In 1970s, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin & his wife Paula bought barren land in Hawaii and turned it into 19-acre forest with 3,000+ palms

In the 1970s, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin and his wife Paula Dunaway took on an unusual environmental project in Hawaii. What began as a barren, badly eroded piece of land on Maui gradually became a thriving 19-acre palm forest containing nearly 3,000 individual palms.

Merwin, who was also a literary translator and environmentalist, spent decades restoring the land one plant at a time. Today, the forest stands as one of the most remarkable parts of his legacy.

W.S. Merwin moved to Maui in the 1970s

Born in New York City in 1927, Merwin grew up in New Jersey and Pennsylvania before studying at Princeton University. He later travelled to Europe, where he worked as a translator and tutor, including for the son of British poet Robert Graves.


Read more - In 1964, a mysterious 27-year-old woman bought abandoned 18-acre island off the coast of Maine & lived there alone; 22 years later, she donated the island to become wildlife sanctuary

His connection with nature deepened over the years. After living in Europe and restoring a farmhouse in France, Merwin eventually moved to Maui in 1975 to study Zen Buddhism under teacher Robert Aitken.

Away from the noise of city life, he found an environment where he could pursue another long-held interest, gardening and restoring damaged land.

The land had been stripped of its natural vegetation

The property Merwin purchased in 1977 was far from the lush tropical landscape associated with Hawaii. The land had been heavily exploited over generations.

Trees had previously been logged for timber, while cattle grazing further damaged the landscape. The stream that had once supplied water to the area had also been diverted for agriculture.

Later, a pineapple plantation was established on the land. Poor farming practices, including ploughing vertically along the slope, contributed to severe erosion and the loss of much of the remaining topsoil.

By the time Merwin arrived, the property had been described as agricultural wasteland. There was little more than sparse grass, dry soil and an empty streambed.

Merwin began restoring the land one plant at a time

Rather than waiting for a perfect restoration plan, Merwin simply started planting. His initial ambition was to recreate part of Hawaii's native rainforest. He planted hundreds of native koa trees, but most of them failed to survive.

The setbacks could easily have ended the project. Instead, they pushed Merwin towards another idea.

He began researching palm species from different parts of the world, including Hawaii, Madagascar, Cuba, Australia and Brazil.

Why W.S. Merwin turned to endangered palms

Merwin realised that he could contribute to conservation by cultivating palms, many of which were facing serious threats in their natural habitats.

He began growing palms from seeds and carefully selected locations on the property according to the conditions each species needed.

The approach was slow and demanding. Merwin and Paula worked on the land almost every day, nurturing plants and gradually expanding their collection.

What started with a few saplings eventually developed into a vast living collection.

The barren land became a 19-acre palm forest

Over roughly four decades, the couple transformed the damaged hillside into a tropical arboretum.

They eventually acquired two neighbouring properties, expanding their original three-acre holding to around 19 acres. Their collection grew to nearly 3,000 individual palm trees, representing more than 480 taxonomic species and over 125 genera.

The result was far more than a private garden. The property became an important conservation landscape containing rare plants and providing habitat for wildlife.

Experts at the National Tropical Botanical Garden have described the collection as a living storehouse of palm genetic material.

The forest became part of Merwin's environmental legacy

For Merwin, the project was closely connected to his philosophy about nature and human responsibility. His poetry frequently explored memory, landscapes and the relationship between people and the natural world.

He and Paula eventually established the Merwin Conservancy to protect their home, palm collection and the wider biodiversity of the property.

The organisation continues the conservation work associated with the site, helping preserve the remarkable landscape that emerged from decades of patient planting.

A poet's greatest work may have been his forest

Merwin became one of America's most celebrated poets, publishing more than 50 books and receiving two Pulitzer Prizes during his career. But his environmental work created a different kind of legacy.

He arrived on Maui to find a landscape that had been stripped of much of its vegetation and damaged by decades of human activity. Instead of abandoning it, he spent decades rebuilding it gradually, one plant at a time.

Merwin died at his Maui home in 2019 at the age of 91. But the forest he spent decades building is still thriving, turning what was once a barren hillside into a beautiful reminder of what patience, care and a little hard work can do for damaged land.


Inputs from TOI