Hawai‘i set to receive funding to help recover native plants

Approximately $4 million in federal funding is coming to Hawai‘i to help recover native plants.

Monies from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, out of the Inflation Reduction Act, will be used to identify translocation sites for 425 Hawaiian plants and improve their resiliency to climate change.

“Recovering our native plants and preserving our ecosystems are essential to improving Hawai‘i’s resilience to the climate crisis,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawai‘i-D). “Through investments like these, we’re protecting the natural resources unique to Hawai‘i and making our environment more resilient for years to come.”

Franny Brewer, program manager for the Big Island Invasive Species Committee, hadn’t heard about the funding but was excited by the news especially since she feels plants tend to get overlooked.

“Everyone knows we’re losing birds but people forget about the plants,” Brewer said Friday. “It’s important to have the plants to support the native ecosystems.”

According DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Hawai‘i is often referred to as the “Endangered Species Capital of the World.”

“More than 100 plant taxa have already gone extinct, and over 200 are considered to have 50 or fewer individuals remaining in the wild,” according to the DOFAW website.

DOFAW estimates that there are 1,400 vascular plant taxa (including species, subspecies and varieties) native to the State of Hawai‘i with nearly 90% of the plants found nowhere else in the world. The state agency reports that 366 Hawaiian plant taxa are listed as Endangered or Threatened by Federal and State governments, and an additional 48 species are Proposed as Endangered.

“While only comprising less than 1% of the United States land mass, Hawaiʻi contains 44% of the nation’s Endangered and Threatened plant species,” according to the site.

To protect the native flora of the islands, DOFAW runs the Hawaiian Rare Plant Program that works to rebuild genetic stock.

Brewer said those who operate the program go to great lengths to find Hawai‘i’s rare plants, with some species dropping to the last three. Sometimes, Brewer added, DOFAW workers are rappelling off cliffs to find one plant growing off a rocky ledge.

The Big Island Invasive Species Committee also does its part to protect native plants by removing invasive species.

With so many non-native plants, Brewer said the nonprofit focuses on incipient plants or plants that are in the early stages of taking root on the island stopping them before they’re widespread.