2024 — Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC)

Coqui Update: December 2024

Posted on November 25, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

We hear you – and yes, we hear the coqui too!

The winter rains have started, and so has the chorus of coqui frogs. We understand that the coqui situation feels overwhelming right now, and we share your frustration. To everyone who has reached out—or better yet, is taking action—thank you. Your efforts are invaluable and make a real difference. At MISC, we remain dedicated to managing this growing challenge and want to update you on our efforts and how you can help.

As we shared in October 2024, we are short-staffed. Earlier this year, a funding gap temporarily prevented us from maintaining full staffing for our coqui crew. Staffing shortages are never ideal, but the timing of this one—during warm, wet weather when coqui are most active—has been especially frustrating.

While this setback slowed our progress, we’re rebuilding capacity and look forward to having a fully staffed and trained team soon. If you know trustworthy and hardworking candidates, please send them our way!

Learn more about field crew positions!

Even when our coqui crew is fully staffed, success depends on collective kuleana: communities working in their yards so MISC can focus on outliers and containment.

Neighborhoods that work together have been successful in bringing the situation under control. For example, Haʻikū Mauka has quieted coqui populations by reducing habitat and taking action themselves, such as spraying citric acid. Other neighborhoods following this model are seeing progress—some only encounter a coqui every few months.

Community Coqui Control

Make Your Yard Unfriendly to Coqui:

Trim vegetation and dispose of green waste at official facilities.
Remove dense brush and coqui-friendly plants like bromeliads where coqui thrive.

DIY Frog Control:

Only hearing a few frogs? Hand capture or use a spray bottle with citric acid solution. Request some citric from MISC.
Need something more? Use a backpack sprayer. Request a Backpack Sprayer
Need citric acid? Request some from MISC.
Learn from the pros. Watch our short coqui-catching video.

Request Citric from MISC

Borrow a Backpack Sprayer

Learn How to Control Coqui

Organize with Your Neighbors:

Many hands make light work! Help your neighbors make their yard unfriendly to coqui and spay citric acid.
Consider hosting a supply distribution point for your community.

What MISC is Doing:

Community support:

Distributing citric acid for coqui control: Request some from MISC.
Loaning equipment like pickup sprayers and delivering citric acid for frog control. Request a Truckbed Sprayer
Adding a limited number of 4-gallon backpack sprayers to the equipment available for loan: Request a Backpack Sprayer
Staffing Up: We’re hiring field crew and crew leaders. Learn more about Careers.
Workshops: Upcoming workshops will teach strategies to reduce coqui impacts and organize neighborhood control efforts.

Looking Ahead:

Coqui are primarily limited to a six-square mile area of Haʻikū and we are not giving up. Our goal is to empower communities to manage coqui locally and prevent new populations from spreading.

With your support, we can make a difference. Mahalo nui loa for your kōkua and patience as we navigate these challenges. Together, we can continue protecting Maui from invasive species.

Maui is 735 square miles; coqui are established in various densities across roughly six square miles. Current staffing requires us to prioritize response to coqui detections in the blue area.

Trace-forward reveals little fire ants in Kīpahulu. Public encouraged to report stinging ants

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

MISC crews survey a section of road along Hāna Highway in Kīpahulu.

On August 26th, 2024, the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) field crew detected a small population of little fire ants (Wasmannia auropunctata) along Hāna Highway near the entrance of the Kīpahulu District of Haleakalā National Park. This finding follows the late May detection of little fire ants (LFA) at a county storage area on Waikaloa Road in Hāna. The ants likely spread via contaminated road fill to Kīpahulu within the last year. The infestation appears to be confined to approximately two-thirds of an acre, less than half a soccer field.

This new discovery resulted from a MISC trace-forward effort, which involves looking to see where the ants might have been moved. “Little fire ants are notorious hitchhikers,” says Brooke Mahnken, who coordinates the LFA project for MISC, “and they’re easy to miss until someone gets stung, which is how the Waikaloa Road infestation was discovered.” The MISC team has been working closely with Maui County ever since the ants were first detected in Hāna. “Maui County has been completely supportive of control efforts,” Mahnken says. “They brought in heavy equipment to open up access for treatment and have followed all recommended protocols to prevent further spread.” Several ground treatments at Waikaloa Road site have already occurred— including all the fill piles—and the first full-site treatment by helicopter is scheduled for September 23.

As part of the trace-forward investigation, MISC crews are surveying areas where fill from Waikaloa was used—from Honomanū to Ulupalakua. So far, crews have not found little fire ants during surveys in Honomanū, Keʻanae, and Wailua. No LFA have been found at the Hāna landfill.

