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Native Hawaiian Plant Preservation

Current Plant Situation

Recently, about 1,400 plant taxa(species, subspecies, and varieties)are native to the State of Hawai'i, with nearly 90% of native plants not found anywhere else on Earth. Hence the state of Hawai'i has the title of Endangered Species Capital of the World, with 100 plant species that have gone extinct, and about 200 are considered to have 50 or fewer remaining in the wild. Including the 48 species that are proposed as Endangered. Hawai'i holds 44% of the nation's Endangered and Threatened plant species. "[A]bout 400 plant species being listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S Fish and Wildlife," says Nelli Sugii, director, Hawaiian Rare Plant Program, Lyon Arboretum. With the shift of the environment in Hawai'i and newly introduced invasive species, thus the threats have escalated for the native Hawaiian plants and encourages the community to act upon the threat.

Participation in Preservation for Taxa Native to Hawai'i

The Micropropagation Lab

• Maintains rare plants and seeds.
• Propagates plants for restoration and future projects.
• Holds more than 16,000 plants and 160 native plant species[1].
• Has a Micropropagation Lab Capital Improvement Project
  • Aims to double the capacity.
  • Allow visitor viewing and interpretive components.
  • Higher protection for endangered taxa.
  • Provide a more efficient working environment for the "Arboretum's critical rescue and recovery research" p6.
• Supporting the project allows the Arboretum's Hawaiian Rare Plant Program to rescue, recover, and rehabilitate more threatened taxa.
  • Allows donation towards the project.

Hawaii Rare Plant Restoration Group

• An informal assemblage consisting of numerous public and private agencies and organizations
• Objective: "to prevent the extinction of native Hawaiian plants and provide for their recovery through integrated [on-site] and [off-site] efforts" p1.
• Works to "sample, propagate, reintroduce new taxa, and advance the preservation of native plants and their homes through communication and public education" p1.
• Has mid-elevation rare plant facilities on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii Island
  • Mid-elevation nurseries sites are protected for propagation and off-site conservation at existing lower elevation botanical gardens.
  • Hawaii's botanical gardens are all located on low elevation.
  • The Plant Extinction Preservation program is on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii Island.
  • The Rare Plant Facilities provide a space for plants to recover and be preserved on each island. For this reason, the mid-elevation operation is necessary.
  • Mission and further objectives to assist in off-site aspects of recovery for the endangered and threatened taxa must follow the given orders:
    1. "Propagation and storage of...mid-elevation species(less than 50 individuals in the wild) that cannot be stored as seed or in tissue culture, with priority to island-specific species" p6.
    2. "Propagation testing for...which propagation techniques to raise plants to reproduction stage are not yet known"p6.
    3. "Propagation of reintroduction material from...the appropriate island as needed for land managers with protected habitats when accompanied by a well developed reintroduction plan"p6.
    4. "Gene pool bank of other than...the appropriate source that cannot be stored as seed or in tissue culture" p6.
    5. "Propagation of rare plant material...needed for land managers with protected habitats when accompanied by a well developed reintroduction plan"p6.
    6. "Production of more common native species for restoration efforts, provided time and resources are available..."p6.
    7. "Education, provided it is self-supporting and does not detract from the first five goals"p6.

Plant Extinction Prevention Program(PEPP)

• Came from a Genetic Safety Netlist, later becomes the Plant Extinction Prevention(PEPP) Program.
  • Includes 173 species(about 13%) of 1400 in the Hawaiian flora.
• PEPP's Purpose:
  1. Collect propagules/plant materials for target species for live plant storage, tissue culture, or seed storage.
  2. Manage naturally occurring and reintroduced plants by controlling any threats.
  3. Surveying new areas for an additional population of the target species.
  4. Monitor wild and restored population in the PEPP species.
  5. Reintroduce individual plants into protected areas through nurseries.
• This program relies on the preservation of genetic material(i.e. tissue culture; seed storage) is not an endpoint of conservation.
• Includes a donation link.

