There have been several developments in the Oahu and Kauai miconia war zones since my last report in Malama i ka Honua. Activity on Kauai had been minimal since the Kauai Gardens subdivision infestation in Wailua had been delineated by HDOA, HDOFAW (Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife) and volunteers. However, in April, a new extension of this infestation was reported within the drainage of Wailua river, close to the known infestation site. HDOA and DOFAW staff reached the difficult to access site by helicopter and killed a total of 14 plants. No other plants have been found since then. However, this wet riverside habitat may be ideal for miconia so there could still be more in the vicinity.
On Oahu, there has been more activity due to the multiple infestations of miconia mauka of Honolulu. In Nuuanu, the "Operation Miconia" awareness campaign generated some new reports of plants. Fortunately, all were close to the original infestation at the (former) Marks estate on Old Pali Road. Three different property owners reported plants there in mid-April. One was large enough to have fruited in the past, but had been kept pruned by the caretakers there. Its diameter was 5 inches, indicating it was old enough to have fruited several times. All new finds were killed by HDOA staff.
In Kalihi, I led a Hawaiian Botanical Society field trip up to the site of the former Makiki Nursery, above the end of Kalihi Street. Since only Charlotte Yamane had surveyed this site on her own during the past year, we decided to re-survey mauka, in the gully the original plant was in. This one gully has always yielded the most plants of any nearby area. None of the 20 plants we found were too big to pull up. These results help support my belief that we have removed all large reproductive age trees at this site. It was also encouraging to have found and killed the only plant I had sighted previously from a helicopter while surveying the area. HDOFAW provided the helicopter time. Hawaiian Electric Co. also provided some helicopter time while they did their powerline corridor inspections. Incidentally, the miconia inserts that came with everyone's electric bill was a great idea they thought up on their own.
The upper Manoa infestation is a very different situation. We know there were at least two and possibly three original large fruiting trees in the 1960's and 70s'. One each at Paradise Park and Lyon Arboretum and apparently one in a back yard close to Paradise Park. That plant was reportedly purchased in a commercial nursery, but we don't know where or when. Regardless, multiple trees as sources of seeds appear to have led to an infestation behaving more like Maui infestations than like Kalihi or Nuuanu. Seedlings, saplings and reproducing trees have been found over a much larger area than either the Nuuanu or Kalihi infestations.
SC volunteers have now completed one sweep of the Lyon Arboretum property. There appears to be two loci of infestation on or adjacent to the arboretum property. One is a gully immediately East of Aihualama Falls, and the other is close to the Paradise Park-Lyon Arboretum boundary. These two areas will need to be re-surveyed for years to come.
Four recent reports of miconia in upper Manoa have unfortunately required me to expand our search area. Two of these reports are of plants near or beyond the Aihualama Stream foot bridge. A third report was from the end of Kumulani Street, adjacent to Paradise Park property. The news of these finds is disappointing but not surprising.
The most worrisome is the confirmed report of 3 plants on the west slope of Puu pia. Because of these reports, I decided to postpone the Kalihi uka surveys that were scheduled, and concentrate on upper Manoa. The Board of Water Supply has been very cooperative in allowing us access into this area. There are still a few farms up in this area so we need to be sure we respect their privacy and property boundaries.
The most recent news is removal of 13 more plants on Paradise Park mauka property by a joint HDOA and HDOFAW-NARS team effort on May 31. One of these was over 30 ft. tall with mature fruit on several panicles. More surveys will be needed.
I want to thank all the volunteers that have helped with this effort. I especially want to thank co-leaders Doreen Line and Tom Yoza, who were willing to lead unsuspecting volunteers up and down steep slopes choked with maile pilau, fiddle wood and plenty hungry mosquitoes.