Little fire ants are one of the most destructive invasive species in Hawai‘i. Known for forming ‘supercolonies’ that outcompete native insects and displace animals, they are a serious environmental threat. Infestations jeopardize agriculture, can blind pets with their stings, and prevent enjoyment of outdoor spaces including backyards, beaches, and trails.

Community reports are vital in stopping LFA; the vast majority (18 of 25) of detections on Maui were thanks to the public. MISC works closely with the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Hawaiʻi Ant Lab to eliminate LFA at the 25 sites discovered across Maui. Ten sites remain under active control but 15 are either eradicated or in the final monitoring phase. Innovative methods – including treatment by helicopter– are proving successful and will now be used in Waikaloa.

Funding from the County of Maui and the Hawaii Invasive Species Council has supported eradication efforts, but Mahnken is concerned about recent trends. “Consistent, repeat treatments are needed for eradication. If we fall behind, everything takes longer, increasing the likelihood that the ants will move to new locations.” The key to keeping LFA from becoming established is finding them early and he urges the public to keep reporting stinging ants.

If you are stung by ants outside or in your home, report through 643PEST.org. For more information, visit stoptheant.org.

The Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) is a grant-funded project of the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, working to contain or eradicate high-threat invasive species across Maui County. Learn more at mauiinvasive.org.

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The plant with a spiky ball with orange flowers? That’s lion’s ear. What it is and how you can control it.

Posted on July 7, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

It’s easy to see how lion’s ear got its name, the distinctive orange flowers bloom in the spring. Photos courtesy of Forest and Kim Starr.

Lion’s ear: it’s six feet tall with a globular orange flower arranged on the stem like oranges and tangerines skewered on a shish kabob. It’s hard to ignore. From upcountry pastures to West Maui roadsides, this distinctive plant leads passersby to do a double take, both because of its appearance and abundance. Lion’s ear—sometimes called lion’s tail—is known to science as Leonotis nepetifolia and is invasive in Hawai‘i.

This plant owes its successful colonization to three factors: plentiful seeds, a range of habitat types, and the ability to thrive in human-modified landscapes. In a single growing season, the spiky seed heads release an estimated 1,400 seeds per plant. While most seeds will fall around the parent plant, some spread downstream along waterways. Once the plant germinates and sets seeds the population continues to grow.

The spiky seed heads persist even after the plant is dead keeping people and animals from knocking them down. Each plant can release 1400 seeds in a year and after several years, thickets form. Photo courtesy of Forest and Kim Starr.

Lion’s ear thrives in the mesic and dry areas of Makawao, Kula, Ulupalakua, and Kaupō allowing it to spread along roadsides and into drought-stressed pastures. It grows in lower elevations as well and is now found in Kīhei, Mā‘alaea, Olowalu, Lahaina, and Honokōwai. Tolerant of shade or sun, the winter rains trigger germination and its spiky seed heads discourage grazing and activity that would knock the plants down. Other favored locations include places where vegetation is altered and bare soil is present: grading, grazing, or erosion create the conditions for seeds to germinate. Plants sometimes show up along gulches after floods carry seeds down to eroded banks.

Native to tropical regions of Africa, the plant’s unique appearance led to its popularity as an ornamental as early as the 17th century. As European colonization spread, so did the lion’s ear, escaping cultivated gardens and becoming naturalized (self-sustaining wild populations) in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In Hawai‘i, a student at Kamehameha Boys School on O‘ahu collected the first documented specimen in 1938.

On Maui, lion’s ear has become more abundant in the last decade as the once-scattered populations fused. Thickets of plants in pastureland and abandoned fields are now a common sight. While too widespread for an island-wide eradication program, problematic patches can be removed. As with any invasive plant removal, control efforts timed to disrupt the seeding cycle will be the most efficient and effective; persistence over multiple years is necessary to exhaust the seeding cycle. Recommended control actions include:

Physical/cultural control: For small populations, hand-pulling works because the roots are shallow. For larger populations, mowing or dozing is an option. Any seeds should be removed (bagged and thrown away) or tilled deep into the soil, followed by planting with a crop or pasture grass. Infested areas should be monitored for several years to eliminate the seed bank.
Chemical control: In Australia, land managers use picloram + triclopyr diluted with water as a foliar spray. Always follow the label when using herbicide.

If you’re noticing lion’s ear in new areas, share your observations. The online citizen science program iNaturalist is a great way to learn and document what plants (and animals) are in your area, including those that stand out – like a spiky orange flower – as well as those that are less obvious or that you’ve never seen before. Your contributions to the larger understanding of where invasive species are and help resource managers understand impacts and anticipate future invasions, and sometimes, these observations turn out to be a pest that can be stopped before it becomes widespread.

