Proposed Release of Strawberry Guava Biocontrol

So what’s everybody’s thought on this? There is a lot of concern in the community.

I’m attaching some links which I hope people take a look at. It would be good if people who spend time in the forests chime in on this. Most the people who I see expressing concerns (to the government and in news article comments) have not researched the topic. I'm providing some links which I feal depict both sides of the issue. There has not been much talk in the hunting community, best I can tell.

The Draft Environmental Assessment from March 2008

An educational paper for the Institute for Pacific Island Research in response to people’s concerns:
IPIF Information

An informative article from the Environment Hawaii newsletter. EH is known for award winning journalism.
EH Article

Here is a star bulletin article on the activist named Singer who is trying to protect the strawberry guava. (Star bulletin did not check his credentials. Also read the comments that people left.)
Killing Strawberry Guava Might Prove Devastating

Jonathan Price’s article in The Star bulletin, probably provoked by Singer’s article.
Strawberry Guava's Hold Has Proven Devastating

There is a Resolution 718 which is about to come before the Hawaii county council “requesting the united states department of agriculture and the hawai'i state department of agriculture to desist in the proposed release of tectococcus ovatus (scale insect) on the island of Hawai'i to reduce the viability and reproduction of psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava).” It’s on savetheguava.com, a link I don’t like to advertise but believe it would be good to discus. I think it's the most biased, misinformative, propagana site since peta.org. I also find the Resolution to have linguistic trickery, inaccuracies and misinformation in some paragraphs. Much of the concerns expressed have already been answered by experts in the field.
savetheguava.com

My personal opinion on the strawberry guava is that it is good for hunting in moderation but leads to long term reductions in game animal food sources, localized famines, noxious weed problems, environmental and watershed degredation, seasonal swarms of fruit flies, and reduces forest products. I like the idea of food from forests, but strawberry guava is not the answer. We should be out-planting non-invasive fruit trees such as avocado, mango, macadamia, breadfruit, jackfruit, timber trees, and other beneficial trees that are hardy enough to survive in the forests. I’m hopeful that if the biocontrol works, it will weaken the monotypic stands and allow for diversification of game animal food sources.

I believe there still will be surplus production of guava’s even if a 95% reduction in fruiting occurs but we already lost roseapple. Now Waiawi? The scale won’t spread nearly as fast as a fungal spore but we better start planting new food sources. The sooner the better. 20 years from now, the forests are going to be a very different place, hopefully for the better.

I kinda sit on the fence with this one. But if the strawberry guava truely is a threat to the native plants and extensive research has been done on the Hempel insect then go for it. I have seen solutions like this in the past become blunders (the mongoose )

speaking of rose-apple I found a honey hole of trees that still produces!!!!!

Just my 2cents
Eric

Really??? I wonder if it is resistant. Could be possible to take those seeds and reforest some of the old roseapple stands.

WHat I think is that the state of hawaii should not do this because the strawberry guava has been on the islands for 130 years they came here in the late 1800s and they were brought in from south america now if they were so invassive then why arnt we seeing the whole island covered in them?...130 years! I can take you to some mountains here on this island that dosnt have straw berry guava only yellow guava after 130 years you would think they would be every were. The fungus they let go spread through island in 3 years and they had the same excuse for that too, now all the rosie apples areas are being taking over by the blue berry and mountain rasberry bushes and those are invassive speices! all they are doing is trying to make there little nitch in hawaiis history so they can say they did that........hell all they have to do spot cut the island create some jobs like they did back in the old days when this state was in ressesion and they hired people to make the oahu trail system ( c c trails ).
Another note on this what is gonna happen when these trees are gone?....the rosie apple is gone now and guess what have you seen the shape of the mountain apple? there terriable the leaves are startin to die just like the rosie apple! and dont give me this crap about all the testing they did and how they are sure that these incects and funguses dont attack any other tree that is BS cuz since they released the fungus for the rosie apple now the lyche trees dont fruit right the farm up poamohoe has to spray there trees regulary and wili wili treas are dying also!!!! Now check this out...you think the pigs do damage now well were i hunt and eric knows were the rosie apples were the only food source for the hogs for three monthes out of the year now that the trees are dead,,,you want see damage!!! the pigs are going underground even more now! and there totaly digging up the mountain.
I think they should take a more physical approch and clear the worse areas by hand......then they wont have any coladeral damage just my opinon.

