United States
Department of
Agriculture
Forest Service
Pacific Southwest
Research Station
General Technical Report
PSW-122
Proceedings of the Symposium on
Sandalwood in the Pacific
April 9-11, 1990, Honolulu, Hawaii
Hamilton, Lawrence; Conrad, C. Eugene, technical coordinators. 1990. Proceedings of the
Symposium on Sandalwood in the Pacific; April 9-11,1990; Honolulu, Hawaii. Gen.
Tech. Rep. PSW-122. Berkeley, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture; 84 p.
Sandalwood (Santalum spp.) trees grow in a variety of climates around the world and are
culturally and economically important to about 15 countries. Exploitation of the fragrant
heartwood for carvings, oil, and incense in the past has led to the need to conserve and manage the
genus. The first substantial logging of sandalwood in Hawaii in 150 years generated local
controversy in 1988, uncovered misinformation and speculation about the genus, and
eventually led to the symposium in 1990. Papers in this proceedings cover history,
distribution, status, ecology, management, propagation, and use of sandalwood. A synthesis
paper summarizes the state-of-knowledge of the symposium participants. Research is
needed to fill gaps in information on various aspects of sandalwood in many of the countries
where it grows.
Retrieval Terms: forestry, Pacific, sandalwood, Santalum, Australia, Hawaii, India, Indo­
nesia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu
Technical Coordinators:
LAWRENCE HAMILTON is a research associate, Environment and Policy Institute, EastWest Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. C. EUGENE CONRAD is director, Institute of Pacific
Islands Forestry, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Views expressed in each paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the
sponsoring organizations. Trade names and commercial enterprises mentioned are solely for
information and do not imply the endorsement of the sponsoring organizations. This
publication neither recommends any pesticide uses reported nor implies that they have been
registered by appropriate governmental agencies.
Publisher:
Pacific Southwest Research Station
P. O. Box 245, Berkeley, California 94701
August 1990 Proceedings of the Symposium on
Sandalwood in the Pacific
April 9-11, 1990, Honolulu, Hawaii
Technical Coordinators:
Lawrence Hamilton
C. Eugene Conrad
CONTENTS
Preface .............................................................................. ii
Lawrence Hamilton, C. Eugene Conrad
Opening Remarks ............................................................ iii
Leonard A. Newell
Sandalwood in the Pacific: A State-of-Knowledge Synthesis
and Summary from the April 1990 Symposium .................1
Managing Sandalwood for Conservation
in North Queensland, Australia ........................................12
Grahame B. Applegate, Allan G. W. Davis,
Peter Annable
Status of Management and Silviculture Research
on Sandalwood in Western Australia and Indonesia .........19
F. H. McKinnell
The Sandalwood Industry in Australia: A History ............26
Pamela Statham
Sandalwood—the Myth and the Reality ...........................39
Joseph Feigelson
Propagation of Santalum, Sandalwood Tree .....................43
Robert T. Hirano
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-122. 1990
The History of Human Impact
on the Genus Santalum in Hawai‘i ...................................46
Mark Merlin, Dan VanRavenswaay
Sandalwood: Current Interest and Activity
by the Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife ..............61
Mark Scheffel
Distribution and Status of Sandalwood in Hawai‘i ...........62
Lani Stemmermann
Status and Cultivation of Sandalwood in India .................66
Shobha N. Rai
Growing Sandalwood in Nepal—Potential Silvicultural
Methods and Research Priorities ......................................72
Peter E. Neil
The Status of Sandalwood (S. macgregorii)
in Papua New Guinea .......................................................76
John H. Paul
Status of Sandalwood Resources in Vanuatu ....................79
Leonard Bule, Godfrey Daruhi
i
PREFACE
This publication results from the Symposium on Sandalwood
in the Pacific held at the East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawai‘i,
in April 1990. The idea of convening a meeting on the valued
and interesting genus Santalum came from a meeting of the
Hawaii Society of American Foresters in early 1989. This
interest in turn was predicated on the local controversy gener­
ated by the first substantial logging of sandalwood in 150 years
in Hawaii during fall 1988. Speculation and misinformation
about sandalwood abounded, and it seemed desirable to pull
together what was known about its history, distribution, status,
ecology, management, propagation, and use. Inquiries made to
other countries where sandalwood was being exploited revealed
a similar desire to obtain reliable information on these topics.