Lissa Strohecker is the public relations and education specialist for the Maui Invasive Species Committee. She holds a biological sciences degree from Montana State University. Kia’i Moku, “Guarding the Island,” is prepared by the Maui Invasive Species Committee to provide information on protecting the island from invasive plants and animals that can threaten the island’s environment, economy, and quality of life.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on June 13th, 2024 , as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

For healthy reefs and productive watersheds, resource managers are turning to AI

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

_{The computer program identifies miconia in aerial photographs using visual cues such as leaf size and shape (see miconia plants circled based on the computer identification). Each plant is linked to GPS coordinates giving crews a location so they can then remove the plant. Photo credit, Spatial Data and Visualization Lab.}

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we work—not just for chatbots in customer service or conjuring fake images. AI excels at repetitive and redundant tasks; it can increase workflow efficiency and speed up data analysis. These types of tasks aren’t limited to office work; even the work of protecting natural resources from invasive plants can benefit from AI.

The invasive miconia plant infests thousands of acres across East Maui. Its huge leaves shade out other plants, allowing it to dominate the landscape. The loss of understory plants and miconia’s shallow root system disrupt the forest’s ability to capture and store water, causing increased erosion and sedimentation that threaten the health of near-shore environments. The Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) has been working to keep miconia from spreading into higher-elevation watersheds. But to stop it, MISC first has to find it.

For decades, MISC used helicopters to search low-elevation forests for the telltale green and purple leaves. A pilot and a team of three “spotters” methodically flew back and forth, low and slow, heads hanging out of the ship, searching for miconia plants and recording locations on a GPS. Exciting at first, the thrill wore off after a few hours, replaced by sore necks and sometimes nausea. It was tedious and expensive, but the best way to survey large swaths of land for miconia.Until now.

Similar to how software in your phone can recognize faces in photographs or act as a secure login, computer software can be used to identify plants from images. Ryan Perroy and Roberto Rodriguez with the Spatial Data and Visualization Lab at the University of Hawaiʻi – Hilo (SDAV) have developed a process to collect footage of Hawaiʻi’s forests and identify miconia.

The process still involves a helicopter and flying back and forth in a lawnmower-like pattern, but instead of relying on human spotters, a digital camera mounted on the outside of the helicopter captures imagery destined for a computer in the lab. Small video cameras and equipment record the location, orientation, and speed of the helicopter. Rodriguez has trained the software to recognize miconia. The same visual cues that alert field crews to a miconia plant—leaf size and shape, the distinctive vein in the middle—cue the software to the presence of a plant. The computer then assigns GPS coordinates to the plant using data collected during the flight. A map is born.

_{Roberto Rodriguez from the Spatial Data and Visualization Lab at UH Hilo on a test flight collecting aerial imagery of East Maui forests. Rodriguez developed a computer program that identifies invasive miconia from photographs, saving field crews hours of work. Photo credit Adam Knox, MISC.}

“The software can recognize a single leaf poking through the forest,” Perroy explains. How do the two approaches hold up when compared against each other? The limits of the software are similar to those for a human spotter in some ways: leaves hidden by overhanging trees will go undetected using either method. But in trials comparing the overall speed and ability to detect miconia, the computer bested the humans—perhaps because it doesn’t get tired, bored, or airsick.

The software developed by the SDAV Lab for East Maui is looking for miconia; by training it on different characteristics, it can be used to find other invasive plants, such as pampas grass, or trees that show symptoms of rapid ohia death, a fungal pathogen not known to be present on Maui. Perroy has already done this on Hawaiʻi Island. “In the past we had a person review footage looking for symptoms of rapid ohia death. It was tiring, grueling work. A computer can do it in only a few hours.”

For Maui, initial efforts will focus on finding miconia along the borders of its known range—west of Hāna to Huelo, upslope towards Hanawi, and around the southern edge to Kīpahulu.

Woody Mallinson, Natural Resources Program Manager with Haleakalā National Park, explains why the National Park Service is helping to fund this project. “Protection of forest bird habitat is the number-one natural resource priority for our park,” he says. “The threat of miconia getting into Kīpahulu Biological Reserve is a concern.”

After some additional fine-tuning, the technique will be used to create a snapshot of miconia across East Maui—information that will help guide future work to ensure the long-term health of our forested watersheds.

