’o might have formerly been quite common near the crater, as Ka-ma’o-li’i, an impressive cinder cone close to the Ko’olau Gap (Figure 1), distinctively bears this bird’s name [9,10]. Radiocarbon dating of numerous bird bone samples indicates that birds endemic to the high-elevation Haleakalā forests declined rapidly in the early 16th century and possibly became extinct before European contact in 1778 [83,86,87,88] (Figure 12).

4.7. Collapse of Traditional Hawaiian Society and Lifestyles

The sophisticated systems of social organization and resource distribution gradually fell apart in Maui and the Hawaiian archipelago after the 1650s. Historical accounts of the 1700s—as outlined above—indicate much of this decline was due to constant warfare among the chiefs of O’ahu, Hawai’i, and Maui; this seriously disrupted the lives of Hawaiians [33,39,58,89]. Historians refer to the 17th and 18th centuries as ‘The Hundred Years War’ [48]. All these internecine conflicts affected the capacity of agricultural production systems to support increased populations, which reached their limits and even began declining before European contact [45], p. 4, ref. [72]. Some traditional activities in the mountains, such as bird hunting and quarrying of basalt rocks, had already sharply waned after ~1670 [74].

Soon after, the ‘discovery’ by Capt. James Cook in 1778, multiple continental diseases were introduced; this ‘horrible bacteriological assault’ decimated the Hawaiian population by as much as 90–95% over the subsequent century [36,39,40,90,91]. Data from Kahikinui—on the SW slopes of Haleakalā, east of Kau-pō (Figure 7)—show that the population had peaked between 1700 and 1800 A.D., reaching a density of 43–57 people/km². After the fateful contact with foreigners, and the arrival of diseases, the district population plummeted to 7.2 persons/km² by 1831 [51]. By the late 18th century, lifestyles in Maui and other Hawaiian islands were rapidly changing; drastic political, religious, and cultural changes, along with global trade, merchants, whaling expeditions, and foreign explorers, contributed to quickly altering the traditional way of Hawaiian life.

4.8. Post-Contact Activities and Uses of Halealakā Crater in the Modern Period

4.8.1. Introduced Animals and Impact on Crater Ecology

Contact with foreigners inevitably brought a number of changes that would gradually affect the ecology of Haleakalā; of these, the introduction of animals set in motion several environmental modifications. Vegetation and soils in Haleakalā Crater were affected by mammals imported after contact with newcomers. Goats (Capra hircus) were brought to the island of Ni’ihau by Capt. Cook on 1 February 1778, and to Kaua’i by Capt. George Vancouver on 13 March 1792; Vancouver also presented several goats to Maui chief Ka-hekili II in 1793 [39], p. 117. Animals had become established on most Hawaiian islands by the 1780s and multiplied rapidly, soon becoming feral and spreading to remote mountain areas, where they concentrated in open high-altitude shrublands, steep gulches, and inaccessible summits [85]; by 1850, just 72 years after goat introduction in the Hawaiian archipelago, Hawai’i exported 26,519 goat skins/year, with a total value of USD 3977. Goats had now become a valuable resource [92].

Several early explorers noted the presence of feral goats on Haleakalā Crater. The U.S. Exploring Expedition—henceforth Ex.Ex.—[93], p. 254, observed in 1841 ‘bullock-tracks… and a few goats’; they also noted the presence of wild dogs near the summit [30]. In 1869, Alexander [94], p. 46, commented on ‘…the profound solitude and silence [in the crater], broken only by the flocks of wild goats.’ In 1873, Nordhoff [95], p. 557, remarked on how ‘…a few wild goats scramble over the rocks, or rush down the nearly perpendicular cliffs.’ Soon, goats became abundant; by 1913, Rock [96], p. 81, mentioned ‘Wild goats are doing great damage to it [the silversword plant], as they devour it eagerly, and so also do cattle, the arch-enemy of the Hawaiian forests’; Rock also noted goats constantly loosened huge boulders, which brought with them sizable avalanches of rocks to the depths below.

By the 1940s, a population of over 4000 animals was counted in the crater; the peak goat population was reached around 1950 [92]. Due to the severe browsing damage they inflicted on natural vegetation—especially to silverswords (Argyroxiphium sandwicense) and māmane shrubs (see below) [80]—HNP started hunting goats in the 1930s; A total of 11,870 animals were killed between 1946 and 1963 when ~600 goats still roamed the crater during summer months [92]. By the early 1980s, numbers of goats at Haleakalā were still estimated at 2000–4000. The construction of a 57 km long sturdy ‘goat-proof’ fence started in 1976; completed in 1986 [77], this fence encircled high-elevation Park areas and reduced goat populations to just a few hundred animals (Figure 13); by 1992, less than a dozen goats remained in the crater [85,97]. In their heyday, feral goats often chose as bedding sites the small cliff ledges and outcrops where most dark-rumped petrel burrows are located [53,77,78], but no evidence of negative interactions between the birds and goats has been ascertained.

Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) were brought by Capt. Vancouver from Santa Barbara, California, to the island of Hawai’i in 1793 [98]. The king placed a 10-year protective kapu upon the cattle to allow them to reproduce; between 1793 and ~1811, new animals were added and, as stock rapidly multiplied, cattle numbers dramatically increased and were introduced in other islands [33], p. 164, ref. [37]. By the 1830s roaming herds of cattle were driving subsistence farmers in Maui away from their land, and the government built an extensive wall inland from the Ka’eo and Makena coast (SW section of east Maui). In February 1846, king Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) toured Maui and visited Makawao; the Honolulu newspaper The Polynesian [99] reported that ‘…on some parts of Maui the cattle have done much mischief by trespassing on the plantations, and driving the owners from their little farms.’ [37], ref. [39], p. 117.

By the 1850s, cattle ranchers used extensive areas adjacent to Haleakalā Crater along its western and southern boundaries; cattle grazed up to the mountain rim, at ~10,000 feet [~3048 m] [23,74]. Wild bullocks constituted a threat to early crater visitors, who frequently mentioned them in their journals [1]. After 1900, and during the early 1920s, cattle drives through the rugged east Maui uplands delivered market-bound beef to a slaughterhouse in La Pérouse Bay, across Molo-kini islet (Figure 2), where steamers waited at nearby Makena Harbor [39], p. 189. Cattlemen periodically brought the animals to graze in the crater itself, down the Ke-one-he’e-he’e [Sliding Sands] trail, which were left to run on the range in the Kau-pō Gap [100], p. 95. This activity continued until Haleakalā was made a National Park in 1916 when about 100 head of cattle were still annually brought into the crater; some animals remained in the crater until finally excluded in the 1930s [85,92].

Horses (Equus ferus) were introduced by Capt. Richard J. Cleveland of Salem, Mass., who brought them from Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) to Kawaihae, Hawai’i, and to Lahaina, Maui, in June 1803 [98]. Even though horses have been used to explore Haleakalā Crater since the early 1800s, they apparently never posed a substantial problem to this area; however, a small herd of about 10 wild horses was present in the crater until 1942, when they were removed [92]. Feral-introduced pigs (Sus scrofa) are still abundant in nearby mid-elevation rainforests, but they often come into the Park in search of food and may cause significant negative impacts on soils and plants by digging and feeding in high-elevation crater shrublands and grasslands; pigs are common up to ~2600 m and often seen near the summit, at ~3000 m [85].

Wild dogs have been present in HNP since the early 19th century [92]; in former days, their large packs roamed the crater and harassed hikers with their ferocity [1]. Although much less common now, dog tracks have been seen near trails on the crater floor, and along precipitous goat trails along the crater rim. Examination of droppings, and goat hairs and feathers in them, showed that dogs in the crater eat goats and a game bird, the chukar (Alectoris chukar) [85] (see below).

In an encouraging contrast to all these imported animals, the Hawaiian nēnē geese (Branta sandvicensis) offers a case of successful reintroduction of a native bird to HNP. The nēnē—the state bird of Hawai’i—was formerly much more common than it is now (Figure 14A). Nēnē were hunted by ancient Hawaiians both for their feathers and meat [53], which was a choice food; as Malo [30], p. 62, noted, ‘Its body is excellent eating.’ Bird populations plummeted in modern times, and by the 1890s, nēnē had been eliminated from Maui; it was then estimated only 30 wild nēnē remained in other Hawaiian islands. After careful breeding, 285 nēnē were released into the crater between 1949 and 1978, and by 1994, there were ~200–250 birds within the Park [1,80,92]. This bird is mainly a grass grazer, and eats a variety of native and alien species, depending on plant availability; at Haleakalā, the blooms of gosmer (Hypochoeris radicata) are a choice food for them, and occasionally they also consume the small fruits of several native nanoshrubs [1]. Following the extirpation of goats from the crater, vegetation density increased in many areas; this expansion in food supply may actually have improved nēnē habitats, especially in the Kau-pō Gap sector [80].