Chris Burner

Puccinia psidii, The rust fungus killing all the roseapple, is an agricultural pest of the Americas and occurs from Argentina to Florida. Being a fungus, it can mutate and create strains which can effect one species of plant more than others. In Hawaii, it was first observed by state foresters on Oahu attacking Ohia. Being airborn, it quickly spread to all places on all islands in a matter of months. At the time, there was much concern that it would mutate and kill all the ohia trees in Hawaii, ohia being the keystone species and most common tree in the state. Kill the ohia and that marks the beginning of the end for just about everything native, including hapu'u. Thus all the hooplah. But what it really hit hard was the roseapple, which now appears, from my observation (and correct me if I'm wrong), to only be able to set fruit in drier areas. It's a real shame and a serious pest attacking many members of the Myrtaceae family from ohia, to guava, to Eucalyptus. How it got here is anybodies guess. The most likely scenario is that it hitch hiked on a shipment of plants from somewhere like Florida; a very common scenario for new introductions. The erithryna (wiliwili) gall wasp is another accidental introduction associated with the nursury industry.

The blue berry bush taking over the roseapple understory is a noxious weed called Clidemia hirta or Coster's Curse. It was introduced as an ornamental and began to spread. Now it's everywhere and to the point where there's only one thing you can do about it; introduce something that will eat it. ...that and supress it with extreme shade such as under a mango tree. They are releasing a suite of biocontrols for Miconia, and being that the two are closely related, some of the biocontrols also eat clidemia. Being that clidemia is a good for nothing noxious weed that messes up my hunting, I'ld say any reduction in it would be fantastic.

Before all these weeds, the forests used to be open and full of things pigs could eat. Grasses, seedlings, hapu'u. I was told that the Waialae area used to be koas and grass and the pigs were fat, healthy and plentiful. It was beautiful open country and a hunter's paradise. Then the guava moved in and the grass got shaded out. Eventually, there was nothing but guava and when the off season would come around, the pigs would leave and find food elsewhere. But too much pigs going mauka eventually ate as much hapu'u and other food sources as there were. Now there's not much to eat at all and I was told the pigs are skinny, almost diseased looking. An example of localized famine. Carrying capacity has dropped; habitat degraded. On the big Island, vast areas are covered in nothing but strawberry guava. But what are the pigs to eat when there is no guava fruiting and nothing else for miles?

So back to the scale, the scale attacking strawberry guava will be very different from the rust on the rose apple. The so called experts say that it will spread slowly, maybe not at all to certain areas, over the course of a decade or more. It won't stop fruit production, just force the plant to divert energy away from fruiting and into forming galls on the leaves (which many people find unsightly). There should still be fruit, just not as much.

I think it is a bad idea for us to rely on invasive species for feeding our pigs. All I can do is plant my fruit trees in the mountains, improve my own hunting area, and hope others are encouraged to do the same.

ps. Chris, I'm glad somebody said something. And I never knew that Mt. apple was having problems either, so thanks.

Here's a really well put together video, however one-sided, of a community meeting held in Honoka'a. I apologize for the bias.

Save The Waiawi

Residents accentuate how Strawberry guava has become an aspect of Island culture. There really wasn't anything given to the other sides of the issue, i.e. loss to diversified agriculture through fruit flies, loss to agriculture by birds and pigs during the off fruit season, loss of native forests, herbicides nessesary to control guava at present, monotypic stand surplus and waste, replacement of more valuable native resources (koa, ohia, hapu'u), the stench of surplus rotting fruit and associated bugs, etc. In the same way, a lot of secondary impacts of the scale insect were not adressed.

Here's the other end of the spectrum... Scientists put out this paper as a way to clear up some of the misconceptions about the planned biocontrol.