AI and technology can’t replace our natural resources but these tools can help us in our efforts to support the healthy environment on which we rely.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on March 9, 2024, as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

When does a species become invasive? A 1920’s scientist showed us, partly by accident

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

_{Bingabing is an invasive plant found on Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi Island. Documented evidence of its spread in Hawaiʻi helps inform efforts to address invasive species. Photo courtesy of Forest and Kim Starr}

In 2000, Forest and Kim Starr, biologists with the University of Hawaiʻi, accepted an unusual challenge: drive all the roads of Maui at 5-10 miles per hour to look for plants that might be good targets for eradication. On the side of Olinda Road, they spotted a lone tree with large, umbrella-like leaves. It was bingabing, or Macaranga mappa.

If you’ve been to Hilo, you may know the plant; it lines roadsides and low elevation forests. But even after driving all the roads of Maui, the Starrs only found the lone plant upcountry. Why hadn’t it invaded the roadsides here?

Bingabing could have spread, it was just early in the process; the Starrr’s were in search of plants like bingabing, invasive species that were still early in their invasion and hadn’t yet started spreading.

_{An invasion curve illustrates the feasibility of eliminating an invasive species and highlights the importance of finding pests early on. Graphic by University of Florida, IFAS}

An invasion curve shows how a species spreads after its initial introduction and also illustrates the feasibility of eliminating a species. “If there are only a few individuals, it will take time before the population starts to increase dramatically,” explains University of Hawaiʻi professor and researcher Curt Daehler. Daehler studies what factors contribute to a plant’s invasiveness. “There are thousands of introduced species present in Hawaiʻi that aren’t invasive,” he says. “The goal of a plant is to thrive, so what keeps them from spreading? Certain species have a missing pollinator, or the plant is in the wrong location,” explains Daehler.

Stopping an invasive species early— during the lag phase— is an important factor for eradication. But it’s also the most difficult time for detection because their numbers are so low. Having better information about how quickly a species might start to spread can help with prioritizing targets. Estimates of lag time for introduced plants were once presumed to be very long, more than 100 years in some cases. These early estimates were based on indirect evidence and didn’t focus on plants from a tropical environment. To better understand lag times, Daehler says you’d need to intentionally plant a species and watch for its spread. It turns out the Lyon Arboretum in Mānoa Valley on Oʻahu had done exactly that.

*_{Harold Lyon planted hundreds of trees in what is now Lyon Arboretum in an urgent attempt to protect the watershed above Mānoa. Photo courtesy of University of Hawaii.}*

A hundred years ago, the slopes of Mānoa Valley were bare. For decades, feral cattle had grazed the slopes, causing rain to run off the land rather than fill the aquifers; sugar plantation owners were justifiably alarmed. They sought the help of plant pathologist, Harold Lyon. He advocated for protecting the remaining native forests, but also recognized the urgent need to restore vegetation. On a plot of land that eventually became the Lyon Arboretum, he planted hundreds of species from around the world looking for ones that spread swiftly to stabilize the soil and support aquifer recharge. His staff collected detailed information as the plants spread onto nearby land and up low-elevation slopes.

Today, the ability to spread quickly into new areas is a hallmark of an invasive species. Realizing the value of Lyon Arboretum data, Dr. Daehler examined the historic planting records and the documented spread to obtain lag times for 23 plant species known to be invasive in Hawaiʻi. He found that lag times were much shorter than previously estimated. “As soon as they reach maturity, these trees start spreading.” He published his findings to help others address known invaders early.

One of the trees Lyon studied was bingabing. Foresters planted bingabing to support reforestation on Oʻahu; it is now widespread in low-elevation forests. On Hawaiʻi Island, bingabing was seeded by aircraft following a fire in Hilo. It has continued to spread from that initial introduction and today, dense stands crowd the forests surrounding Hilo.

The history of bingabing on Maui appears to be limited to single introductions. Crews from the Maui Invasive Species Committee removed the tree on Olinda Road, and plants from two other sites. Bingabing is one of a dozen species of invasive plants eradicated from Maui before they could spread.

