Haleakala National Park By: Olivia Graham

Haleakala’s Land Haleakala was formed when the tetonic plates push against another and they had enough force. Haleakala's land went upward. Which created volcanoes and moutains. Some volcanoes that the tetonic plates made are Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. Haleakala was also formed when the volcanoes erupted because the lava made new land.

The Plates of Haleakala

When did your national park become a park and why? Haleakala became a national park in 1980 because of it's endangered species, tropical rainforests, and volcanoes. Most of the endangered species are plants and birds. Tropical rainforest are important to have at Haleakala because it's the home to many endangered species. Some volcanoes you might find in Haleakala are East Maui, Kilauea, or Mauna Loa. I think that Haleakala is a very important because a lot of animals and plants depend on it.

Mountains and Volcanoes

Haleakala’s Rocks In Haleakala national park you can find sedimentary rocks and igneous rocks. There are fossils in Haleakala national park and fossils can be found in sedimentary rocks. Igneous rocks can be found when Haleakala's volcanoes erupt and when this does happen magma comes out of the volcano. When the magma cools it turns into a igneous rock.

sedimentary rock Before After

Igneous Before After

What special landforms or features are in your park? The special land forms and features inside of Haleakala are mountains, volcanoes, and rain forests. The special land forms and features were created by a crater. It happened when the crater when two valleys met at the top of a mountain top and eroded. In Haleakala there is a big space in the land that was hit by the crater and there are mountains and valleys in the space. Volcanoes are created by convergent and divergent boundaries. A convergent boundary is when two tectonic plates meet and one dives under another. A divergent boundary is when two tectonic plates come out and move in the opposite direction, it's when the earth gets new crust. The rain forests in Haleakala were created just by nature spreading.

Haleakala crater

How is the land in your national park changing? The land in my national park is actually changing because of one active volcano, East Mani and erosion. Volcanoes can change the land form when magma cools it can makes new hills, mountains, or just any type of land form. Erosion can also change land. Erosion is when wind, water, or ice pick up part of the land (it doesn't have to be a certain size) and carries it away.

Haleakala’s changes East Mani Erosion

What environmental issues are affecting your park? Did you know that Haleakala national park is one of the most threatened national parks within the national park system. The endangered animals include the Hawaiian Goose, Hawaiian Petrel, and Green sea turtle. They're three of about seventy animals that are endangered. These animals are endangered because of hunting, predators, and disease. Hunting is one of the main reasons that the animals in Haleakala national park are endangered. People hunt animals and sell them for money or cook them for dinner. One of the animals that they have hunted is the green sea turtle. Another reason is predators Haleakala has gotten some predators that aren't originally from Haleakala and have endangered animals because the animal wasn't use to hiding from that predator. I think we should be more careful. One more reason is disease, disease comes from animals like mongoose, rats, cats, and pigs. They spread by mosquitos. The diseases usually get to birds.

Predators, Hunting, and Disease

Resoures http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanoes/haleakala/ http://www.mauidownhill.com/haleakala/volcanoes/lifestages.html http://fhnp.org/issues.html