Lahaina Celebrates Recovery of Historic 151-Year-Old Banyan Tree That Survived Devastating Maui Wildfire

The August 2023 Maui wildfires were devastating for the Hawaiian island’s people, wildlife and flora, including a century-and-a-half-old banyan tree in the beach community of Lahaina.

The historic town is celebrating the landmark’s recovery, as parts of the 151-year-old banyan tree have begun to regrow and are even thriving in Lahaina’s decimated waterfront district.

“You see a lot of long, long branches with hundreds of leaves back on the tree,” said Duane Sparkman, Maui county arborist committee chair, as The Associated Press reported. Sparkman added that some of the great banyan’s branches have begun to produce fruit. “It’s pretty amazing to see that much of the tree come back.”

A team of volunteers and arborists has helped the banyan recover and rejuvenate after being scorched by the blaze. The ancient tree has been a gathering place for generations, reaching 60 feet into the sky, with multiple trunks covering almost an acre of land. Its leaves provide shade from the intense Maui sun, while its branches offer a nesting place for the island’s tropical birds.

“The rest of the block (mauka of the tree and Front Street) was one-story (buildings), and it had these two giant monkeypod trees between the banyan and the buildings across the street,” said Maui County Arborist Tim Griffith, as reported by Maui Now. “So that section didn’t burn as hot. The fire hit the monkeypods, went up the monkeypods, and kind of just flashed over the top. The monkeypods went up, died almost instantly. The bark started falling off within weeks. So they definitely took the brunt (of the fire) and acted as blockers for the banyan.”

Griffith explained that, though the tree’s leaves were affected, “nothing down below was really burned. There’s no char on the trunks.”

He added that even most of the wooden benches beneath the tree survived, as well as the lamps, also made of wood.

“So, it was more of a flash over the top, as opposed to just the fire coming in at ground level,” Griffith said.

On the corner of Lahaina’s Front and Hotel Streets, the majestic tree has been visited by millions of tourists, The Associated Press reported.

“It is listed as an Exceptional Tree by the County of Maui which gives it protections similar to an historic designated building,” Kimberly Flook, Lahaina Restoration Foundation’s deputy executive director, told Newsweek after the fire. “As a 150-year-old tree in the center of the historic town, it has been a natural gathering place through the years. It has hosted luaus, festivals, hula demonstrations, picnics, war memorials, etc. over its lifespan. On a less formal level, locals and visitors alike have enjoyed its shade and benches as well as the sound of the mynah birds in its branches every evening.”

For some, the historic tree is a reminder of colonial rule, which stripped the land from Native Hawaiians while suppressing their culture and language, reported The Associated Press.

A beacon of hope for the now abandoned town, the tree was planted in 1873, 25 years before Hawaii became an official United States territory. Maui’s oldest living banyan tree is not an indigenous species, but was shipped to the island from India to mark the 50th anniversary of Protestant missionaries arriving in Lahaina for the first time.

The fire that killed over 100 people caused the tree to lose so much moisture that roughly half of its branches died, according to Sparkman. The volunteers working to restore the resilient banyan removed its lost branches so all its energy could flow toward those that were still alive.

To monitor the tree’s energy, those working with it screwed in 14 sensors to keep track of cambium — sap — moving through its branches.

“It’s basically a heart monitor,” Sparkman said, as The Associated Press reported. “As we’ve been treating the tree, the heartbeat’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.”

There are plans to install tubes containing compost to help the enormous tree’s vertical roots establish themselves in the soil, as well as an irrigation system to feed small amounts of water through the tubes and irrigate the tree’s canopy and surrounding land.

Sparkman said approximately 25,000 trees were lost to the fire in Lahaina, including fruit trees in residents’ yards, like native ulu, or breadfruit.

Before colonists arrived, bringing tourism and commercial agriculture, thousands of ulu peppered the landscape. After the fire, only two out of about a dozen were left.

Sparkman founded nonprofit Treecovery in an effort to help restore trees in Lahaina. The organization has been growing 3,500 trees in “micro-nurseries” throughout the island, until residents can move back.

“We have grow hubs all over the island of Maui to grow these trees out for as long as they need. So when the people are ready, we can have them come pick these trees up and they can plant them in their yards,” Sparkman said, as reported by The Associated Press. “It’s important that we do this for the families.”