Kia‘i Moku: Rats run amok on isles

Published on April 9, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

Rats have plagued Hawaiians for a very long time, and not just the human residents.

Rats were the first invasive species in Hawaii. The first voyagers to the Hawaiian Islands brought Polynesian rats, Rattus exulans, and they spread quickly, colonizing the islands faster and farther than the people. Ancient Hawaii was a world full of spectacular birds, insects, and plants; the only native land mammal didn’t crawl – it flew – the hoary bat.

These native species evolved without seed-eating, egg-stealing rodents, so when rats arrived, plants were defenseless and birds were naive to this new threat. Compounding the situation, the Polynesian rat was followed by other rodents: the Norwegian ship rat and house mouse – hitchhikers in the European and American ships of the late 1700s and 1800s. Rodents ate their way through Hawaii, overrunning the islands from the shore to mountain top, fueled by a diet rich in plants, birds, snails and insects.

According to Peter Dunlevy, a U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service biologist with 15 years of experience researching rats, the greatest impact isn’t on any one particular area. Rats hammer numerous aspects of the environment – from the seeds they devour to the nesting albatross they attack. “But everything is on such a small scale with rodents; it’s easy to overlook.” Continue reading ‘Kia‘i Moku: Rats run amok on isles’

UH gardening gurus set invasive-species classes

Published on March 7, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes, Invasive Species and Native Hawaiian Plants.

Hawaii gardeners have the advantage of a year-round growing season that allows us to pick up plants any time of year and add them to our backyard collection. And local garden centers carry an abundance of ornamental shrubs, trees and herbs from which to choose.

The University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service wants to help home gardeners to be knowledgeable when choosing plant material. The UH Master Gardeners on Oahu have teamed up with the Hawaii Invasive Species Council to provide classes and demonstrations to the public. (See the Star-Advertiser’s Home & Garden calendar for class listings.)

What is an invasive species? Technically, according to HISC, an invasive species is an alien species — plant, animal, or microbe transported by humans to a location outside its native range — whose introduction has caused or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Basically, foreign plant material that propagates at warp speed and those seeds or plant parts that can travel long distances to naturally forested areas are termed invasive. These plants often demonstrate rapid and aggressive growth, production of numerous seeds that are spread easily by wind, wing or water, and the ability to grow under many different soil and climatic conditions.

What is the impact of invasive species? It’s the plants whose “keiki” reach the natural forested areas that take the largest toll on our native species and ecosystems. They threaten native plant habitats, reducing the number of native plants and affecting plant biodiversity, as well as the insect biodiversity that depends on those plants. Continue reading ‘UH gardening gurus set invasive-species classes’

Illegal lizard captured at Maui hotel

Published on February 12, 2011 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

The state Department of Agriculture says an illegal lizard was found roaming a Maui hotel hallway.

The department said yesterday that hotel staff captured the alligator lizard on Feb. 3 and handed it over to inspectors. It is not known how the lizard got to the hotel.

The species is illegal in Hawaii but is native to a stretch of North America from southern Washington state to Baja California. They can grow up to 2 feet in length. Their diet includes insects, spiders, snails and other lizards.

Illegal lizard captured at Maui hotel – Hawaii News – Staradvertiser.com

New gardens director to infuse more native culture

Published on February 7, 2011 in Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes, Invasive Species and Native Hawaiian Plants.

KAHULUI The new executive director of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens wants to cultivate public interest in what she calls “a cultural gem in the middle of Kahului.”

Joylynn Jennifer-Nedine Mailemekalokelanionakupuna Nakoa Kaho’okele Paman took over as head of the 7-acre facility last week.

She succeeds Lisa Schattenburg-Raymond, who is teaching at the University of Hawaii Maui College, and Anders Lyons, who served as interim executive director.

Paman’s vision for Maui Nui Botanical Gardens may sprout partially from having studied Hawaiian language for 18 years.

“My vision here is to infuse the Hawaiian culture even more than it already is into this place. I come from a strong Hawaiian culture and language background, and so I just see the potential in sharing our Hawaiian culture with the community.

“The board wants to make sure that people know about this place. . . . It’s like a cultural gem in the middle of Kahului that we really need to share with everyone else.” Continue reading ‘New gardens director to infuse more native culture’

Lack of rain, invasive pest take toll

Published on February 6, 2011 in Coffee, General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

by Carolyn Lucas-Zenk
Stephens Media

A destructive insect and two-year drought didn’t affect the quality of Kona coffee, but did cut yield during the 2010-11 season.

