In recent years the Alakaʻi Wilderness Preserve was created to better protect it from outside influences, although invasive plants and feral goats and pigs are an ongoing threat that conservation organizations are valiantly trying to control. A boardwalk now makes it easier to traverse the spectacular environment of its northern bogs.

This book features a full description of this distinct and special place, as well as the history of the human penetration of the area and its impact. There are chapters on the fauna and flora of the Alakaʻi, both native and alien, and detailed descriptions of four trails that lead into the Alakaʻi: the Alakaʻi Swamp Trail, the Kawaikōï Stream Trail, the Mōhihi-Waiʻalae Trail, and the Pihea Trail. References to the Alakaʻi in traditional Hawaiian oral literature, as well as newly composed literary creations are also discussed.

The book includes a comprehensive bibliography, extensive notes, and more than 200 black-and-white illustrations and 300 three-hundred color illustrations.

Fernando Peñalosa

Softcover, 207 pp.