ABSTRACT
Damage to the environment was inevitable as the economy changed from self-sufficient food gathering to plantation agriculture. Native Hawaiians managed their environment in exemplary ways, but foreign capitalists were less interested in preserving delicate ecosystems. An effective method of conservation was the kapu applied to the environment. In about 1100 - 1200, possibly associated with second wave of Polynesian migration, a new environmental concept of conservation arose with particular attention to maintaining the flow of water from the mountains to the sea through irrigation ditches so that taro would be irrigated and fishponds could thrive. Although the pristine ecosystem was challenged by new species brought by the first settlers, the Polynesian travelers learned how to introduce new species without ecological disaster. The most important natural resource of the Islands has been the amazingly fertile land. Sugarcane, grown and chewed by the early Polynesians, was first milled in 1802 by a Chinese merchant.
