![]() ![]() The Kohala Mountain Watershed Partnership, like nine others around the state, has DLNR and private landowners working collaboratively to manage forests for protection of critical watershed resources. ![]() In 1903, agricultural interests successfully advocated for the agency to be established because, even then, they needed forest protection to protect dwindling water supplies, The nation’s first forestry agency was created in Hawai‘i. Parker Ranch has a long history of supporting forestry efforts in Kohala, demonstrated by being one of the first signatories and supporters of the original Kohala Watershed Partnership in 2003,” Judd explained. “I came on board in 2021 to implement some of the management activities that we’ve been proposing. The ranch identified forestry as a strategic priority in 2017 with the hiring of its first forestry manager. “As we look forward and continue to develop our in-house forestry program, we are looking at ways to incorporate more forestry across the landscape to benefit our livestock operation, benefit the environment and provide those critical ecological functions that native forests provide.” He says Parker Ranch, the town of Waimea, surrounding communities, and other agricultural interests rely heavily on forests and the watersheds in the Kohala Mountains. “I don’t think cattle ranching here and forestry are mutually exclusive at all,” Judd said. Until a year and a half ago he was a specialist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife Natural Area Reserve system. Zachary Judd, the ranch’s forestry manager, has a unique perspective on this linkage. Agriculture and Waimea are intrinsically linked. Its ranching heritage is visible pretty much everywhere. Waimea grew up around the sprawling Parker Ranch, one of the first and largest cattle operations in the state. This Hawai‘i Island town, on the southern slopes of the Kohala Mountains, has a rich and storied ranching history. ![]()
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