Hidden History

Historical studies of agriculture generally focus on wetland and dryland cultivation because these forms of agriculture leave behind physical infrastructure that can be observed and mapped. But this approach tends to ignore agroforestry systems, in which trees represent the infrastructure.

In an effort to examine Hawaiʻi’s agroforestry – the purposeful integration of trees and crops (or livestock) together – a team led by Noa Lincoln of the Dept. of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences has published five new studies on these forgotten forests.

Their findings, which appear in the journals Ecology & Society, Agricultural Systems, Pacific Science, Human Ecology, and Frontiers indicate that ancient Native Hawaiians “changed large amounts of the landscape, but they did it in a way that preserved ecosystem function and health,” he says. “They were not walking lightly upon the landscape, they were walking intelligently.”

Read the full UH News story. Photo caption: Agroforestry map of the Hawaiian Islands.