Hawai'i Strategy for Plant Conservation(HSPC Strategy)

• From the facility called Laukahi("single-leaf" in Hawaiian).
  • A voluntary pact of agencies, organizations, and individuals aiming to preserve Hawaii's native plants.
• "The Hawai‘i Strategy for Plant Conservation...reflects decades of informal collaboration and years of intentional planning among plant conservation stakeholders in Hawai'i" p1.
• HSPC consists of 5 objectives:
  1. Plant diversity to be well understood, documented and recognized.
  2. Plant diversity is to be urgently and efficiently conserved.
  3. The capacities and public engagement is necessary in order to implement the strategy have been developed.
  4. Promoting awareness about plant diversity, its role in sustainable livelihoods, and its overall importance.
  5. Using plant diversity in a sustainable and fair manner.

• Over the next five-year period, they concluded 6 focus areas:
  1. Grow a healthy network.
  2. Facilitate accurate and accessible information.
  3. Continue off-site momentum.
  4. Invest in on-site protection.
  5. Engage the community.
  6. Elevate the global profile.

The Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration, and Promotion Act

U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono introduced new legislation in order to help protect the native Hawaiian plants. Naming it the "The Botanical Sciences and Native Plant Materials Research, Restoration, and Promotion Act,' it prioritizes the conservation of native Hawaiian plants--to which many of these plant species do not exist anywhere else in the world. This new bill provides resources to ensure that Hawaiian land managers are able to get the necessary tools and expertise needed in order to protect the native Hawaiian plants. According to Hirono's office, this bill has is encouraging federal agencies to hire botanists, conduct research on the materials received, and incorporate the native plants into projects for the federal land. Hirono's office stated that the legislation will promote native plant research by:

• "Creating a botanical research grant program within the Department of the Interior" p7.
• "Promoting the hiring of botanists...and creating a student loan repayment program to attract and retain botanists"p7.
• "Directing the Departments...to provide preference to native plant materials in land management projects and justify the use of non-native plant materials"p7.
• "Requiring the use of native plant materials in surface transportation projects and federal building design"p7.
• "Promoting interagency cooperation for various activities relating to native plants"p7.
• "Directing the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to incorporate into existing activities native plant conservation"p7.
• "Creating a grant program...by increasing their populations and helping those currently on the list recover"p7.

References:

Allison, Steven D, and Peter M Vitousek. “Rapid Nutrient Cycling in Leaf Litter from Invasive Plants in Hawai’i.” Oecologia 141.4 (2004): 612–619. Web.

Bufford, Jennifer Lynne. Barriers to Invasion : Experimental Analysis of Mechanisms That Prevent Plant Invasions in Hawaiʻi. [Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [December 2013], 2013. Print.

“Hawai'i Strategy for Plant Conservation.” Laukahi, https://laukahi.org/hawaii-strategy-for-plant-conservation/.

“Preserve Native Plants for the Future.” Preserve Native Plants for the Future, University of Hawai'i Foundation, 18 Oct. 2012, https://www.uhfoundation.org/give/giving-opportunity/preserve-native-plants-future.

“Rare Plant Program.” Division of Forestry and Wildlife: Native Ecosystems Protection & Management, State of Hawai'i, 16 Aug. 2021, https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/rare-plants/.

“Plant Extinction Prevention Program.” Plant Extinction Prevention Program , Rare Plant Program, https://hrprg2.webnode.com/projects/plant-extinction-prevention-program/.

Westfall, Austin. “'Protecting Our Land': Sen. Hirono Introduces New Bill to Preserve Native Plant Species.” 'Protecting Our Land': Sen. Hirono Introduces New Bill to Preserve Native Plant Species, Hawai'i News Now, 18 July 2018, https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/38678842/hirono-introduces-bill-to-protect-and-prioritize-native-plant-species/.

“Threatened & Endangered Plants of Hawai'i.” THREATENED & ENDANGERED PLANTS OF HAWAI‘I, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 8 Sept. 2021, https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dofaw/rules/endangered-plants/.