Travelers heading to Hilo for the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival are advised that ʻōhiʻa on Hawaiʻi Island cannot be moved off-island as it is against the law.
The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture has restricted the off-island movement of ʻōhiʻa plants and plant parts since 2015. This includes ʻōhiʻa lehua, leaves and seeds.
These restrictions help to stop the spread of the plant disease, rapid ʻōhiʻa death. The DOA estimates at least one million ʻōhiʻa trees have been killed by the disease on Hawaiʻi Island alone.
Jonathan Ho, Acting Manager for the DOA’s Plant Quarantine Branch, said inspectors will be stationed at Hawaiʻi Island airports to collect any ʻōhiʻa material and respectfully return it to the forest.
There’s a very large working group with a bunch of other agencies — that are all really trying to make sure rapid ʻōhiʻa death doesn’t spread all over the state," Ho explained.
"And I think having people more educated is really the best way. You talk to one guy, they talk to a person, that has so much more resonance with regards to doing the wrong thing. I look at the regulator, us — plant quarantine, as just kind of being one of those visual reminders. 'Oh shucks, I forgot about the lei. I should have left it.'"
During last year’s Merrie Monarch travel period, inspectors intercepted more than 40 lei poʻo with ʻōhiʻa material at airports in Hilo and Kona.
Violators of the ʻōhiʻa quarantine rule face fines from $100 to $10,000.
