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The Blackhawk helicopter touches down on the ‘Ohikilolo landing pad in the Wai’anae Mountains. Nellie Sugii of the Lyon Arboretum Micropropagation Laboratory and several other researchers from the U.S. Army Environmental Natural Resources jump out of the metal bird and unload their gear. The helicopter takes flight, leaving the group at a windy and chilly 3,000-foot elevation with no facilities for comfort, only the necessities they have packed. The terrain is steep and rocky.

Over a three-day period, the researchers, who have received special training to perform field work in dangerous and extreme locations, will visit numerous restoration areas–sites where rare and endangered plants are being grown. This particular area in ‘Ohikilolo is managed by the U.S. Army.

During the first two days, the researchers hike from site to site, pulling weeds, checking traps for feral ungulates such as goats and pigs. They also put bait in the rat traps. On the third day, they venture down the side of a steep ridge to check on a rare species that grows there. They have to rely on ropes to make their descent. Though the harsh terrain is hard on humans, it helps protect the plants from predators.

Sugii is particularly focused on finding a specific species of palm, the Pritchardia ka’alae or loulu palm. In her propagation lab at Lyon Arboretum, she grows loulu and other endangered plants. The micropropagation lab is part of the Rare Plant Program, a conservation effort to save Hawai’i’s rarest native plants from extinction.

This trip will give Sugii the opportunity to see how the plants she has grown in the lab are faring in the wild. ‘You really get a feel as to the importance of the work in the lab when you go into the wild and observe the plants in their environment,’ she says.

In the wild, Sugii will check the plants for fruits, flowers and seeds. She will also collect propagules–any part of a plant that can be used in a lab for propagation like seeds, cuttings and leaves.

‘Seeing the plants in their natural state gives us a better insight in dealing with the plants in the lab…It helps us make accurate determinations inside the lab based on our experiences going out into the wild,’ Sugii continues. ‘It’s extremely valuable and I wish I could go out more. But a lot of the plants are in very remote areas, and you need to be a skilled hiker or have a vehicle like a helicopter to bring you in.’

In addition to finding a dead goat, the group locates a rare species of tetramolopium, a small plant in the daisy family that grows in green tufts, and a species of ochrosia, a medium-sized tree that grows up to 15 feet tall. There are fewer than 50 individual tetramolopium, ochrosia and loulu in the wild. Across the Islands, another 183 species of native Hawaiian plants are unlucky enough to carry that distinction.

Of the 1,400 species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, more 600 are considered rare and many are in steady decline. On O’ahu alone there are 63 species on the brink of extinction with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild; 100 known endemic plant species are already extinct.

However, the state of Hawai’i is doing something to save these native plants from extinction, thanks to the coordinated effort of government agencies, public and private entities and funded conservation programs which have come together to form the Plant Extinction Prevention program (PEP),

At the center of this effort to save the 186 species approaching extinction is Sugii’s micropropagation lab and germ plasm bank, where plants are grown in test tubes and live organisms are stored. This bank holds many plants that are already extinct in the wild; Sugii cares for the last remaining specimens of many lines. She hopes the lab will create a ‘genetic safety net’ that will save certain species from extinction by increasing their numbers. As the species grows, Suggii and company reintroduce them to wild.

In the lab

It’s raining in Manoa Valley.

The somber clouds obscure the jagged, spiked skyline of the Ko’olau Mountains. The falling raindrops, crashing against thick, green foliage, create an intoxicating rhythm as furious gusts of wind push through the valley. From the small parking lot at Lyon Arboretum, the white surge of the ‘Aihua-lama waterfall can be seen, standing out from the surrounding green forest.

The plant tissue culture lab at Lyon Arboretum is located in one of eight small and weathered cottages that line the paved road leading up to the visitor center. Inside the building, a staircase leads downstairs to a single room: the germ plasm bank, where tiny plants can be seen inside clear test tubes. These plants are a catalogue of Hawai’i’s most endangered species.

The downstairs bank at Lyon Arboretum is a rectangular 240-square-foot room filled floor-to-ceiling with shelving and racks of plant-filled test tubes. The fluorescent light bends and twists through the glass, eerily illuminating thousands of tiny plants floating in their fragile homes. It’s cool and quiet, like a museum.

On a stainless steel table, a rack of 36 test tubes rests. Each glass tube has a tiny ‘ohe ‘ohe tree growing inside it. The root systems of the individual plants dangle freely in a clear jelly-like fertilizer. No more than three or four delicate light-green leaves grow inside the tube.

The ‘ohe ‘ohe tree is found only in the upper elevations of the Ko’olau Mountains, and like the other plants here, it would be extinct if it wasn’t for the efforts of Sugii and others.

The nutrient-rich fertilizer in which the naked roots are anchored is the sole provider of food for the plants. Over time, though, the goo will be depleted of nutrients and replaced by waste products, becoming toxic. At this point it must be changed, usually at three- to six-month intervals depending on the growth rate of the species.

Cindy Nose, the botanical support technician at the micropropagation lab, is currently seeing to the general cleaning and maintenance of the plants.

It’s a tricky process. In a sterile environment under vented hoods and with forceps that have been sterilized over an open flame, she removes the pint-sized ‘ohe ‘ohe tree from the test tube, plucks the dying leaves and cleans any foreign body that could cause bacterial growth from the plant. Then she returns the tiny tree to the test tube where it will soak in nutrients. The date of the subculture is noted on a small white tag inscribed with the species name, genealogy and other identifying factors. The test tube is returned to the tray. After she is done with one tray, Nose moves on to the next group of plants waiting for her care.

