ISLAND OF MAUI MAUI Located about 30 miles NNW of the Island of Hawaiÿi, Maui is the second youngest island in the Hawaiian Chain and roughly one-fifth the size (729 square miles) of the Big Island. It is formed from two shield volcanoes, the West Maui Mountains to the west and Haleakalā to the east. The highest point in West Maui is Puÿu Kukui at 5,788 feet. Haleakalā has a maximum elevation of just over 10,000 feet at Puÿu Ulaÿula. The two volcanoes are connected by a narrow isthmus about six miles across. Rainfall on the volcanoes is about 350-400 inches annually on the windward slopes where streams are most common. Although habitats for aquatic animals living in fresh water have been reduced sharply by agricultural practices, scattered populations of indigenous stream animals (fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans) can be found in perennial and intermittent streams on the island. xli
Maui has six regions (outlined in yellow) and 211 watersheds. The Atlas includes 98 watersheds. Of the 211 watersheds only 88 of them are considered to have a perennial stream by the USGS Digital Line Graphs, 1983. About 37.4 percent of the island s watersheds (highlighted in pink) and 66.0 percent of the island s perennial streams have been surveyed by the Division of Aquatic Resources, by the former Division of Fish and Game, by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and during other nongovernmental surveys. In addition to surveys of aquatic macrofauna (fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks), damselfly surveys and museum insect collections are an important source of information for the island s streams. Well over half of the island is unprotected, a fraction is protected but unmanaged, and almost 10 percent receives permanent biodiversity protection. About one fourth of the land is managed for multiple purposes. Unprotected land on the island is close to the state average, protected but unmanaged land is much less than on other islands, and about the same percentage of land on Maui receives permanent protection as is average statewide. Management for multiple uses is about three times greater on the island than elsewhere. Land cover and use on Maui is mostly (76 percent) scrub/shrub, evergreen forest, and grassland and approximates the statewide occurrence of these vegetation types. There is appreciably more cultivated land, less bare land, and about the same high and low intensity developed land as among other islands. xlii
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Land Use Districts are mostly conservation and agriculture in amounts that nearly match the statewide occurrence of these activities. Urban use coincides with the percentage among all the islands, and rural use is slightly higher (1 percent vs. 0 percent). Stewardship of the land on Maui is mostly private and by the State (87 percent when combined), with private land somewhat higher than the state average and State ownership slightly lower. More land is afforded to Hawaiian Homestead than the statewide average. Federal land is similar to the percentages throughout the islands. Little military stewardship of the land on Maui exists although this category includes about four percent of the land statewide. xliv
References: Juvik, S. P. & J. O. Juvik, 1998. Atlas of Hawaiÿi, 3 rd edition, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu. 333 pp. Parham, J. E. 2002. Spatial models of Hawaiian streams and stream fish habitats. Ph.D. Dissertation, Louisiana State University, 149 pp. http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/streams_bibliography.html http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar/streams_survey_data.html xlv
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