Bruce Corker, Kona Coffee Farmers Association board member, said the size of his coffee crop at his 3.8 acre farm, Rancho Aloha in Holualoa, fell approximately 25 percent due to the drought, considered the most intense in Hawaii since the 1999 inception of the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Colehour Bondera, association president, agreed. While the coffee borer beetle and the drought probably reduced the coffee crop, Bondera did not think they caused “ridiculously horrible, dramatic variations.”
Bondera suspects dry conditions did the most harm to farms at lower elevations and farther south, where the drought was stronger and longer. On the other hand, less water helped Bondera’s Kanalani Ohana Farm produce better beans. He said his Honaunau farm had “the best yield ever in 10 years,” and he was not alone in this trend.

Bondera also knows the beetle has proved disastrous for other Kona coffee farmers like Jason Sitith, who reported losing as much as 75 to 80 percent of his usual crop. But what “disturbs” Bondera the most is the coffee prices. Continue reading ‘Lack of rain, invasive pest take toll’

Public encouraged to report suspicious species

Published on December 13, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

To the writer of the Dec. 6 letter regarding the suspicious plant found along a Maui Lani road: Thanks for keeping your eyes open. Members of the public are the first to notice incipient invasive species. Public reports are essential to protecting Hawaii from invasive species. The most efficient way to prevent establishment of invasive species is to nip the infestation in the bud immediately.

The purple-flowered plant you noticed along the Maui Lani roadway is most likely a species of crown flower, Calotropis procera. Forest and Kim Starr regularly drive Maui’s roads mapping the distribution of invasive plants. Calotropis was first detected in 2001 and is widespread and naturalized on Maui. The plant is also on Hawaii island, Kauai and Lanai. It is indeed invasive, rating as a high-risk plant by the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment, a background check to predict a plant’s invasive potential based on its biology.

Unfortunately, Calotropis is too widespread to be eradicated from the islands Continue reading ‘Public encouraged to report suspicious species’

Archive planned at national park

Published on December 6, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

KAHULUI – A new archive of thousands of documents that will be available to researchers, will be the next major addition to Haleakala National Park, Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum said Wednesday.

In a “state of the park” talk sponsored by the Friends of Haleakala National Park, Creachbaum said construction had already started on the small “curatorial center” near the park’s entrance and headquarters. About 30 people showed up to hear the presentation at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, where Creachbaum also discussed the park’s visitor counts and funding.

Matt Brown, the park’s new chief of protecting endangered species, said the 800-square-foot archive building will bring together many objects that have gone unseen for years. Many of the items will be coming out of storage and some from collections, such as the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, he said.

In addition to being held in the archive, the pieces will occasionally be put on display in public buildings around the grounds of the 96-year-old park – as they are already from time to time. The archive center itself generally will be off-limits to the public and require park authorization for access, Brown said.

The collection has about 197,600 objects, 96 percent of which consist of archival records, such as documents and photographs, said P. Russell Shurtz, museum technician for Haleakala National Park. Continue reading ‘Archive planned at national park’

Autograph trees are invading Hawaii’s forests

Published on December 5, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

by Diana Duff
Special To West Hawaii Today

Sunday, December 5, 2010 7:40 AM HST
Many gardeners in Hawaii have become native plant enthusiasts. More and more people are awakening to the beauty of our native species and learning about them and the vigilance required to save them from harm or eventual extinction. Events like Arbor Day at Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, offering free native plants and information on growing them, help folks learn ways to grow and care for native plants. Interest in these plants, which have thrived in our native forests for millennia, helps raise awareness of the threats a multitude of invasive species pose to them.

One particularly threatening species, the autograph, or signature, tree (Clusia rosea) caught the notice of Darcy Ames, who has witnessed firsthand the encroachment of this species on the ohia forests near her home.

“When I first bought property in Holualoa, I thought the autograph tree was quite lovely,” Ames said. “After a few years of experience, inspection and investigation, I began to realize this tree was capable of destroying the habitat of our ohia and other native species unless we began a proactive course against it.

“After witnessing the damage it can cause, I can honestly say that I hate what this plant is capable of doing. Autograph seeds can be dropped by birds and root as much as 20 or 30 feet in the air in the crotch of an ohia tree. Continue reading ‘Autograph trees are invading Hawaii’s forests’

Extinction Countdown: Hawaii admits possible defeat to invasive species, researches “hybrid ecosystem” instead

Published on December 2, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

The beautiful yet isolated Hawaiian islands hold a bounty of biodiversity, but many of those unique species are rapidly disappearing. The fast growth of invasive species is pushing native Hawaiian species, many of which are found nowhere else on the globe, into extinction. In fact, hundreds of Hawaiian plant species, along with dozens of mammals and insects and other species, already appear on the U.S. endangered species list.

Much of the landscape of Hawaii, especially lowlands near agriculture and cities, has already been transformed, with native species nowhere to be found.

“Invasive species are so prevalent. You’re hand weeding, trying to eliminate them and aren’t able to keep up with them. It feels like you’re fighting a losing battle,” Susan Cordell, research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service, said recently in a prepared statement. “Restoring these lowland tropical forests to a historic native state is not financially or physically feasible.”