Another significant bird in Haleakalā is the chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), a small game bird introduced from the Asian mountains to the USA in 1893 (Figure 14B); in Maui, it is found on the rugged uplands in and around HNP, where bird hunting has become a culturally supported subsistence practice [31], p. 104. The chukar is abundant in the crater, where it lives at higher elevations, at ~7500–10,000 feet [~2286–3048 m] [1,92]; it favors steep, rocky slopes, where it makes shallow depressions and frequently bathes with dust, to keep its feathers healthy. It is a very agile bird, not easily spotted, and quickly runs and scampers away in search of cover. Like the nēnē, the chukar is a herbivore, and shares many food preferences with it; yet, it does not appear to negatively compete with the geese. In fact, chukars occupy an important niche previously filled by extinct native birds and greatly aid in the dispersal and germination of seeds, and thus might be beneficial for crater ecosystems [78,92,101].

Silversword numbers in HNP were swiftly reduced by goat browsing and hiker vandalism between the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rock [96] reported in 1913: ‘They still occur in the thousands in Haleakala crater… the steep slopes in the upper part of Kaupo gap are covered with this most beautiful plant.’, but by the late 1920s, these rosettes were believed to be near extinction [80,92]. Stiff regulations, goat hunting, and later the fence around the Park helped to increase silverswords; by 1972, some 43,000 plants were censused [102], and by 1995, ~65,000 were tallied [103]. However, despite this successful recovery, global climatic change has recently reversed silversword population growth, as altered precipitation patterns cause an increased frequency of lethal soil-water stress in the intensely dry highlands and under the clear cloudless, skies of Haleakalā [104]. Recent field experiments with planted silverswords at different elevations have been initiated to monitor and evaluate patterns of rosette mortality and survival associated with drought [105] (Figure 15).

Like other leguminous plants, māmane is associated with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria. A highly polymorphic species, it can grow as a shrub or as a ≤15 m tall tree. Māmane shrubs were preferred for browsing by feral goats, which greedily consumed its long twisted pods, twigs, and leaves, as high as they could climb, often severely damaging plants; wildlife biologists consider māmane an ‘ice cream’ plant for feral goats; their high nitrogen content probably contributes to their high palatability to animals in a volcanic area where soils are low in nitrogen [1,18,50,92]. Before encircling HNP with a fence, the few older surviving māmane shrubs in the crater showed a distinctive ‘browse line’ at ~1.5 m height above the ground; now, the plants have swiftly recovered from goat suppression, both vegetatively and producing abundant seedlings [50]. Following goat exclusion, the vigorous growth and reproduction of this plant allowed its rapid expansion into many of its characteristic habitats across the crater (Figure 16).

4.8.2. Development of Infrastructure in Haleakalā National Park in the 20th Century

The first recorded ‘ascent of an extinguished volcano’ took place on 20 August 1828, when three American missionaries from Lahaina Luna reached the western rim of Haleakalā [106], p. 248. During the next 100 years, numerous parties climbed the mountain, exploring and mapping it [63]. Visitors had to arduously travel on horseback up the rugged western mountain flank, following a narrow horse trail that eventually deteriorated into a jumble of confusing cattle tracks. In 1847, Damon [107], p. 117, wrote, ‘We had travelled between 25 and 30 miles, and on account of the roughness of the road were compelled to walk our horses nearly the entire distance. Weary and exhausted… thus ended a day’s excursion excessively fatiguing.’ Travelers could shelter overnight in two small lava caves near the summit, but after 1894, visitors would rest in a small cabin, the C.H. Dickey Summit Rest House, near the crater’s edge, before descending into the crater [1,63,108]. Travel would substantially change with the construction of the Haleakalā Highway, which would eventually ‘bring the world to Maui.’ [108].

Haleakalā was established by the Act of Congress on 1 August 1916, but the formal dedication was delayed until 1921; Haleakalā, with 19,276 acres area, originally was part of Hawaii National Park, which also included the present Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, on the island of Hawai’i; Haleakalā later became a separate, independent unit in 1961 [1,108]. During the 1910s, Maui residents thought a road to the volcano summit would be a desirable development. The first step was the construction of a highway on the western flank of Haleakalā, from Puka-lani to Pu’u-niauniau, at 6849 feet [~2088 m] altitude; this road reached the boundary of HNP and was built by the Hawaii Territorial authorities and completed in April 1933, at a cost of USD 504,000.

The 10.6-mile-long (~17-km-long) paved two-lane Haleakalā Highway also known as Crater Road (Hawai’i State Road 378) cost an additional USD 37,600, and provided car access to the summit; it was dedicated on 23 February 1935 [1,108]. The project followed strict NPS policies that protected the landscape; Merel Sager, the landscape architect in charge of the project, was adamantly opposed to overenthusiastic administrators who wanted to build a road into and through the crater; fortunately, Sager’s conservation ideals prevailed. Alignment and construction techniques were carefully designed to decrease the visual and physical impact of the road. The steep highway, with a maximum incline of 15%, has numerous switchbacks—hairpin turns—blind turns, and steep dropoffs (Figure 17). Park visits surged, and by the end of 1935, a 455% increase in visitors over one month was reported; numbers kept increasing, and 23,668 people visited Haleakalā during a 9-month period in 1938 [108].