Fact and Fiction About Waiawi Control

This is a very touchy subject for me,I get really disturbed and mad to know that humans again are going to try and play GOD. First I'm going to say that the Rose Apple is suffering from a fungus that was almost definately made by the State and Invasive species people.The reason I say that is that a few months before this fungus started to attack our Rose Apple on Kauai I was driven in a back road in the upper Kapaa Homesteads when I noticed a bunch of people with spray bottles ready to go down a Ditch trail.When I stoped and asked them what they were doing ,they acted as though they did not hear me.I put some pressure on one of the younger local boys and as the rest went down the trail he talked to me and said that it was a fungus that they had mixed in the spray bottles and that they were going to try and see if they could kill the Clidemia with it.I then told him that I could get hunter's to help them spray the Clidemia in the mountains where we hunted.He then told me that it was still in the testing stage and they did not know if it would work and how effective this would be.When the Rose Apple started to die I called around and found out that it was a fungus that was stopping the fruiting stage of the Rose Apple.They will always denie that it was not them, but I do not trust anything that these people say.
Now you say that the Red Gauva Needs to be Eridicated because it is a threat to native species.Why dont we as Humans stop trying to play GOD.Don't these people know that the Pigs will come into are communities to find food.We will never be able to plant enough Avocado's and Mango's that will replace the amount of food that the Waiawi produces.The Dinosaurs went into exstinction for a reason ,because humans would never be able to pupulate throughout the world like we have done till this day if the Dino's were eating us.The State messed up in the past by letting all these no use plants to be braught to this State and now they want to play GOD on our expense.What a joke! Before Eridicating something that can some day be a food source that may mean human survival they should eridicate other species that we will never need to survive as humans.Some day these people may need to eat fruit from the Waiwi tree's or even a wild pig that will probably be one of the last animals that will be able to survive.There will some day be a comercial food shortage and we will regret that we allowed these people to play GOD.One last Example,about 30yrs. ago the state braught in Igret's thinking it would help with the flies that were on the cows backs.Instead of finding out if these birds were only going to eat insects first or go ahead and sterilize these birds so that they could not repoduce.No they did'nt and now these birds are infested on are Island eating eggs from our Pheasants,Quals and Frogs instead of eating flies off of Cows backs.Will this fungus attack our fruits that we will need to survive? Can we trust these people with all the false things that they have said and done in the past? I don't think so!!! Scientist will always say that they are right and that we do not know what we are saying .But for them to think that there is no one that have created life on earth ,is another joke . I could go on and on about this ,like I said it'S a very touchy subject.


Aloha,Robert C.

"SOME GO HUNTING,SOME ARE HUNTER'S" ( more to being a hunter then just catching)

I m with you hog wild you are right they should leave out the lazy way and go with a mor physical hands on way,,,,,,spot cutting we all know that spot cuting wont get rid of the tree but we the people dont want to see the tree gone!!! look just because it has taking over the islands does not mean that our native plants cant survive,,,,,,when you take away these trees you enter a whole family of evasive weeds to come in and take over the blue berry,spanish clove,ma berry these plants suffocate the surrounding are and nothing can grow!!!!

I had a long talk with a bud of mine who is in this field and he is against it but noone in his organization wants to bieleve him hes just a local boy who does all the field work and the upper powers dont want to listen just play god on paper i say we hold them accountalbe and if it dosnt work we fry there asses hell I wounder how many of them would sign up after knowing that we would hold them accountable

When I hear about the State wanting to bring in Bugs or a Fungus to control something I think to myself, this from the same people that were sure the Ta'ape was a good thing. Ta'ape turned in a cancer of the reef. Strawberry Guava is here to stay, unfortunately there is no way to effectively control it.

If you go back and look at all the things that were brought by these people to try and control other problems,you will see that it was a crash and burn test flight almost every time .And the things that were brought in for other reasons were also almost every time a disaster.The Bass and talapia for recreation,ate up all the Prawns,Opei,and O'opu,the Igrets have almost wiped out our Pheasant,Quail and Frog pupulation.They allowed people to bring in Black Berry,Banana Poka,Clidemia,and many other things that are Invasive Species.The Waiawi
was here well before the Islands became a state.So why not try to get rid of the things that are there responsility to get rid of.
I,ll telll you what the conclusion that I have come out with.The real reason is all these feel gooder liberals do not want us to hunt for wild pigs .The plan is for them to get rid of the pigs food source and when that is done than the pigs will need to have some type of food source and where else will they get food from then none other then peoples back yards.So now we have a real problem with pigs and what do you think these feel gooder's wil say, we need to kiil off the pigs that are invading are communities looking for food.The big thing that all these plant and outdoor circle people have been trying to do for all these years.Eridicate all the pigs so that they may have the mountains for there own personal agenda's.

Aloha, Robert C.

