Maui’s famed banyan tree still ‘in the ICU’

By ERIN NOLAN/Honolulu Civil Beat

Lahaina’s iconic Indian banyan tree has been off limits to visitors since the August 2023 wildfire tore through the historic community, but some Maui County officials are hopeful that they might soon be able to restore public access.

Arborists from all over Maui — as well as a few from Oʻahu — will be organizing an extensive assessment of the tree’s health, the results of which will help determine when Lahaina Banyan Court Park might reopen, said Duane Sparkman, the chair of the Maui County Arborist Committee and the co-founder of the nonprofit Treecovery Hawaiʻi.

While many people hailed the famous tree’s survival as a symbol of hope and resilience, that initial optimism did not reflect the burn damage festering beneath the tree’s scorched bark, Sparkman said. Arborists discovered fungus inside a branch that snapped earlier this month and want to be sure the tree is not sicker than it appears.

“We really don’t know what’s under the skin,” he said. “It’s still trying to survive the fire, and it’s still trying to heal.”

The assessment is expected to be extensive and fairly invasive, Sparkman said. Arborists will tug on and throw ropes with weighted attachments over individual branches to see how much tension they can withstand, he said, and they will drive stainless steel spikes into the tree’s flesh to make sure it still produces sap and that th...