#rapid ohia death

The Kula Community Watershed Alliance invites the public to its next Community Conversation on Thursday, March 6, at 6 p.m. via Zoom, featuring a presentation on Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death by Lissa Strohecker, public relations and education specialist at the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

The least-virulent strain of the fungal infection known as Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) was detected late last month in three landscape ʻōhiʻa trees on the campus of a Maui elementary school.

US Rep. Jill Tokuda and US Sen. Mazie K. Hirono have introduced legislation to fight the spread of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death in Hawaiʻi.

For more than a decade, land managers, scientists, and pathologists have been fighting and looking for ways to protect trees from a fungal disease, called Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death or ROD, that has killed over a million lehua ʻōhiʻa, considered the most ecologically and cultural significant native tree in Hawai‘i.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife has begun a campaign to help hikers, campers, and those engaging with natural resources go about outdoor activities the responsible way.

Four students graduating from Kīhei Charter School have taken on different challenges posed by the Maui wildfires and other statewide issued in their Senior Graduation Defense presentations. Seniors—Taylor Guindon, Tara Zamani, Sundi King and Claire Eller—presented respective projects on wildfire prevention policies, microbe research in the fire aftermath, stories of resilience from wildfire survivors, and an ʻŌhiʻa restoration project sparked by a visit to Hawaiʻi Island.

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation reminds travelers to give themselves extra time at airports statewide during the upcoming Easter weekend and the 61st annual Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, which starts Easter Sunday, March 31, and culminates on Saturday, April 6.

In addition to containing the recently-renegotiated Compacts of Free Association, the package includes the text of Sen. Hirono’s Compact Impact Fairness Act to restore access to a range of federal benefits for COFA citizens who reside in the US, including nearly 20,000 in Hawaiʻi. The package, which passed in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

Travelers attending the Merrie Monarch Festival this week are reminded that quarantine restrictions remain on the transport of ʻōhiʻa from Hawaiʻi Island due to the fungal plant disease, rapid ʻōhiʻa death (ROD), which is devastating to native forests.

The Continued Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Response Act of 2023 authorizes $55 million in federal funding over the next 11 years to support ongoing efforts by federal agencies including the US Geological Survey, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Forest Service, working in partnership with state agencies, to help combat ʻŌhiʻa tree death in Hawaiʻi.

Approximately 275,647 acres of federal, state and private lands are proposed as critical habitat for ʻiʻiwi , a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

A University of Hawai‘i at Hilo geographer is putting a new aerial chainsaw device to the test that could assist in the battle to save Hawaiʻi’s ʻōhiʻa lehua trees from a deadly fungal pathogen.

On Saturday, Nov. 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maui Nui Botanical Gardens will give away more than 1,000 Hawaiian trees for free, 1 tree per person, any age.

These custom-built boot brush stations are the first of their kind in Hawai‘i to include a separate dispenser for sterilizing spray and a bench so users can sit down and spray the bottoms and sides of their shoes comfortably.

Federal and university researchers released a new study that provides “encouragement and guidance” for land managers to reestablish native ʻōhiʻa trees wiped out by a fungal disease or impacted by volcanic activity and wild fires.

Almost four years after Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death was first detected in a lower-elevation forest in northeast Kaua’i, the fungus known to exclusively infect the native Hawaiian tree has been found in a dead ʻōhiʻa in the pristine wilderness area of the Alakaʻi at 4,100-feet elevation.

‘Ōhi‘a lehua is a cornerstone species of our native forests, protecting our reefs, and providing water for all, food for native wildlife, and inspiration for over a thousand years of Hawaiian culture.  

For the first time, the more virulent of two fungal pathogens known to cause Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death has been confirmed in the Kōke‘e area along Miloliʻi Ridge Road within Nā Pali Kona Forest Reserve on Kaua‘i.

Hilo’s annual ʻŌhiʻa Love Fest will be celebrating its fourth year virtually from Monday, Nov. 16 through Saturday, Nov. 21st. The week-long virtual event will celebrate Hawai‘i’s most ecologically and culturally important tree species, ‘ōhi‘a lehua.

The Kauaʻi Rapid Response Team’s recent helicopter surveys detected the presence of virulent fungal pathogens that cause the rapid killing of ‘ōhi‘a trees in two new areas on Kaua’i. The recent Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death discoveries were along the upper Hanalei valley and along the north side of Powerline Trail.