A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp of 25 men was established in Pu’u-niauniau soon after the road was built; a part-time camp was also set up within the crater. The CCC built three cabin shelters in remote areas of the crater at Ka-palaoa, Pali-kū, and Hōlua, in 1937 [1,108] (Figure 18). The CCC camp was abandoned in April 1941, when it was turned over to the U.S. Army. Maps published during the 19th century [37,59,94,109] show the crater was traversed by numerous trails—including traces of the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail—but close inspection reveals that those trails did not follow the same routes as today’s routes; even before the CCC helped to expand and upgrade trails, the National Park Service undertook improvement of some, such as Hale-mau’u and Sliding Sands trails, in 1929, and the trail down the Kau-pō Gap in 1937 [1] (Figure 19A,B).

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Haleakalā was closed until Feb. 1943. Right before WWII, the U.S. Army began planning a defense installation at the summit of Pu’u-’ula’ula, just outside the boundary of HNP, but this was not operational until prior to the battle of Midway, in June 1942, when radar and telecommunications equipment were ready. In November 1943, several 90-foot-tall radio masts were installed after leveling the summit [1,63]. The war also had other effects on crater use, as trails across the loose cinders of the crater floor were utilized for long-distance training marches by the U.S. Army Infantry and the Marine Corps between 1942 and 1945; in 1964, all former military installations were removed. The Kenneth Mees Solar Observatory was built on the summit site—also known as ‘Science City’—and was dedicated in 1964 [31,63] (Figure 20). From the beginning, public testimony hearings in Maui revealed conflicting views about the construction of these observatories. Many thought building a solar telescope ‘at the House of the Sun’ was very appropriate; whereas some native Hawaiians complained that the proposed observatory would be an ‘eye sore’, ‘a monstrosity’, and a ‘desecration of a sacred mountain’ [31], p. 56, especially since Līlīnoe dwelled in Pu’u-’ula’ula, the summit cinder cone. Astronomical facilities were expanded and greatly upgraded in 2020, when the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), the world’s largest, with a 4 m aperture, was completed in November 2021.

Today, Haleakalā National Park is the most popular attraction in Maui. Visitation to HNP reached a peak of 1,963,187 visitors per year in 1999 [110]. Tourist numbers have fluctuated over the past decade from 999,394 in 2019 [110,111] to 1,112,390 in 2017, except in 2020, when visitation dropped dramatically—down by 67.9%—to just 319,147, following Park closures due to the coronavirus pandemic [110,112]. By 2022, visitor numbers to HNP had recovered and increased again to 1.09 million people per year [113].

‘The history of Polynesia, and of Hawai’i, is haunted by such silences as these: the silence of men who spoke little, and who wrote even less, and who are now silent forever. These silences place limits upon what a historian may himself say or write with conviction’. Michael E. Chauvin, 2000 [114], p. 92.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

The specific details and events of the Hawaiian past will probably remain elusive and largely unknown to us. Hawaiian civilization remained for centuries an ‘oral culture’, with no knowledge of writing whatsoever [115], p. 1; as Hawaiian became a written language only after ~1822, the ideas and concepts of the ancients were never directly recorded in written form. Thus, it is fortunate that chroniclers of old Hawai’i, including Malo, Kamakau, Fornander, Westervelt, Thrum, Beckwith, and Pukui [13,22,30,32,33,46,47,54,58,65,66] were able to record, preserve, and transcribe so many aspects of their vanishing culture, so richly represented by numerous chants, genealogies, poems, stories, legends, tales, proverbs, and sayings [22,89].

The lack of written records might be considered by some an unfortunate limitation of this and similar historical studies [89,114]; however, such an initial assumption should be moderated by a careful appraisal of the actual value of oral traditions [89]. Some authors have concluded that oral traditions may actually preserve the details of stories more closely than the printed stories themselves; this may be due, in part, to the extraordinary significance that native cultures often place on their heritage and traditions [115], ref. [116], p. 63. A thorough analysis of Hawaiian oral traditions established that the information they document is trustworthy and shows a reliable picture of past events and individuals, especially of genealogical lines of ancestral rulers, their families, and local political alliances [89,116,117,118]. An exhaustive governmental study concluded that traditional Hawaiian mo’olelo [stories] represent a valuable accumulation of knowledge that recounts ‘…the history of the governance of Hawai’i by Native Hawaiian leaders, from one generation to the next, until the present.’ [119], p. 24. The Kumulipo [120], probably the most significant oral chant of Hawaiian history, recounts in its 2000 lines an extended genealogy of 100 generations of ruling chiefs over 20 to 23 centuries—assuming 20 or more years per generation—prior to the arrival of foreigners to Hawai’i in 1778 [89], ref. [117], p. 29.

