A community-driven effort that’s led to the near complete removal of little fire ant infestations in Lanikai on Oʻahu is being celebrated and could serve as a model for other neighborhoods.
The University of Hawaiʻi this week announced that a recent survey of the area turned up just one ant — only a year after dozens of houses in the Lanikai loop and beach areas were found to be harboring the invasive pest.
UH said the infestations were discovered last year, and that was followed by a large-scale treatment effort that lasted months, covering about 26 acres and over 80 homes.
Itʻs not the first nor only community effort of its kind in the state, but its success makes it notable.
“This was just the first that we've gotten such great results at the first reassessment survey, and we wanted to show everybody this is successful. This works if you follow the directions and you take a strategic approach to the management,” said Michelle Montgomery, the manager for the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab.
HAL and the Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee partnered and worked with the affected Lanikai residents for guidance and instructions to treat for LFA. Other entities, including the state Department of Agriculture, assisted as well.
Montgomery said both HAL and OISC didn’t have enough staff to do that work themselves, which is why the community had to take the lead on eradication.
She said HAL’s funding has “waned” over the last five years. It's lost three of its nine staff on Hawaiʻi Island, and there's only been two staff on Oʻahu despite the growing demand for more people to focus on LFA management.
She said the removal of the ants in Lanikai required collaboration from the residents who lived in the affected area. That means all those homes and residents have to treat for LFA at the same time, which they were able to do.
“ Everybody needs to work together and do things at the same time. They can't piecemeal it and end up being successful — everything has to be done as a whole and holistically,” Montgomery said.
But the work isn’t done yet. The treated Lanikai area is now in a long-term monitoring phase.
Montgomery said that for little fire ants to be officially declared “eradicated” from an area, they have to be completely absent for at least three consecutive years to ensure they're not still hanging around at undetectable levels.
She said LFA hotspots have been known to turn up two years after treatments appeared to have eradicated them.