"SOME GO HUNTING,SOME ARE HUNTER'S"

THESE GUYS ARE CRAZY!!!!!!ALMOST EVERY WHERE I HUNT GET WAIWI. WAIWI IS A FOOD SOURCE FOR BIRDS, PIGS, AND US HUMANS...ALMOST 70% OF THE MOUNTIANS I HUNT GET WAIWI.....IMAGINE THE MOUNTIAN WITH NO WAIWI, OR IMAGINE LOOKING AT A POCKET THAT USED TO BE NICE AND GREEN BUT NOW DEAD AND BROWN THE WAIWI ALL DEAD....NOW WHAT THE PIGS GOING EAT????I GUESS THE JUST GOING DIG FOR FOOD....WHEN THE DIG FOR FOOD DONT IT CAUSE EROSION???AND LANDSLIDES??? SAY GOODBYE TO THE WATERSHED CAUSE THE PIGS GOING DIG UM ALL UP..THEN THEY GOING END UP IN PEOPLES YARDS LOOKING FOR FOOD....ALL CAUSE THE DLNR WANTED TO CONTROL THE WAIWI POPULLATION..AND THEY COMPLAIN ABOUT HAWAIIS PIG POPULLATION..ONLY GET ABOUT 5 OR 6 PLACES ON THIS ISLAND THEY WHEN OPEN.......WOW!!!WHY DONT THEY OPEN UP MORE PLACES TO HUNT OR ORGANIZE ERRADICATION PROGRAMS WITH LANDOWNERS FOR US HUNTERS TO CONTROL THE PIGS.SPEND MONEY ON THAT OTHER THEN PAYING TRAPPERS THAT LEAVE THE PIG TO ROT AND DIE INHUMANLEY...MOST OF US HUNTERS ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN TRAPPERS AND WE EAT THE PIGS NOT WASTE UM.....THESE GUYS NO THINK BEFORE THEY DO.THEY DO NOW AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER NOT THINKING WHAT AN IMPACT IT WILL HAVE ON OUR AINA.....WHY DONT THEY LEAVE OUR AINA HOW IT IS AND HAS BEEN FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS WITH NO PROBLEMS AT ALL..."WHERE GOING TO JUST CONTROL IT" WELL GUYS THATS A CON....THEY PAST THIS THING AND THE GUAVA FAMILY IS HISTORY....THEY GOTTA THINK...THE BUG IS NOT FROM HERE...ITS NOT ONLY GOING TO EAT WAIWI TREES, GUAVAS AND EVERYTHING GOING GET IT..... SAME FAMILY RIGHT...IDK DIS STATE IS CHANGING....FIRST NO CAN GO CAMPING LIKE BEFORE, NO CAN LAY MOI MOI NETS, U GOTTA REGISTER YOUR LAY NET, NO MORE PLACE FOR HUNT, GET GUYS LIKE HAINA HARASSING HUNTERS AND EVEN DRAWING GUNS ON CHILDREN, THEY SAY THAT THEY GOIN CONTROL THE ROSE APPLE AND WHAT....THEY ALL DIE, NOW THE WAIWI PRETTY SOON THERE WILL BE NO FISHING, NO HUNTING NO NOTHING...BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!!!!!!WHO EVER THOUGHT OF THIS IDEA OR IS TRYING TO PROPOSE AND DO THIS EXPERIMENT GET HIS/ HER HEAD UP THIER ASS!!!!!!!LOSE MONEY.

Well, the wildlife biologist on Kauai told me that in the absense or shortage of one food supply, pigs will switch to another, or possibly move to a new area. So I agree, pigs could be rooting more for roots, causing more soil erosion, invade into agricultural areas and yards, etc. However, the scale (according to those who studied it) is not supposed to kill the trees, just cause them to fruit less by diverting energy to forming galls. So suppose the scale worked so well that it cased an 80% reduction in fruit production; seeing as how I can't see wildlife eating more than 10% of guava produced, there should still be a major surplus.

I emailed one scientist and asked if any stats were kept on the amount of fruit production. They never got back to me. I should have emailed 10.