This is life in the plant tissue culture lab–repetitious and time consuming. A delicate touch is a must.

‘I used to do tissue culturing with orchids, but that’s more of a money making thing for the grower. The conservation aspect is much more rewarding. There’s the anticipation of the plants growing and eventually returning to the wild. It’s a good feeling that I will make a difference for the survival of these plants and for future generations. Hopefully, the program continues for generations as well,’ Nose says.

The researchers at the facility’s two germ plasm banks are presently growing over 20,000 plants. A second banking facility and lab, the Lyon Micropropagation Laboratory at the Magoon Greenhouse Facility, was recently established so that all of the rare plants are not in one location.

The Hawaiian Rare Plant Program at Lyon Arboretum has been ongoing since 1992 and is currently headed by Sugii.

‘[The Rare Plant Program] came into its own gradually,’ Sugii says. ‘I think they had it as a tissue culture lab that would service the arboretum because there are a lot of plants that get cloned and used for cultivation purposes, but eventually they figured out there was a need for trying to do rescue and recovery work on the native Hawaiian species.’

The lab is a last stand for most of these plants, the final effort to bring them back from the edge of extinction. Often, the natural environment where these plants would have once thrived can no longer sustain them. Invasive weeds are a major problem in some areas and have taken over suitable habitats. Slugs and rats are also concerns.

The plants will reside in their test tube homes until a suitable site has been found outdoors, one that can be kept free of threats. When a fenced-in area becomes available, Sugii continues to grow the individual plants in test tubes, but she moves some to the greenhouse, placing them in pots and allowing them to mature. Eventually, the plants will be removed from the pots and put back in the wild where they will take on Mother Nature in all of her fury and beauty.

Sugii is not alone in her efforts. With help from the Plant Extinction Prevention program, a coalition of groups dedicated to preserving plant species, researchers in the field monitor rare plants and bring cuttings, seeds and seedlings to the lab. PEP, which receives assistance from The Nature Conservancy of Hawai’i, Hawai’i Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Lyon Arboretum, Maui Land and Pineapple Company, National Tropical Botanical Garden, National Park Service, U.S. Army, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, among others, also organizes agreements among land managers for exclosures–the area where the endangered plants will be placed–in the wild. PEP also lets Sugii know which plants are ready for reintroduction.

Cyanea grimesiana ssp. grimesiana, a mid-elevation plant with ruffled oblong leaves, which is also known as the haha, is one example of a species that has been successfully reintroduced to the wild.

Photo Credit:Kevin Whitton

In 2004, a single wild specimen remained in the Ko’olau Mountains. The plant was monitored and propagules were taken for cloning and storage in the tissue culture lab. In 2005 the plant died and the species was officially extinct in the wild. But thanks in part to the collection team and Sugii, there were already at least 30 haha individuals thriving in the nutrient rich auger at the bottom of their test tubes. Three mature plants were returned to the wild in December 2006 in an outplanting made on private land in a half-acre exclosure.

Several more plants in cultivation in the arboretum’s greenhouse will be placed outdoors this year.

In the field

Photo Credit:Kevin Whitton

Many of these plants are facing extinction because of the introduction of invasive plants, which out-compete the native plants. The spread of urban development and the loss of habitat are also factors, as is erosion. Feral ungulates, such as goats and pigs, also cause problems by contributing to habitat degradation; slugs and rats are known to eat fruits and seeds and strip the leaves off of some species.

‘We are not overly optimistic that we’re going to immediately get all these species recovered to the point where we wouldn’t need to list them as endangered anymore, but we want to get them to the point where we’re not afraid they’re going to blank out tomorrow,’ Marie M. Bruegmann, plant recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and part of the PEP program, says.

She adds, ‘What we are looking at now is more short term protection and short term sites for reintroduction just to keep the species going until we can have more large-scale habitat protection.’

Because these rare species are so few in number and extinction so close, PEP has decided to obtain as many small exclosures as possible. The reason for the focus on smaller exclosures? They can be more easily and thoroughly managed and kept free of threats; this way populations can increase naturally, even if slowly. Once a population is established, usually after a generation, less manpower is needed to manage that site and energy can be directed at establishing new sites.

The Ko’olau Mountain Watershed Partnership has been instrumental in the development of four reintroduction exclosures and the fencing in of two wild populations. The largest protected area is only nine acres in size.

The rescue and reintroduction of the haha plant was a direct result of the PEP program. In addition to this one subspecies, the group, in conjunction with several conservation groups, has successfully outplanted dozens more species of rare native Hawaiian plants. The concentrated efforts of researchers, conservation programs, landowners and volunteers to save rare and endangered native plant species is a relatively new phenomenon here in Hawai’i. And although progress is being made, they are still working out the kinks. But with the experience gained through time and action, the PEP program itself has grown tremendously more robust and encompassing, mirroring the work performed within this network of conservationists.

Sugii shares a sentiment common in this community of activists. ‘I’m part of a whole picture. I consider this a success because everyone is doing their jobs well. There’s no way to do it without the monitors, the people who identify the plants in the wild and do critical observation,’ she says. ‘We have been relatively successful, and we are getting better and better. People are getting smarter doing the collections. We are getting in better plant material to work with, and I’m getting better growing them out.’

She adds, ‘I think we’re far past the first round in this fight, but there is always more that can be done.’