Harold Lyon was concerned about watershed health; had he known the outcome of some of his plantings, he likely would have chosen differently. Today, we have a choice, and a wealth of information about plants’ invasiveness, thanks in part to Dr. Daehler’s work. He helped launch the Hawaiʻi Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA), which serves as a background check for plants by predicting the likelihood a species will become invasive in Hawaiʻi. Resource managers, horticulturalists, and farmers can use the HPWRA before choosing to purchase or plant a new species, helping to prevent the introduction of a new invader. The only thing better than eradicating an invasive species early is preventing its introduction in the first place. Learn more and take advantage of the HPWRA at www.plantpono.org.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on February 10, 2024, as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

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What’s keeping invasive species out of Hawaiʻi? Inspections, programs and plans and finally, you

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Lissa Strohecker

*Staff from Hawaiʻi receive training on how to handle snakes. It’s part of a larger* *effort to ensure prevention and response capacity.*

On the morning of January 9th, an employee unloading a container at a hardware store on Molokaʻi was startled by the sight of a snake flicking its tongue at him. The store immediately called the Maui Police Department and the Molokaʻi Invasive Species Committee. Within less than an hour of discovery, the snake was caught and dispatched. It was not a normal Monday morning—snakes rarely arrive in Hawaiʻi, and that’s by design.

Invasive species like snakes and other plants and animals can be drivers of environmental change. They can take over habitat used by native plants and animals, fueling wildfires, and disrupting aquifer recharge. These changes jeopardize agricultural and horticultural industries, tourism, and our quality of life. Preventing new invasive pests from becoming established and managing those that are already here is essential, but it doesn’t happen without vision, planning, and coordination. No single organization or agency can tackle all the invasive species challenges.

Even before a cargo ship leaves its port of origin, inspectors check for pests. In Oregon, which grows most of the Christmas trees destined for Hawaiʻi, inspectors shake out trees as they’re loaded into the containers, looking for wasps or other insects. On Guam, where brown tree snakes have overrun the island, a team from the U.S. Geological Survey regularly scours the wheel wells of outgoing planes to check for stowaway snakes. Once cargo arrives in the islands, the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture inspects it for hitchhiking pests. But they can’t check every box, leaf, or plant, and sometimes pests slip past the borders, finding their way into backyards or forests. Sometimes weedy plants are intentionally introduced.

Although invasive species don’t care who owns the land, agencies have specific mandates that limit where they can work. This gap was highlighted by the discovery of the highly invasive miconia plant in Hāna in the early 1990s. Miconia was on private and public land but hadn’t yet reached higher-elevation areas, where it would threaten the watershed. Control needed to occur wherever the plant had taken root.

So resource managers found a way to fill the gap. They created an informal committee, sought funding, and hired staff. Work expanded to other pests and the model was adopted by other islands, resulting in the island-based Invasive Species Committees (ISCs) that work on priority pests on private and public property. The ISCs focus on species that pose the greatest risk of harm and are considered feasible to eradicate or contain to limited areas. They work in close collaboration with partners whose work on invaders is more place-based—for example, watershed partnerships, national parks, natural area reserves, and wildlife refuges.

Addressing invasive species from reaching Hawaii begins outside our borders with inspections. Still some pests slip through the cracks and coordinated plans and response can keep them from becoming established. — Graphic courtesy Hawaii Invasive Species Biosecurity Plan, HISC

When invasive species have spread beyond containment but still pose significant threats, they may be suitable targets for biological control—using natural enemies from their native landscape to reduce their impacts in Hawaiʻi.

With so many players involved in this gargantuan task of addressing invasive species, it’s essential to plan and coordinate. In 2017, the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council released a Hawaiʻi Interagency Biosecurity Plan, developed with input from stakeholders from various agencies and the public. The plan identifies gaps in the biosecurity system and outlines policies, processes, and resources needed to improve our collective response. The plan offers a framework for agency collaboration, with specific tasks identified for lead and partner agencies.

Are we making progress? Chelsea Arnott, Coordinator for the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council highlighted some accomplishments under the plan since 2017:

The Department of Health’s vector control program was restored, enhancing protection against new species of mosquitoes and the spread of mosquito-vectored human disease. This statewide program lost its funding after the 2008 economic downturn.
Research support has led to remote sensing using drones, helicopters, and computer-aided analysis of images to detect trees infected with rapid ohia death.
Landscape-level efforts are underway to protect native birds from mosquito-borne diseases.
In Kaneohe Bay, lab-reared native sea urchins graze on invasive algae that threaten coral reefs.
On Maui, new methods for treating little fire ants by air are proving successful.
Agency cooperation has helped find and test natural enemies to slow the spread of invasive plants, including tibouchina, devil weed, and miconia.
Interagency coordination on outreach and education has increased community awareness about the importance of invasive species.

Ultimately, an alert and aware community is one of the most important layers of protection against the spread of invasive species. Thanks, Molokaʻi, for helping to ensure there are still no snakes in Hawaiʻi.

Learn more about the priorities for action and the agencies working to keep invasive species out of Hawaiʻi; visit https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/plans/hibp/

This article was originally published in the Maui News on January 13, 2024, as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.