In case you didn't get around to reading the final link, here is what is in it:
FACT AND FICTION ABOUT WAIAWI CONTROL
Opponents of the planned introduction of a biocontrol agent for strawberry guava have
raised several arguments. Here are the top concerns, along with the responses from
scientists with the Forest Service, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, and others:
• The insect will attack common guava. No, says Tracy Johnson, the Forest Service
entomologist. Johnson has attempted to get the scale insect Tectococcus ovatus to infest
more than a 80 other plants in 25 families, including common guava (in the same genus as
strawberry guava), native Hawaiian plants in the Myrtle family, and even more distantly
related plant species. The insect refused them all. Apart from strawberry guava, the only
plant that it did colonize was Psidium spathulatum, a closely related species from Brazil that
is not found in Hawai`i.
• Hunters and gatherers will have no more fruit. Infested trees will continue to fruit, but at a
reduced rate, the scientists say.
• People who use strawberry guava wood for smoking meat will be inconvenienced. Not
likely. Thousands of acres of waiawi thickets will continue to provide meat smokers with
ample supplies for generations to come.
• Past biocontrol efforts, such as the mongoose, have been disasters. The mongoose was
introduced to Hawai`i more than a century ago, with no environmental review or scientific
study done before the sugar planters brought it in. Since the 1970s, no biocontrol agent
released in Hawai`i has damaged non-target plants. (this is incorrect. The leaf spot fungus for banana poka did jump to lilikoi, however, I think it is a minor pest. And it was probably expected the fungus to eventually jump to closely related species.-Nic)
• The economic value of products made with waiawi will be damaged. At the Hilo
information meeting, a $3.99 fish scaler, made of two bottle caps bolted to one end of a
foot-long stick of waiawi wood, was held out as an example of the economic value of the
plant. But stands of waiawi will continue to exist for decades to come, more than enough to
saturate world markets for fish scalers. errr
• Large stands of dead waiawi could fuel terrible fires. Again, not a likely scenario. The
biocontrol insect does not kill the plant: Tracy Johnson said in all his testing, even on small
plants, none had died after being infested with T. ovatus. “This is not a tree killer,” he said
at the June informational meeting. “Waiawi will persist a very long time with the insect… It
just suppresses growth.”
-- Patricia Tummons

To my knowledge, there has not been any major concern raised as to it's effects on pig behavior.

Hog Wild, we take whatever seeds we have each time we go out and plant plots. Some are looking good, some aren't. We plant what we know works where we know it works. I would imagine that if everybody did this each time they went hunting into their areas, we would sown the seeds for there to be major improvements in pig food sources and even hunting conditions, biocontrol or not. It could take a few years- could take ten. But 6, 7, 8 years down the road, we'll start to see the results and I believe it is easily possible to surpass the amount of guava used as food (most goes to waste anyway. It's wasted space that could have gone to something else or used to...). In moloa'a on Kauai, you see some macadamia intermixed with the guava. Knowing that, if I plant macadamia high up on the hill, the round seeds will eventually seed everything downhill of it eliminaing the need to manually seed in the long term. I also see jackfruit and avocado spreading from some planting sites, but very slowly. I'm optimistic. If anyone has info on what food sources are fruiting when or even where if you like share, I'ld appreciate it. I'm trying to find any gaps in seasons so I can figure out something to fill the need.

The reason that I say this is that why go ahead with bringing in this Insect if it will not kill the Waiawi and not stop it from not fruiting comepletly.It makes no sense at all and I smell something stink.If the Waiawi is that much of a bad invasive species then why not kill it or stop it from fruiting completely.Seems as though the information is a lot of half truth.Like how it usually is when these people do things.
The leaf spot fungus did attack the Lilikoi,especialy the purple Lilikoi up in Kokee .But the Biologist and the rest of these people will not admit to this ,again they are blaming the black tail for eating the shoots from the Lilikoi and the same way how they claim that the mud and silt that flows into the ocean is from the that are rooting in the forest.These people are noting but feel gooder's that need to stop trying to play GOD.The money that the federal government gives to these people to run these programs and the amount that they get paid is the real reason for most of these programs.And when I mean get paid ,i'm not meaning the labor worker's.What I'm meaning is the adminstrator's.
There are a bunch of Avocado tree's that we planted in the late eighties up in the Wailua hunting area and those tree's have just started to fruit in the last five years.So say 1988-2003 that makes 15 yrs. before that tree's gave fruit and not every year it had a great amount of fruit,some years it was full and some years it had only a few.The Mango,s in the Sour Mango area does not fruit real well every year, some years there are more then needed and some years close to none.The Avo's and Mango's will not be able to produce a food source like the Waiawi that will keep the pigs in the mountains like they should.Again I say something stinks about this whole idea and it will be rotten after they are allowed to do this.
Aloha,Robert C.