Invasive species are non-native species that disperse widely, rapidly, and at the expense of native species in an ecosystem. Not all non-native species become invasive, but those that do pose serious threats to all manner of plants, insects and animals.

So how can Hawaii preserve its biodiversity in the face of this ever-expanding enemy? A new idea is to try developing “hybrid ecosystems” – native and non-native species mixed in a way that benefits native biodiversity. Continue reading ‘Extinction Countdown: Hawaii admits possible defeat to invasive species, researches “hybrid ecosystem” instead’

Stowaways found in largest Christmas tree shipment of the year

Published on November 28, 2010 in Christmas Tree, General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

SAND ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii’s largest shipment of Christmas trees from the mainland is here.

On Sunday morning, inspectors combed through them and they found some creatures who came along for the joy ride.

A salamander, some tree frogs, and a cricket are among the hitchhikers in this season’s shipment of Christmas trees.

But after all the shaking, and searching for invasive species at Matson’s Sand island terminal, it was a slimy guy who triggered a red flag.

“We found several slugs and we’re concerned about it being a problem here to our agriculture industry, environment and also public health and safety,” said Glenn Sakamoto, Plant Quarantine Inspector with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

The state says the slug was found in 11 of the 62 containers.

The vendor has a choice. It can either treat the trees or send them back to the mainland.

This is the third shipment in three weeks.

In all, there are roughly 200 containers filled with more than 80,000 Christmas trees.

The state says that’s more than last year.

That’s because there was a shortage of trees, and people started air freighting them.

The state anticipates a bigger supply this year.

As for the little buggers, inspectors say if they have kamaaina family members, they get to stay in Hawaii. Continue reading ‘Stowaways found in largest Christmas tree shipment of the year’

Limited Time to Change Hunting Rules

Published on November 26, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes, Hunting, Invasive Species and Native Hawaiian Plants.

Conservation Council for Hawaii News Release

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources is proposing revisions to Hawaii Administrative Rules relating to hunting and game, and asking the public for their feedback. This is an opportunity to urge the state to change the hunting and game management paradigm to reduce the damage caused by introduced continental feral ungulates and game mammals, and provide more opportunities for hunters to help control animals and bring home the meat. Continue reading ‘Limited Time to Change Hunting Rules’

To Bee or Not to Bee

Published on November 26, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

By Glenn I. Teves, County Extension Agent, UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension Service

The relationship between humans and honeybees is ancient, as demonstrated by cave paintings in Spain, South Africa, and Nepal, depicting honey hunters collecting honey from wild hives. The honeybee was introduced to Hawaii in 1857, but the accidental introduction of the Varroa mite in 2007 puts this relationship in jeopardy and is one example of Hawaii’s vulnerability to invasive species.

The Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) is one of the most serious pests of honeybees and is associated with the spread of viruses and the decline of honey bee colonies on the mainland. And it’s only a matter of time before it destroys all feral honeybee colonies in Hawaii. On the island of Oahu alone, over 90 percent of the wild colonies have been wiped out and it has now moved to the Big Island, starting in Hilo. Visual checks of feral honeybees in Ho`olehua and Mo`omomi have not found the Varroa mite to date.

The mites attack both adult bees, and also larvae in the hive. Although honeybees in Hawaii are crosses between German, Italian, and Carnolian bees, the honeybees on Molokai appear to be a special disease resistant strain, first brought in around 1898. They show resistance to a disease called Foul Brood, which wiped out honeybees on most of the islands starting in 1908. Continue reading ‘To Bee or Not to Bee’

U.S. Forest Service receives $1.6M grant to study hybrid ecosystems in Hawaii

Published on November 24, 2010 in Agriculture Grants, General Ag News and Notes, Invasive Species, Native Hawaiian Plants and Sustainability.

Invasive species are so pervasive in Hawaii’s low-lying areas that the U.S. Forest Service says it’s not cost-effective or practical to eradicate them all. Instead, it’s launching new research into developing “hybrid ecosystems” that will incorporate some nonnative plants but allow native plants to thrive.

The service has received a $1.6 million grant from the Defense Department’s strategic environmental research program to study the possibility.

“Invasive species are so prevalent. You’re hand weeding, trying to eliminate them and aren’t able to keep up with them. It feels like you’re fighting a losing battle,” said Susan Cordell, research ecologist with the Forest Service. “Restoring these lowland tropical forests to a historic native state is not financially or physically feasible.”

Hawaii’s low-lying native trees and plants were wiped out by cattle, goats and other nonnative mammals that were set free to graze after the arrival of the first Europeans in the islands in the late 1700s. The animals trampled on ferns and undergrowth, drying the soil and tree roots. Later reforestation efforts resulted in the planting of fast-growing nonnative trees like eucalyptus instead of native trees.

