Hawaii’s need for seeds was highlighted by the Aug. 8 fires, when experts said there was not enough native seeds to revegetate the thousands of acres of burn scars. The federal government is funneling millions of dollars to a University of Hawaii initiative aimed at increasing the number of seeds for hardy native and non-invasive plants that can compete against the dominant invasive grasses that fuel wildfires.
The U.S. Forest Service recently awarded UH $4.
6 million so it can collect wild and native seeds to breed native plants across the island chain. Planting those native species is intended to help transform tracts of fire-prone land and to revegetate fire-affected lands, like those that burned on Maui and the Big Island in August last year. The burn scars from those fires highlighted the state’s lack of native and non-invasive seeds that are necessary to stabilize wildfire-affected areas.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture even recommended that non-native seeds be used because of a native seed scarcity in Hawaii .
But with the new cash, UH plans to begin harvesting and storing millions of the seeds from around the state in seed banks that specialize in holding seeds for conservation and to ensure biodiversity. The grant is one of nine awarded to Hawaii by the forest service last week under the Community Wildfire Defense Grants program. The money comes from a five-year, $1 billion fund created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The Hawaii Wildfire Management Org.
