How A Wellness Company Is Saving Sandalwood On The Big Island…..A former ranch in South Kona is being transformed from a grassland back to a native sandalwood forest by a Utah-based essential oils and aromatherapy company.
DoTERRA, a Utah-based manufacturer of essential oils, is planting trees at Kealakekua Mountain Reserve, a 9,600-acre property on the western slope of Mauna Loa. The reserve is a former ranch located mauka of Kealakekua Bay, about 20 miles south of Kailua-Kona.
The company purchased the land in 2018 for $7.3 million with the aim of sourcing its sandalwood on the Big Island and replanting the degraded property with native trees and plants. Under its 10-year management plan, doTERRA only uses dead or dying sandalwood in its essential oil production and it must keep 75% of the land forested.
