I've learned to appreciate a lot of the native plants
just recently because I've noticed
the beauty in them and
their usefulness within our daily lives. I get excited when I see an
intact native forest and how it should look.
If we're not able to monitor
these invasive species and control them,
then we may lose all of
our resources.
A lot of people, they don't understand that those plants don't belong there.
So that's why its important,
I believe it's important for us to
monitor and manage these invasive plants.
For millions of years the Pacific Ocean served as a tremendous barrier to limit the arrival of
new plant and animal species to our islands.
Over time, the few organisms that did arrive evolved into a vast collection of unique
organisms found nowhere else on earth.
with the arrival of people on canoes, ships, and airplanes the rate of species introductions
greatly increased.
Some of these species that have been introduced are quite damaging to Hawaii's natural environment.
It's estimated that 850 plant species are non-native here, in other words
have been introduced by humans.
Versus the 1,100 species that arrived and evolved here naturally.
In the most extreme cases, ecologically disruptive species like miconia in Hawaii,
albezia in Hawaii and American Samoa,
and ekoa in Hawaii, American Samoa, and on Guam
completely displace native plants.
The 11 national parks in Hawaii, Guam,
Saipan, and American Samoa protect much of the most healthy and least invaded ecosystems
remaining on their islands.
The Pacific Island Network Inventory and Monitoring Program of the National Park Service
is responsible for providing park managers scientific data
to track invasive species in these protected areas.
Preventing the introduction of invasive plants to Pacific islands is the most cost effective
defense.
The National Park Service is conducting surveys within parks of roads,
trails,
fence lines,
and parking lots.
in order to locate new plant invaders before they become a serious problem.
Surveying these corridors is critical because they often serve as primary pathways for species
introductions
by both people and animals.
Surveys consist of walking along roads, trails, or fences
and recording all target invasive plant species and new potential invaders.
Suspect plant sightings are identified and reported immediately to park resource managers.
It's easier to manage 10 young fiya trees next to the road than
it is to get at
a huge forest like this that
has become established and overgrown.
What we have here is a Himalayan raspberry.
It might not look like much, but this is an invasive species that can grow large
and threaten the Hawaiian ecosystems.
When we monitor plants and catch them at this stage it will be easier for us to manage them later.
But invasive species do not
respect park boundaries.
To effectively limit invasions on an island-wide scale it is crucial to partner with people and organizations
outside of the parks to encourage communication across islands
by contributing to a data management and reporting system.
By sharing information the National Park Service supports the effective control of invasive
plants
not only within its borders, but spanning the fragile and unique islands on which we live.
Long-term monitoring of invasive plant species already established within native park
ecosystems
is also essential for successful management.
Monitoring provides important information about the abundance and distribution of invasive
species, allowing park managers to assess current and changing threats,
formulate appropriate control strategies,
and prioritize areas and species for management.
Long-term monitoring
also allows managers to evaluate the effectiveness of previous management actions such as the
removal of mammals which are known to spread invasive plant seeds.
A team of National Park Service biologists collects data on invasive plant species along
sampling transects,
or path-like lines.
We have statistically determined the best locations to conduct our transects so that we can
deliver the most accurate information to park managers regarding invasive species abundance,
distribution, and then the trends over time.
The reason why run transects is because we can't count every plant in the forest.
So we pick specific areas, and in those areas we lay down transects. We have our start location
and were going in one specific
direction for a kilometer.
And so we'll look
every twenty meters, we'll stop,
and record all of the weeds we see within that distance... Zero to 20 meters, 20 to 40.
...and then, so basically along this line
we'll look for the weeds
and then make an estimate of how much that
weed consists of the whole 20 meter distance.
And then every 200 meters we stop and
we take a GPS point,
and on our permanent transects do photographs and put in a post, so that every five years
people can come back
and do the same measurements we're doing.
Therefore you can see how the forest has changed;
how much the weeds have increased or decreased.
Data gathered using this monitoring method is coupled with data on new or potentially
destructive invasive species
to provide managers with a comprehensive picture
of a park's invasive plants threat.
Invasive species on islands are fact of life.
They can have devastating effects on native plants and animals
as well as on culture
and the economy.
We can not undo these introductions,
but by working together through control efforts and the sharing of information,
and staying vigilant through education and science,
we can keep invasive species at bay
and continue to protect our treasured native island ecosystems