The extinction of Hawai'i's native flora and fauna is one of the greatest ecological threats to this unique island chain. Already, Hawai'i has lost half of its native flora to the unrelenting spread of development, land conversion and the takeover of invasive non-native plants and animals. To protect Hawai'i's rarest plants from extinction, the Plant Extinction Prevention Program instituted recovery actions in 2003, focusing on plant species with fewer than 50 individual plants remaining in the wildÜPEP species.
For the PEP program and its partners, 2009 was one of the most successful years to date. According to their annual report released earlier this year, new individuals or populations of 17 PEP species were surveyed across the main Hawaiian Islands. To put the numbers into perspective, there are 173 PEP species that have fewer than 50 plants remaining in the wild.
"When talking about only a handful of plants known in the wild, when you discover just one more, its huge to the potential survival of the species," says Joan Yoshioka, Statewide PEP Coordinator. "Its new genetic material and new genes for a pollination program to improve seed sets."
In addition to the survey, propagulesÜfruit, cuttings or seedsÜwere collected from 89 PEP species in 2009. The propagules were taken to seed storage labs, tissue culture labs or nurseries to propagate and preserve the genetic material of the founder plants. When conditions are favorable in the wild, the rare plants will be reintroduced into their natural habitat and managed to promote the highest chance of survival.
Demonstrating the collective effort necessary to restore a PEP plant population, members of the Moloka'i PEP team, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State Division of Forestry and Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, State Natural Area Reserves and the National Park Service, discovered 30 plants of a rare mint endemic to Moloka'i and thought to be extinct, Phyllostegia hispida. Seeds from the beautiful and fuzzy, white-flowered mint were collected and propagated at the Olinda Rare Plant Facility on Maui, grown at Moloka'i Hui Nursery and planted back in the wild at remote sites only accessible by helicopter. According to Yoshioka, now there are over 300 native mint plants thriving in their natural setting.