Carol Kwan, a Mililani-based arborist, will never forget the day that little fire ants rained down on her while she was on the job.
Kwan was measuring a tree in June 2022 at a proposed construction site in the Punchbowl area when she brushed up against some branches. That’s when she suddenly felt biting stings from the ants to her neck and back, and as they made their way down her shirt.
“I felt it through my entire body when they bit me,” she said. “It just rippled down to my toes. They rain down on you.”
She knew they were invasive little fire ants, or Wasmannia auropunctata, and reported the infestation immediately. She has since become an advocate for greater invasive species awareness and action.
A long-awaited public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 30 on proposed amendments to state rules that would strengthen the clout of enforcement over the movement of infested nursery plants within an island.
Currently, interisland movement of infested plants is prohibited, but the Agriculture Department has had difficulty stopping the movement of such plants within an island.
It is scheduled nearly a year after the Board of Agriculture first approved the amended rules and public outcry over the delay.
The stronger rules would authorize the department to stop the sale of pest-infested plants or products to the public, which businesses currently do voluntarily. The department also would be able to require businesses to treat an area where infested items have been stored.
These are sensible, common-sense measures, according to supporter Christy Martin, to ensure the department can take action on a small number of nurseries and “bad actors.”
“Stopping pests early and at critical control points protects other nurseries, garden shops, the entire agricultural industry, the environment and the public,” said Martin, who is with the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species.
Nurseries and garden centers are among the main pathways for invasive pests. Those who work in the field know that some Oahu nurseries, including one in Waimanalo, continue to sell pest-infested plants to the public.
This is alarming as a growing number of little fire ant, or LFA, infestations continue to spread across Oahu — and have now been detected from Kahuku to Hawaii Kai, including a beach access point in Lanikai.
It’s important to treat infestations quickly, particularly near a beach, according to Martin, as the ants have an ability to “raft” — meaning they can join together and float on water and potentially travel to another area.
This potentially could occur more often as heavy rain results in flash flooding in the isles, she said.
Hawaii’s top three invasive species of concern include little fire ants, coqui frogs and coconut rhinoceros beetles.
Little fire ants, which measure only about one-sixteenth of an inch long and deliver stinging bites, can infest homes and yards, cause blindness in pets and damage farm crops and forests.
Coqui frogs, small tree frogs that make loud and incessant “ko-kee” calls, already have taken over Hawaii island, where they lower property values. Coconut rhinoceros beetles destroy palms and other trees, with a growing number of infestations being found across the state.
The amendments include rules to manage the spread of the beetles on Oahu, such as the quarantine of bags of mulch infested with coconut rhinoceros beetle larvae to local buyers and implementation of best-management practices.
Infested pest host material or pests would not be allowed to be moved between or within islands of the state unless treated.
They also update a list of pests for control or eradication, including the two-lined spittlebug, which causes citrus greening and poses a threat to ranches.
“That’s how we’re going to be able to slow down and stop the spread of not just these invasive species, but the next bad invasive that comes along,” said Martin. “If we don’t have the authority, and the businesses, as we’ve seen, aren’t willing to do the right thing and voluntarily stop the sale, we all lose.”
Franny Brewer, manager of the Big Island Invasive Species Committee, supports the amendments to support the work that she and others do on a daily basis. Without it there would be a biosecurity gap despite all those efforts.
“If you care about biosecurity, it’s not just about stopping nurseries from being able to sell LFA-infested materials,” she said. “It’s a lot more. It gives them (the department) the authority to monitor or quarantine a lot of different potentially infested materials.”
Kwan is submitting testimony supporting the amendments because she fears little fire ants on Oahu could spread to the point that it’s no longer possible to eradicate them.
Testimony can be submitted in oral or written form until the end of the meeting, which has no listed end time. Written testimony can be submitted in advance of the Jan. 30 hearing.
Get involved
A public hearing will be held on new invasive species rules.
>> What: Public input on proposed amendments to Chapter 72 rules
>> When: 6 p.m. Jan. 30
>> Where: Department of Agriculture, 1849 Auiki St. (plant quarantine conference room)
>> Zoom link: us02web.zoom.us/j/81354285601
>> Written testimony: Testimony can be submitted in advance to hdoa.pq.testimony@hawaii.gov. Please put “testimony” in the subject line.
