10 native plants
added to endangered
species list

Decreased native habitat has swelled
Hawaii's share of endangered species
to more than a third

By Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin

WAILUKU -- After rappelling down a 50-meter coastal drop to shrub land on Kahoolawe, biologist Kenneth Wood found a plant he had never seen before.

"I was enraptured. Time stood still," said Wood, who was on contract with the Nature Conservancy. "It has an extraordinary beauty."

The plant, with cream white mimosalike flowers, turned out to be a small shrub so rare only two are known to exist in the world.

The shrub, Kanaloa Kahoolawensis, was one of 10 Maui County plants added yesterday to a growing list of endangered species in Hawaii, bringing the state's total to 292 -- more than a third of those listed nationwide.

Biologists in Hawaii say the trend is disturbing, indicating the continuing decrease in native habitat.

State forestry official Robert Hobdy said the reason is the lack of manpower and money.

Hobdy said grazing animals such as cattle, sheep, deer and goats have caused major damage to the native habitat.

In addition, while the public wants the state to preserve native habitat, it also wants state officials to maintain enough animals for hunting, such a wild pigs, which can damage native habitat if left uncontrolled.

In the case of the rare plant found by Wood, many years of practice bombing by the military, as well as destruction of the island's vegetation by goats, had apparently left only two shrubs.

Wood said based on fossil pollen samples dated as far back as at least 10,000 years, the shrub once grew on Kauai and Oahu.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials say the designation as an endangered species will enable the Kanaloa Kahoolawensis and the nine other plants to have the opportunity to receive more federal funding through the development of a recovery plan for them.

Seeds from the Kanaloa are already being propagated at the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai.

"By adding these plant species to the list, we are trying to protect more of Hawaii's unique natural resources," said Anne Badgley, the service's regional director.

"Many of the threats causing the decline of these plant species also are affecting native wildlife such as forest birds, tree snails and insects."

Hobdy said the survival of human beings is also tied to maintaining a diversity of plants, because many of them are used to produce medicine and may hold the cures for other diseases.

"They are largely unknown at this time but hold the potential," he said. "Once it's gone it's gone."