U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono and Brian Schatz and Representatives Jill Tokuda and Ed Case recently introduced legislation to combat Rapid Ohia Death (ROD), which has killed more than a million Ohia trees in Hawaiʻi since its discovery in 2014.

The Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2023 authorizes $55 million in federal funding over the next eleven years to support ongoing efforts by federal agencies including the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and U.S. Forest Service (USFS), working in partnership with state agencies, to help combat Ohia tree death in Hawaiʻi.

ROD is a fungus, Ceratocystis, that was first found in Hawaiʻi in 2014 and has since killed over a million native Ohia trees. Over the past nine years ROD has been detected on Hawaiʻi Island, Kauai, Maui, and Oʻahu. In that time, the USFS has partnered with the State of Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Department of the Interior in efforts to detect and respond to the spread of ROD.

The Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2023 would support the following ongoing efforts by:

• Directing the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the U.S. Geological Survey, to continue providing resources for the purposes of researching ROD vectors and transmission;
• Requiring the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to work with the State of Hawaiʻi and other local stakeholders on ungulate management in control areas on federal, state, and private land;
• Requiring the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, to continue providing resources to prevent the spread of ROD and restore the native forests in Hawaiʻi, and to also continue to provide financial and staff resources to the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF), located in Hilo, to continue research on ROD; and
• Authorizing $55 million in appropriations over the next eleven years for both the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to carry out these actions.

The full text of the bill is available here.

DLNR Photo