HILO — For a small donation, you can help save the ohia tree.
HILO — For a small donation, you can help save the ohia tree.
As a sign of how big of a threat rapid ohia death is to Hawaii’s native forests, a University of Hawaii conservation lab is asking for the public’s help to raise funds to increase its supply of ohia seeds.
The reserve would act as an insurance policy should the tree — one of the state’s most culturally and ecologically important plants — be pushed to the brink of extinction by the fast-spreading disease.
“I thought this is something everyone cares about, and everyone is asking, ‘How can we help?’” said Mary Chau, manager of the Lyon Arboretum’s Seed Conservation Laboratory on Oahu. “I thought crowdfunding could be a really good solution.”
The lab has a goal of raising $35,000, and as of Monday afternoon, it had collected $9,500.
Chau said the money would be used for staff time and other costs associated with storing and collecting the seeds from across the islands.
According to UH, the rapid ohia death, first detected in 2010, has decimated more than 34,000 acres of native forest on Hawaii Island. The tree makes up half of the native trees on the island.
Chau said the lab already has 1 million ohia seeds in storage, but she said that may not be enough.
“If you know about ohia seeds, that’s not very much,” she said. “Ten-thousand can fit in the palm of your hand.”
Chau said the tree also has a germination rate of about 10 percent.
Currently, the lab keeps seeds from more than 500 native species in freezers or refrigerators. Some of the species no longer exist in the wild.
The good news is that ohia seeds will survive in a freezer for decades, allowing the species to be reintroduced in areas where it is lost, particularly if a biocontrol method or resistant variety is discovered.
“It could really bring you hope in the future,” Chau said. “We have a lot to lose; at least we can conserve the species that we love.”
Info/donate: www.gofundme.com/ohialove.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.