Tag: invasive plants

October 20, 2012 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Monsanto Fund Donates $20,000 for Molokai Watershed Protection

Monsanto Fund Donates $20,000 for Molokai Watershed Protection

Monsanto Molokai News Release

The Monsanto Fund awarded a $20,000 grant to The Nature Conservancy (TNC) of Hawaii for watershed protection at Kamakou Preserve on Molokai. Since 2006, the Monsanto Fund has contributed a total of $130,000 to TNC’s protection and restoration efforts of critical watershed and fragile ecosystems on Molokai.

Located high in the mountains of East Molokai, the 2,774-acre Kamakou Preserve is a rainforest like no other on the planet. This magnificent natural treasure not only shelters hundreds of native plants and animals, but also serves as an important source of water for the island and its people.

TNC’s work at Kamakou Preserve, in collaboration with the public and private landowners of the East Molokai Watershed Partnership, is focused on invasive animal and weed control.

“Molokai’s forested watersheds today are under constant assault from established and new invasive species,” said Ed Misaki, TNC’s Molokai Program Director. “Feral ungulates (hoofed animals) like wild pigs, goats and deer are steadily eroding fragile topsoil. Once this soil disturbance occurs, invasive plants that did not evolve here, like blackberry and strawberry guava, steadily displace our native forests and watersheds. Once lost, they may be impossible to fully restore at any price.”

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March 7, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

UH gardening gurus set invasive-species classes

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.

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December 13, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Public encouraged to report suspicious 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

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November 14, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Kia‘i Moku: Rauvolfia vomitoria a growing problem

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.

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October 28, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Admired ag inspector turns in his badge

After 30 years of protecting native animals and plants, the head of Hawaii’s agricultural inspection operation leaves behind a short-handed and beleaguered team today, worried that invading species are slipping into the islands.

“Shipments are backed up but are still being inspected. That’s the good part,” said Domingo Cravalho Jr., who is retiring as inspection and compliance section chief for the state Department of Agriculture. “Because of the lack of resources and lack of inspectors and the reduction in the amount of good inspections, things are getting through. …

“It’s overwhelming at times and some individuals may be overlooking things or bypassing things. Under the circumstances, we just don’t have enough eyes and ears out there.”

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October 10, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Kia‘i Moku: Used in reforestation, albizia now poses threat

By LISSA FOX

Near Kualapuu, Molokai, there are Makahiki and hula grounds. Last year, 850 fast-growing invasive trees covered the platforms, where ancient Hawaiians played games as part of the Makahiki festival, the annual celebration marked by several months of peace, thanksgiving and feasting.

These trees originated from the jungles of the Molucca Islands, 5,000 miles away in Indonesia. The islands are part of the Wallaceae “hot spot,” an area of Indonesia with some of the world’s highest levels of biodiversity, including more than 10,000 plant species and 650 different bird species.

Albizia, or Falcataria moluccana, has at least one trait that gives it an advantage over Hawaii’s native plants. Albizia is a nitrogen-fixing tree; bacteria in albizia roots convert nitrogen from the atmosphere into a form available for the tree. These fertilizer factories built into the roots give albizia an extra boost; albizia can reach 30 feet tall in just two years.

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