A grove of koa trees is pictured on Haleakala Ranch land. Since 2015, the ranch has been planting native koa trees in an effort to “shade out” gorse, an invasive thorny shrub that grows in ...

I never imagined one existed. Koa, which means “brave” or “warrior” in the Hawaiian language, is the largest of Hawaii’s endemic forest trees, not found anywhere else in the world.

Floodwaters rush past KOA employees on higher ground Sept. 27, as they tried to toss a rope to Chelsea Hrenko, who was stuck in a tree for four hours.