Protecting Hawaii’s Endangered Plants
With more endangered species per square mile than any other place on the planet, Hawaii has earned the unfortunate title of “endangered species capital of the world”. The Plant Extinction Prevention (PEP) program is one way we can reverse the trend and work together to protect our unique native plant species and prevent further loss.
The PEP was developed by the Hawai‘i Rare Plant Restoration Group (HRPRG), a collaboration of botanical experts, State and Federal government agencies, private landowners, and non-profit organizations committed to the conservation of the state’s flora. The PEP focuses on identifying and protecting those species with fewer than 50 wild individuals remaining in their natural habitat.
According to the PEP, there are approximately 170 species that fall into this category currently. Once an endangered species has been identified, rather than await federal recognition via the Endangered Species list and risk losing the species entirely, PEP gets to work combating the factors – environmental, political, circumstantial, and otherwise – that threaten the endangered species. The Huffington Post reported that in 2010, the PEP protected 116 species, of which only 101 were federally listed.
The PEP takes their work a step further, going beyond just striving to protect those species already known to be endangered. They seek out others that are potentially endangered or even believed to be extinct and attempt to protect and propagate them as well. The coordinator of PEP, Joan Yoshioka, explained, “Our staff routinely prevent extinctions and even rediscover and save species that were presumed already extinct”.
Some of their efforts involve removing invasive species, collecting seeds of endangered species, replanting, locating new habitats and establishing new populations. These tasks are often taxing and sometimes dangerous; as efforts may involve rappelling, non-native animal control, pesticide use, helicopter operation, and extreme hiking.
It is PEP’s proactive approach and hard work that is earning them respect from residents, landowners, and other community members and organizations. And that respect, in turn, has led to invaluable partnerships that provide the support and funding necessary to keep PEP’s work – and the endangered species they care for – alive. Yoshioka noted, “Their dedication and often heroic efforts in the field build trust, goodwill, and critically important partnerships with landowners, local communities, and a wide variety of other organizations. While we receive much of our funding from state and federal sources, we are able to keep our focus on saving species and leave all the politics and red tape to the government agencies and let them deal with it”.
Although a significant amount of progress has been made, the size of the task – the great scale of the native plant extinction crisis in Hawaii – has not been sufficiently matched with federal funding. The efforts of groups like PEP and their partners are vital to reversing the trend of extinction.
For more information and to help with PEP’s work, please visit their website or contact statewide PEP coordinator, Joan Yoshioka, at (808) 974-4388 or by email at jyoshioka@dofawha.org.
