Masamasa-Falelima

Masamasa-Falelima National Park, also known as Cornwall National Park, lies in the north-west of Savai'i between the Asau and Falelima areas^[1][2].

A 2020 baseline survey found evidence of the manumea (tooth-billed pigeon), Samoa's critically endangered endemic bird^[1]. It also recorded the Samoan white-eye, island thrush, many-coloured fruit dove and Samoan whistler^[1]. Invasive mynas, widespread on Upolu, were absent^[1].

About 70% of the park is exotic forest plantation replanted after logging in the 1960s and 1970s, while the remaining 30% is unlogged forest now dominated by the invasive tree siapatua^[1]. Since 2007, replanting has favoured native species including malili, tava and asi toa^[1]. Native flora is most diverse at higher altitudes^[1].

The park lies on Savai'i, the largest shield volcano in the South Pacific^[3].

Savai'i has a hot, humid oceanic tropical climate, with the heaviest rain and cyclones from November to April^[3]. Cyclones Ofa (1990) and Val (1991) destroyed much of the original plantation here^[1].

The area was logged in the 1960s and 1970s and replanted with exotic plantations^[1].

The government declared the area a national park in 2007^[1]. Its first baseline survey ran from 15 to 26 June 2020, led by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with SPREP under the EU-funded PACRES project^[1].

The park's value lies in its forest and its birds, above all the manumea^[1].

The park lies on the north-west of Savai'i, near Asau and Vaisala villages, with the survey area reaching the south coast between Fagafau and Falelima^[1]. The main port, Salelologa, is at the opposite end of the island, reached by a daily daylight ferry from Upolu^[3].

The survey results are meant to inform a park management plan being drafted by the Ministry and SPREP^[1]. The central question is whether to keep the exotic plantations as an economic asset or manage them for climate resilience and native biodiversity^[1].