Remarkably, in addition to detailed royal genealogies, some oral traditions recently analyzed by vulcanologists include chants referring to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, which make unequivocal reference to the two largest volcanic episodes that affected the island of Hawai’i since human settlement: the ~60-year-long ‘Ailā’au eruption in the 1400s, and the subsequent development of the Kīlauea caldera [121,122]. Some oral Australian Aboriginal traditions have been observed to contain relevant geomorphological explanations about the role of ancient ancestors in creating local landforms [116], p. 54.

For practical purposes, and specifically for this study, I believe the proven reliability of Hawaiian oral traditions means that—for example—we may never exactly ascertain any details regarding the time when the Kiha-a-Pi’i-lani trail was started, or finished, but we can reasonably assume that it was actually built during the reign of that Hawaiian ruler, around the 1600s or so, that it served a significant role in island communications and transactions, and that the socio-political conditions that led to its construction were accurately portrayed by Maui’s oral traditions.

In summary, the historical events specifically recounted here may readily be grouped into three distinct stages. First, the ancient Hawaiian era, from about the 1400s until contact with foreigners in 1778. This long period saw a rapid development of settlements, population expansion, and growth of traditional agriculture in the Kau-pō sector near the Nāholokū fan, and in contiguous areas of east Maui; such geographical expansion reached its peak around A.D.1650 or the 1700s. This historic period was also characterized by a series of wars between local and inter-island ali’i nui kings for primacy, and eventually total control, over the island of Maui and nearby islands.

Significant aspects of this period include the building of heiau and temples, and the different religious uses—including human burials—in Haleakalā Crater; the improvement of roads and pathways—such as the Kiha-a-Pi‘i-lani trail—enhanced communication and travel between distant island areas and the intensive exploitation of crater resources, especially the hunting of bird colonies, and quarrying of fine-grained basalts. Societal collapse due to disease epidemics, and substantial cultural changes, ultimately ended this period catastrophically during the late 1700s.

After human populations crashed in east Maui, the second historical stage followed. King Kamehameha I made Lahaina the capital of Hawai’i in 1802, and his son, Kamehameha II (Liholiho), officially terminated the kapu [taboo] system in October 1819 [123,124]. Now, the focus of human interactions with Haleakala Crater switched from Kau-pō to the western side of the mountain. The 19th century was characterized by scientific exploration and mapping of the crater both by Hawaiians and newcomers [93] starting in 1828. Along with crater explorers, increased visitors, and development came also purposely or accidentally introduced animals, such as goats, horses, cattle, and wild dogs; some of these became problematic and negatively impacted the ecology of some plants, notably the silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense subsp. macrocephallum) and māmane (Sophora chrysophylla).

The third and last stage in this story comprises the 20th and 21st centuries. During this period, the area was protected by national legislation, becoming a National Park in 1916. Also, efforts to eradicate introduced animals and to foster the reproduction of silverswords and other plants were initially successful. The building of a modern road allowed quick automobile access to the Park after 1935; the improvement of trails and new facilities also facilitated increased tourist visitation.

A few centuries ago, the crater was crossed just by an occasional lone traveler, trained kūkini messengers, and perhaps a sporadic group of warriors trying to surprise their enemy. Today, Haleakalā is the destination for an extravagantly high number of visitors, close to two million each year. Although only a small fraction of these may hike across the crater, their exponentially increasing numbers are of great concern to the National Park Service, which is confronted with multiple problems, ranging from wildlife and vegetation disruption, vandalism and defacement of cultural Indigenous features, soil erosion and unauthorized hiking outside of established trails, the proliferation of human refuse and trash, and growing pressures increasingly put on extremely fragile ecosystems, such as alpine areas. Overall, the protection of Park resources in perpetuity, while faced with large crowds, seems but an impossible task [125,126,127]. And then, in addition to this, the unpredictable effects that climate change might cause to vegetation or animals [104,105], will also need to be taken into account.

It has been my privilege to conduct geoecological research in National Parks, in Hawai’i and elsewhere, for the last five decades. I sincerely hope future generations of visitors will also be able to feel some exhilaration and sublime moments, as I have experienced in Haleakalā Crater.