WENATCHEE — A Wenatchee-founded contract company is helping save a 150-year-old Lahaina banyan tree scorched by the fire that ravaged the town earlier this month.
Goodfellow Bros., based in both Wenatchee and Kihei, Hawaii, among other locations, is lending its water trucks to keep the tree watered, according to Leif Sjostrand, Goodfellow Bros. senior estimator.
Sjostrand said Goodfellow is often called to help with wildfires in Hawaii, which are common but also usually extinguished before destroying lives and livelihoods. The company was called to help block roads this time, too, he said.
But someone also called last week with whom Goodfellow does business, explaining an arborist’s need to water the Lahaina banyan tree.
“We said, ‘Of course.’”
The tree is still alive, said arborist Steve Nimz, a report from Hawaii Magazine read. He inspected the tree and found live tissue in its cambium, the layer just below the bark, giving a sign it would recover, the article said.
Goodfellow Bros. project manager Brent Nakagawa on Monday “said the banyan tree is like in a coma — it will take months to see recovery,” Sjostrand told The Wenatchee World.
Regardless, the company began pouring 12,000 gallons of water, or three truckloads, on the tree twice daily. The company reduced that over the weekend to watering the canopy twice daily with one truckload, or 4,000 gallons of water.
On Wednesday, a couple of inches of mulch will go on the ground, Nakagawa said, but he was unsure as of Monday how much water would be needed.
The tree “definitely experienced a pretty traumatic (incident),” he said.
The company began 102 years ago in Wenatchee and has been in Hawaii for 50 years. It also has locations in Oregon and California.
“As a united family, across our entire organization, we stand in solidarity to offer our deepest condolences to those who have suffered unimaginable losses in the Maui wildfires,” an update on its website reads. It also said the company has donated to various organizations and was looking at what else it could contribute.
“Our crews have acted with courage, resilience, and compassion working alongside first responders to contain the fires and aid in recovery efforts. We are grateful for their contributions, as they continue to work tirelessly in the community to lend their support.”
The Indian banyan tree was planted on April 24, 1873, by sheriff William Own Smith “to honor the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina,” according to a post on the nonprofit Lahaina Restoration Foundation’s website. Queen Ke?p?olani, the sacred wife and widow of King Kamehameha the Great, requested the mission, it read.
After settling at 8 feet, the tree grew to more than 60 feet high, with 46 major trunks and shading more than two-thirds of an acre, according to the foundation, which preserves landmarks and historic sites. It’s the largest banyan in the U.S., and its limbs span a quarter-mile around, the site said.