"SOME GO HUNTING,SOME ARE HUNTER'S"

Are there still old lilikoi vines higher in the trees? Remnant vines? No doubt deer would be a factor. I really need to look up the severity of the leaf spot on lilikoi. New Zealand could have some info on it; I read that they abandoned the biocontrol attempt after the leaf spot attacked lilikoi plants, which I perceived as an important crop. I know the deer love the flowers. The shoots, do they? ...I'm not much of a Koke'e hunter. I dont disagree with anyone saying that pigs are major factor contributing to erosion, especially on steep slopes, nor would I disagree that deer and leaf spot fungus are both factors in declines in lilikoi in Koke'e- I can't put any quantitative value, but both are certainly factors.

To answer your question: Because guava is far beyond the point of successful manual control in most cases. Biological control is the only hope that people have to saving what native hawaiian forest remain in the guava's patch. The other option would be to spend millions of dollars unsuccessfully, except on small plots, to manually control the guava indefinitly. It's feared and predicted that that would pretty much mean the long term loss of the entire native wet forests, or what remains of it, up to something like 4500 feet (the guava band)fading to perhaps 5000 feet; many species replaced by a few.

As far as I know, the hope for the biocontrol is that it will slow guava to a manageable level. I work in the forests here on Kauai and can honestly say, it's a loosing battle. The ginger on the eastern half of the Alakai plateau seems under control (barely) for the mean time but the guava has not been mapped and efforts to map the satelite populations have not been successful yet and are still underway. All fronts are surrounded and only a portion is being manually weeded by volunteer groups led by the Koke'e Resource Conservation Program. The guava that is encountered on ginger transects has to be treated with herbicide or hand pulled if small enough. The goats seem to be slowing it down on the southern front above robinson land (pretty close to the summit) but that's just a matter of time before there are so many seedlings that the place gets inundated just as the area makai has been. The portion of the Alakai plateau west of camp-10 flat is receiving no weed control and is basically going to be allowed to be degraded by invasive weeds. From the camp ten flat, West to the summit, KRCP is trying to concentrate their efforts to eradicate Guava, Ginger, and Australian tree fern and hold a "line of defence" on the camp ten flat. That's the situation on Kauai for what is the last remaining forest bird habitat.

I guess people are just hopeful to buy some time or allow for the guava to be slowed to the point that they can kill it as fast or faster than it can seed. I'm sure many are hopeful for more, such as for the insect to reduce guava to a minor component of the forest. The only thing that seems certain is that it should fruit less, and thus not spread as quickly. Whether that will turn the tide cannot be known for certain, but to continue with bussiness as ussual and allow guava to spread to its entire potential range is not an option for people manageing the forests. So they are making trade offs. I always encourage people to volunteer with KRCP. It changes your outlook and shows how hard of work it really is.

I find it very interesting that goats browse guava to the extent that they do. Many seedlings in the Halepa'akai region of the Alakai are kept small by the goats and it makes me wonder how much seedlings are consumed by pigs during the fruiting season. They smell like apple when you crush them.

Right on for planting some avocado! Keep it up. I appreciate the info on how long it took to fruit. That's all real helpful. I'm going for variety. Everything from coffee to monkeypod to sourop to tropical almond. If anyone is curious as to what's growing good, email me.

Lastly, I'm sure we all agree that there is nothing wrong with supplementing the guava supply with other food sources. Sorry that I used it as a justification for the biocontrol. It's supposed to be more than that. It's supoosed mean alteration of food sources to minimize negative impacts of pigs, alter forest composition so that noxious weeds are supressed by overstory shade, make pigs fatter and healthier, and concentrate them to plots, like they were before with the rose apple.

Just got an email and wanted to put it up so people can voice their opinions on this touchy subject. I vote against it because I dont believe what I was told by the so-called experts. They could never answer my questions directly and he contradicted himself on a few occasions.

I will say this Tracy Johnson came and talked to our program about the bio-control for Waiawi and I DONT TRUST HIM ONE BIT. Just my opinion but from what I gathered at this meeting was a little different from what was posted earlier by Nic. i.e. fruit production clarification,being slow to spread etc.

All these conservation/environmental agencies want it to go through but I dont think its a very good idea especially after what I heard from the "EXPERTS".

Just my take!!!