Vanuatu had instituted a prohibition on commercial sandalwood harvesting in 1987. High prices possibly were resulting in
illegal logging in several other Pacific island countries. Active
programs of management and exploitation were producing new
knowledge in Queensland and Western Australia. New propa­
gation and establishment research was being carried out in
Nepal, Indonesia, and New Caledonia. Long-term work on
sandalwood has been carried out in India (especially in Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu), but the information was not widely available.
Sandalwood was being rustled with loss of human lives in India.
Several species or varieties in various countries were in an
endangered status; others were extinct; and many planting
efforts had met with limited success.
In view of the international nature of the interest and prob­
lems, it was deemed appropriate for the Environment and Policy
Institute of the Center to adopt, as part of its program effort in
Biological Diversity, the convening of a symposium on sandalwood. This was held April 9 and 10, with a working session held
ii
on the 11th to produce a synthesis. The National Tropical
Botanical Garden joined with the Center and the Hawaii Society
of American Foresters in co-sponsoring this event, and indeed
the Garden provided half of the funding to bring resource
persons from various countries. The publication of the papers
presented and a state-of-knowledge report synthesized during
the symposium was made possible through the Institute of
Pacific Islands Forestry of the Pacific Southwest Research
Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The Nepal-United Kingdom Forestry Research Project, the
University of Western Australia, the Western Australian De­
partment of Conservation and Land Management, and the FAO
South Pacific Forestry Development Project provided support
for the participation of resources persons from each of those
organizations. The planning committee was composed of James
Chamberlain, Robert Merriam, and Lawrence Hamilton.
Most of the difficult work of preparing the papers for publica­
tion was done by technical publications editor Roberta Burzynski
and editorial assistant Mark Dougherty of the Pacific Southwest
Research Station. They deserve credit for making this publica­
tion readable. To all of the scientists and managers who prepared
presentations for the symposium and to the symposium partici­
pants who so willingly contributed information from their expe­
riences, we express our thanks.
Technical Coordinators: Lawrence Hamilton, Environment and Policy Institute,
East-West Center
C. Eugene Conrad, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry
Pacific Southwest Research Station
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-122. 1990
Opening Remarks1
Leonard A. Newell2
Good morning and a warm Aloha nui loa to all of you from the
Hawaii Society of American Foresters. It is a great pleasure and
an inspiration to see so many people gathered to exchange
information about the wonderful trees of the Genus Santalum.
I particularly appreciate the effort that has been made by our
international visitors to come here and share your knowledge
with us.
The difficulties of growing sandalwood in Hawai‘i are well
known and have been often cited as reasons for not pursuing the
planting of these species more aggressively. Those of us who
can see beyond a 40-year time horizon—something which is
becoming increasingly difficult to do—have long deplored the
lack of progress in restoring sandalwood more conscientiously
to its former prominence in our ecosystems and in our economy.
The organizers hope this important meeting will be the begin­
ning of a new era in learning about and managing this fascinat­
ing, fragrant, and too-mysterious tree.
When we were discussing the organization of this sympo­
sium, I and others expressed a concern that it be kept small, low-
key and science-centered. It is difficult to hold any meeting
about trees and forestry in Hawai‘i without generating intense
interest from many people—interest which can become misdi­
rected into political activism and sloganeering before knowl­
edge can be shared or digested.
Our aim has been and remains to concentrate on scientific
knowledge about the classification, distribution, propagation,
silviculture, physiology, soils, ecology and utilization of the
species of the Genus Santalum. Once we have learned what it is
necessary to know about these things, we can formulate manage­
ment plans and apply this knowledge to the benefit of the forests
of the tropics and the people of the earth.
Your participation in this symposium will lay a foundation
that all of us can build upon. This meeting will, I hope, be the
beginning of an era of close cooperation among all of us who are
interested in sandalwood and in assuring that its fine properties
will be available to our great grandchildren, and to theirs. It is
a fine task and a difficult one.
Again, thank you for coming and welcome to Hawai‘i.
1
Presented at the Symposium on Sandalwood in the Pacific, April 9-11, 1990,
Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
2
Vice-Chairman, Hawaii Society of American Foresters, Honolulu, and
Pacific Islands Forester, USDA Forest Service.
USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-122. 1990
iii