David Boynton (August 30, 1945 – February 10, 2007) was a leading expert on the natural history of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, especially on the Koke'e Forest and the Alakai Swamp and its wildlife.

[5] David Spalding Boynton, born and raised in Oahu, graduated from the Punahou School in Honolulu in 1963, where his alumni profile says he "would rather have been in the ocean than in the classroom.

[6] Boynton claimed that Koke'e and surrounding wilderness areas contained many endangered species, over 400 different native plants, and the greatest concentration of 'single-island endemics' anywhere, making it the ideal place to teach about biodiversity, sustainability and environmental stewardship.

[4] Boynton's body was found in February 2007 at the foot of a 300-foot cliff on the north face of the remote Miloli'i Valley of the Na Pali coast, by all evidence the victim of an accident on the difficult trail.

He told a journalist in 2006, "There is a fern that grows in thick mats along these ridges, and I know from personal experience that you can try to push your way through this green layer and wind up stepping off into air.