Aloha, everyone. Please email the state legislators below and ask them NOT to schedule hearings for resolutions calling for a 5-year moratorium on biocontrol of strawberry guava and other invasive species. No hearings have been scheduled as of March 27, 3 pm. Let’s keep it that way. Mahalo nui loa!

House resos HR 218 and HCR 249:

House Agriculture: Rep. Clift Tsuji, Chair reptsuji@Capitol.hawaii.gov and Rep. Jessica Wooley, Vice-Chair repwooley@Capitol.hawaii.gov

House Water Land and Ocean Resources: Rep. Ken Ito, Chair repito@Capitol.hawaii.gov and Rep. Sharon Har, Vice-Chair rephar@Capitol.hawaii.gov

House Health: Rep. Ryan Yamane, Chair repyamane@Capitol.hawaii.gov and Rep. Scott Nishimoto, Vice-Chair repnishimoto@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senate resos SR 108 and SCR 157:

Senate Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs: Sen. Clayton Hee, Chair senhee@Capitol.hawaii.gov and Sen. Jill Tokuda, Vice-Chair sentokuda@Capitol.hawaii.gov

Senate Energy and Environment: Sen. Mike Gabbard, Chair sengabbard@Capitol.hawaii.gov and Sen. Kalani English, Vice-Chair senenglish@Capitol.hawaii.gov

CCH Strawberry Guava Action Alert Brochure:

A low-resolution version of our strawberry guava brochure is on our website: http://www.conservehi.org (PDF download on home page under Kökua Alerts!). We are printing hard copies soon.

Aloha!!!

Sorry forgot to add that where it says in the bold email to "NOT schedule hearings" I think we should ask them TO SCHEDULE hearings.

Mahalo!!!

Once again I am for the release and must explain why. In reference to my own values on Hawaiian forests and the environment, the pros outweigh the cons. The main con being a serious reduction in a major food source for our pigs. I must also admit that my support is influenced by my job in forest conservation and I would benefit somewhat from the biological control's success.

I also believe there will still be guava as a food source (in reduced quantity) for pigs and that the long term effects of the plant, as I’ve seen in the Moloa’a Mountains of Kauai and many places elsewhere including windward Hawaii and the Koke’e area, is an overabundance of one type of food supply at the expense of others which were crowded out. What else are the pigs to eat during the off fruit season when the entire forest is guava with little else around? This is on top of the fact that guava often forms dense thickets of poor hunting quality. The release would be an investment in our future. I further support the release because of the (promised) benefits to agriculture and thus our local economy from reducing seasonal fruit fly swarms.

Finally, I value native forest, their ecological processes, aesthetics, and the good and services we derive from them, including game animal habitat and koa timber. The biological control would be addressing a direct and imminent threat which is far too widespread to be controlled successfully across the landscape by any other method alone. Therefore, I hope people take a second look and consider the biocontrol a positive tool for improving our quality of life.

...They really should have tried releasing it on Lanai first to avoid much of the controversy.

Here's more persuasion (or call it propaganda if you like) from the Institute of Pacific Island Forestry:
Biological Control of Strawberry Guava in Hawaii

Nic,

I do not like to type so i'll keep this short............SORRY if you think im gonna be rude here but your first line made me laugh out load. Maybe you think that youre the only hunter on here that cares for Hawaii's Forest and Environment well I BEG TO DIFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hawaii's forest have been my home since I was a baby and I love her so.

Like the so called experts you fail to realize that YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE.....THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hawaii consist of several islands not just one just because something may be the answer to one islands prayers doesnt mean it'll be the same for the others. Maybe if you seen the things ive seen your outlook may be a bit different and not so tunnel vision. You think we only care about it as a food source c'mon dude. Have you ever thought about what will take the place of the guava

My job is also like yours I have done natural resource work on the Big Island,Maui,Kauai,Lanai and here on Oahu. Bottomline is I dont trust what they had to say there were to much contradictions and too much unknowns. Alot of it was HOPE and sorry but thats not good enough for me. And like I said Ive seen all the things youre posting up to look at the BOTTOMLINE IS...HE CAME TO OUR OFFICE AND SPOKE TO US FACE TO FACE and again sorry but what he had to say wasnt good enough.

With that being said every island has its own challenges and I think IF it would work then there are places that could totally benefit from it. But others would be worst off because of it.