To see intact native ecosystems, you have to climb high into the mountains.

Cordell said the grant will allow researchers to find ways for native species to “coexist” with some nonnative species. Continue reading ‘U.S. Forest Service receives $1.6M grant to study hybrid ecosystems in Hawaii’

Kia‘i Moku: Rauvolfia vomitoria a growing problem

Published on November 14, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

In Western Africa, a medicinal plant teeters on the brink of extinction. Poison devil’s pepper, or Rauvolfia vomitoria, has been overharvested by local people using the plant to treat ailments ranging from psychoses to indigestion. Some healers claim the plant’s chemicals protect the spirit of the patient against witchcraft. However, in Hawaii, R. vomitoria is responsible for an ailment of our natural areas – invading forests with amazing speed. The shrubby tree with an awful name could be at least as invasive, if not more so, than miconia.

Native to subtropical regions of Western Africa, R. vomitoria can live at elevations from sea-level to 5,000 feet. It reaches reproductive maturity within two years and, in Hawaii, flowers and produces fruit year-round. The numerous seeds are contained in an orange fruit eaten and are spread by birds. The plant grows extremely fast: Within five years a seedling will be 12-18 inches across and 30 feet tall.

Mowing or cutting doesn’t discourage this plant; a patch of R. vomitoria on Hawaii Island was 3 to 4 feet tall two months after mowing. “Ralph,” as the plant is unaffectionately called by field crews frantically working to contain this plant, has invaded gulches, pastures and waterways across 2,000 to 3,000 acres in Kohala. This superweed has spread into the mixed ohia forest at 1,600 feet elevation but could expand much farther, becoming a serious pest in agricultural and natural areas. Perhaps most disturbing is R. vomitoria’s ability to outcompete some of the most invasive plant species of tropical forests, gaining a foothold amid eucalyptus and strawberry guava despite a lack of sunlight under the canopy. Continue reading ‘Kia‘i Moku: Rauvolfia vomitoria a growing problem’

Hard to Kill – Houseplants for the Inept

Published on November 10, 2010 in General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

FOR years now, my foyer has been a halfway house for indoor plants — that is, halfway between a cozy berth in someone else’s home and a pauper’s grave in my backyard.

I killed some of these plants gladly. Before leaving Minneapolis for New York, my friend Julie bestowed on me a 12-foot-long asparagus fern with wicked spines and an anger management problem. Meanwhile, the spider plant she left seemed to drop another clone every time I slept. (Out-of-control asexual reproduction is surely the stuff of nightmares.) By the time Julie moved back to Minneapolis seven years later, I’d terminated them both. Plants need water, you know.

Other houseplants were beautiful — until I got my blundering hands on them. A jade plant dropped its emerald leaves, as round and smooth as river stones. A Dracaena marginata with a mop top rotted from the soil up. My mother-in-law, her rooms overflowing with verdure, passed along a parlor maple (Abutilon striatum). It had flowers like crepe paper, the color of a Cape Cod sunrise. This one I drowned.

When I learned that I would be moving last August, for the first time in 11 years, I took stock of the survivors. What did I find on the radiator cover? A pair of umbrella plants that counted a dozen leaves between them. A ficus with something like psoriasis and another with a stoop. I felt pity, and I felt shame.

It was time for a clean break.

A month after moving into my new home, I phoned three experts to ask what new houseplants I should draw close to my bosom and adopt as my own. They suggested plants for shady windows and plants for dry winters. They shared their best tips and their favorite catalogs. They prophesied plants that cannot be killed. Their greatest hits are below — with a star next to the indestructible plants. Continue reading ‘Hard to Kill – Houseplants for the Inept’

Berry borer backlash

Published on November 4, 2010 in Coffee, General Ag News and Notes and Invasive Species.

by Carolyn Lucas-Zenk

An immediate suspension of green coffee imports into Hawaii to prevent further damage by the coffee berry borer is being sought by the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.

Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials also are preparing a quarantine on green coffee bean transportation from Kona, where the pest was confirmed at 21 sites between Kaloko and Manuka State Park, said Neil Reimer, Hawaii Plant Pest Control Branch chief.

The Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals may consider the quarantine request at a meeting later this month. However, the seven-member committee was struggling to establish a quorum and Lyle Wong, Plant Industry Division administrator, is in China, Reimer said.

If the pest is deemed an “immediate emergency” and the committee passes the recommendation, it will go before the Board of Agriculture for approval and implementation. The 10-member board usually meets the last Tuesday of the month in Honolulu, Reimer said.

A search Wednesday of the Department of Agriculture’s online calendars showed no meetings scheduled in November and December for the Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals or the Board of Agriculture. Continue reading ‘Berry borer backlash’