According to Peter Landon, manager of the NAR System on Maui, "Pressure from ungulates is what really destroyed it all; the trees just couldn't handle being trampled and eaten, and now the environment may be too dry for any of the seeds to establish. Back when it was a closed canopy forest, there used to be freshwater springs and streams that ran all the way to the ocean." About Nakula he says, "This is really it. We are attempting to restore a forest in a small reserve of 1,400 acres, we've got Kanaio NAR (less than 900 acres) and that's all we're protecting from a dryland forest that used to span from Makawao to Kaupo; it's kind of sad."