Well thats long enough for me if you would like to talk about it my numbers still the same 291-6970 Aloha! At least we can agree to disagree!

I'm againts this. I think if the waiawi trees totally dies out with all the thick patches in the mountains and hill sides when it rains there will be alot of erosion and it'll take a long time for any thing to grow in its place. The first thing that will probably grow if anything will be the good for nothing guinea grass .

Does anybody know if there has been any biocontrol on the rat berries? All the rat berry patches throughout Kauai is all dead or dying too and all the ground underneath is getting all eroded and swamped out.

im also against this due to the fact that i would rather see guava forest then that scrubby berry bush that has taken over the rosie apple patches here on oahu yea it might not be native but atleast its hearty and fruitful...more than the weeds that has replaced them. Also im seeing more and more plows cuz the animals are starving they are digging so much that when it rains gaurantee the dirt gonna run. Now the pigs are gonna resort to eating the " Native" plants.

Anyway thats my 2 cents for what its worth.

Kauai Boy, speaking for the scientists, they say they don't expect the trees to die. They expect the trees to divert energy from fruiting towards forming galls on the leaves. From my own experience, I can say guava is pretty much impossible to kill without herbicide.

Does the rat berry look like it's dying from the rust fungus that attacks rose apple? That fungus (Puccinia psidii) attacks a wide range of plants and is known to infect rat berry too. It was an unintentional introduction (I just want to make sure everybody knows the rose apple fungus is NOT A BIOCONTROL) and is a serious pest believed to have likely come on imports from a flower shop in california although it is widespread from florida to Brazil. It also attacks Eaucalyptus, ohia, guava, mountain apple, and some other ag species. There's nothing we can do about it except maybe develope resitant strains. and inject individual trees with fungicide to boost fruit production. They might have passed a law by now to stop the importation of plants in the family myrtaceae because there are other strains of the fungus which more successfully attack other plants, so the powers that be are trying to prevent those from reaching Hawaii. If those strains did make it, they would be expected to compound the damage. There is a strain from florida which severely attacks common guava, another that severely attacks mountain apple, and other strains which have made it very difficult to grow eucalyptus in Brazil. And everyone is real scared that they would wipe out ohia.

Koa Boa,

Your right not to trust the scientists. They are biased and would rather skip the negative effects and only talk about the benefits. I agree, there are places which would benefit while others might be worse off.

I can say what I personally expect. It's a double edged sword:
A) Guava thickets prevented, current situation preserved.
B) Guava dominated areas may become dense with weeds but probably not as severe as under the rose apple for several reasons.
C) Guava's progress into native forests is expected to be slowed.

Agree to disagree and I believe hunters do care very greatly for the hawaiian forest and environment.

Nic just a quick piece of info.

When tracy came and talked to us he told us that the tree's were having greater than 95% fruit reduction more like 100% is what theyre seeing. He said it takes roughly 1-2 yrs for a tree to get to that staus once infected. NOW THINK ABOUT IT! 100% fruit reduction in a yr or two. that means no more fruit AT ALL! So now due to the fact that guava is not a long lived seed there is no seed bank. So now what happens??????????????????? Once those tree's die, WHAT REPLACES THEM..........MORE WEEDS!!! Ive seen this with my own eyes, case in point a endangered species we protect was is a huge patch of guava but doing well, very well I might add. Then thinning to the trees due to herbicide was done once the light gap opened all hell broke loose. now from just guava we have to control over 6 different weed species that have all but killed ofF all the keiki juvenile plants that once thrived in its guava habitat. HMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!

And yes I dont trust ANYONE who cannot answer simple questions especially on something of this scale. Case in point, He (Tracy Johnson) said that they would puff on it in the lab and it would stay afloat for a very long time. But when I questioned him that if that were the case then the trades could carry it vast differences. He then said no, they will only go so far HUH?????? Yeah as far as the trades takes them is what I told him.

My bottomline is that here on Oahu the guava stands are so huge and far ranging that this bio-control could mean a far worse enemy than the guava in the long run. right now dealing with one invasuve is better than dealing with 10-20 like ive seen happen when guava is removed. So everyone really needs to think about it LONGTERM!!!! WHat replaces the Guava.........MORE WEEDS, WHY.....NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE TO HELP CONTROL THEM, THEN WHAT HAPPENS.....WORSE HABITAT AND ECOSYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!