HILO — The state Board of Agriculture on Tuesday approved a permanent quarantine for transport of ohia plant parts from Hawaii Island.
The proposed amendment will next go to the lieutenant governor’s office for final approval, and would take effect 10 days after that filing.
An emergency quarantine went into effect last August to prevent the spread of rapid ohia death, a disease caused by a strain of the fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata, throughout the state.
The disease has affected more than 47,000 acres of forest on the Big Island, according to aerial mapping surveys conducted by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, but it has not been found on other islands.
In the past, other plant diseases and pests have spread from island to island “before we were even aware” of potential problems, said J.B. Friday, extension forester with the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.
As rapid ohia death became more prevalent, the Department of Agriculture moved ahead with emergency procedures.
“We’ve had good leadership at the DOA,” Friday said. “They said, ‘No, we’re going to do this.’ It (rapid ohia death) was pretty fast-moving, but there was a window to do something about it.”
The emergency quarantine did not ban all shipments of ohia but instead required the shipments to be tested for the fungus that causes the disease and permitted.
Public hearings were hosted on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island beginning Aug. 31 this year. Many people thanked the department for taking action quickly regarding the emergency quarantine.
Adam Radford, manager of the Maui Invasive Species Committee, said in his testimony that much of his group’s work is “influenced by (rapid ohia death) and its potential presence on Maui.”
The quarantine does not completely ban shipment of ohia wood or plant parts, but requires any product being transported be tested and properly permitted.
The permanent quarantine amendment is more restrictive in terms of what must be tested and permitted. Flowers, leaves, seeds, stems, twigs, cuttings, mulch, greenwaste, frass, wood, logs and soil that contained ohia all fall under this designation.
Finished ohia wood that already was subjected to approved DOA treatments does not need to be permitted.
Efforts to stop the spread of rapid ohia death on the Big Island are ongoing and funded by federal, state and county resources.
A new post-doctoral researcher arrived Monday, Friday said. Plant pathologist Marc Hughes previously studied laurel wilt, a disease that affects the commercial avocado crop in Florida as well as the state’s native trees.
“He has a heck of a lot of valuable experience,” Friday said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
