The University of Â鶹´«Ã½ at ²Ñ¨¡²Ô´Ç²¹¡¯s will be leading efforts to expand capacity for collection and banking of ʻ¨³ó¾±ʻ²¹ seeds across all islands in response to the (ROD) crisis. With funding from the Â鶹´«Ã½ Tourism Authority (HTA), Lyon Arboretum is spearheading the , a new project that builds on the momentum of #OhiaLove.
- Related UH News stories: , February 7, 2016
, April 27, 2016
The ROD Seed Banking Initiative has two parts:
Community involvement in ʻ¨³ó¾±ʻ²¹ seed conservation
In 2016, the Â鶹´«Ã½ Seed Bank Partnership developed seed collection protocols and a statewide collection strategy for ʻ¨³ó¾±ʻ²¹. With this structure in place, the partnership can expand its efforts and scale up seed collection—with the public¡¯s help.
The arboretum will be offering on each island, free of charge and open to the local community. The worshops provide training on how to properly collect, handle and process ʻ¨³ó¾±ʻ²¹ seeds, without doing harm to trees or forests, using methods that protect seed viability and ensure conservation value for future restoration.
HTA funding also supports emergency seed banking of these ʻ¨³ó¾±ʻ²¹ seeds at facilities on multiple islands.
Rare plant conservation on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island
The core partner of Lyon¡¯s Hawaiian Rare Plant Program is the (PEPP), which works with the rarest of the rare: species with less than 50 individual plants remaining in the wild. There are 40 PEPP species on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island, where severe habitat alteration by ROD could have devastating effects on rare plant populations.
It is important for PEPP to rapidly collect seeds from as many remaining rare plants as possible and secure them at Lyon¡¯s Seed Conservation Lab. Funds are supporting increased PEPP collections on Â鶹´«Ã½ Island and storage of those seeds at Lyon Arboretum.
