>> I don't know.
It's a pretty miraculous
thing to be existing here
in the middle of the ocean.
I think what's special about
the island landscape is
that it's born of elements
that we can still see.
This is the beginning of
the making of islands.
And the popping up of only
the vegetation that's able
to sustain itself in
this kind of landscape.
And that's the ohia and all of
the ohia's very close relatives.
>> In tropical environments
it's unusual
to have a single native
species be as dominate
on the landscape as ohia is.
It plays a critical
role in the ecosystem.
It really anchors the forest.
Hands down, it is, it
is the keystone species
throughout Hawaii.
>> Ohia was used in
musical instruments.
It was used in tools of farmers.
It was used in weapons
of warfare.
In addition to its
ecological importance
as the main nectar food source
for our native Hawaiian birds,
a thousand different
insects, no doubt.
>> It's found from sea level
to 8000 feet, growing in a lot
of different habitats.
>> You go into an ohia
forest, and it's Hawaii.
You're in Hawaii;
it's a unique thing.
>> For any culture, the
land that that culture is
from shapes the nature
of the culture itself.
And so for the Hawaiians,
the huge amount of uniqueness
that we have here in
Hawaii has affected the way
that Hawaiians think,
the things that we do,
down to our crafts,
down to our language.
And ohia being such a
dominant tree in the landscape,
especially before, has
affected the way Hawaiians view
the world.
>> We lived off the land.
We lived off the land.
This was our high rise.
These mountains were
our high rises.
>> You know, you walk the
same path so many times
that you remember this tree, and
you remember that tree, and you,
you know, you remember
the smells.
So much of my childhood
was spread out from being
in this forest, in
this thick fog,
to being in crystal clear
waters off the shoreline.
And you really, really get
a grasp of how everything,
especially on this
beautiful island Hawaii,
is that everything
leans on each other.
>> You know, where I live, it's
like all these trees are two
to three hundred years old,
and I think that is too special
to let go, and it takes
too long to grow like this.
And it never, you know,
if these forests go away,
they're never coming
back the same way.
So I think we really have
to protect what we have.
>> It's all aspects of Hawaiian
culture, if we don't hold
onto that, and continue that
and share that with our students
and share that with the next
generation, it could be lost.
And at one point in time, in our
history, Hawaiian culture was
on the brink of being lost.
I kind of equate that to what's
going on with Rapid Ohia Death.
>> In Hawaii we have a history
of environmental battles,
as any place does, and a lot--
okay, this is sort of the
epicenter of disease here.
So all these trees have died
in the past couple of years.
>> And I called, and
I was like, you know,
something's wrong with my trees.
Right next store to me
is the Steamvent Inn,
that whole forest there is dead.
The forest along Lailani
Estates, that whole highway,
and that whole highway
through there,
it's pretty much 95
percent like my forest is.
So it's been really rough
and like, just to be like,
wow I built my house to look
at my beautiful forest,
and now it's dead.
>> Okay, so I lived there,
in the middle of the forest.
And then you see
a new phenomenon
that you've never seen
forever, for your whole life,
the dying of the tree.
>> This sudden, you know,
epidemic of it has
been really severe.
>> Playing out an
average mortality rate
of 10 percent per
year, you're not going
to have very many trees at all
after say about 10 years' time.
So that mortality
rate is quite high.
>> So there's some, there's
some, but if you look over here,
you see that, the tree with
the brown leaves there,
and then this guy with
the brown leaves here.
So this is all what
we're talking
about Ceratocystis
infection, Rapid Ohia Death.
We gave it the name Rapid
Ohia Death because a lot
of the other diseases are
pretty slow-acting, this--
people were telling us-- the
tree went from healthy to yellow
to brown in like two
weeks, two weeks,
and two weeks later
it's losing its leaves.
>> It didn't take us long
once we got into the wood
of dead trees to figure out
that a fungus was killing it.
I knew we were up
against something
that could be pretty
devastating,
so it was very important to work
as hard and fast as possible
to really figure out what
it was, what it's doing,
and how we can control it.
>> So you don't see
anything on the bark.
The fungus isn't on the bark;
the fungus is in the sapwood.
Now one critical thing is,
of course, a tree is going
to be infected for some time
before you see symptoms.
So these trees could
have infections,
and we just don't see them yet.
>> So once the fungus
gets in, it gets in again
through this wound, it starts
to colonize the sapwood.
It starts cutting
off the water supply.
A lot's happening,
but we don't see it.
>> You know, so I've just been
in kind of the, what can I do?
I'm a teacher but at
the same time like I,
I mean this is my
passion, is forestry,
and if we don't have the ohia
trees, it's a devastation
to our forests, to our
people, to the bird life,
to the insect life, to
the whole water table,
you know, everything around us.
>> The catch is today, with
all our invasive species,
most of these forests,
the invasive species
are going to come in.
So with the one-two punch of
the disease and then the weeds,
that'll take out the forest.
So those forests aren't going
to be able to bounce back.
>> And so it makes me just
rethink things in my life,
like is my son going to be able
to see an ohia forest
when he's my age?
Are these trees going
to be here?
Well I sure hope so; I'm
going to do whatever I can
to make sure that happens.
>> A disease that's out in the
forest you're not going to,
not going to cure it.
You're not going
to get rid of it.
It's not going to be gone.
What I hope that we can do is
manage it, to restore some areas
that are hit by it, to make
it so it doesn't spread
to new areas, that's
what we're focusing on.
>> Well, welcome to the USDA
Agricultural Research Service
here in Hilo, Hawaii, where
we study biology, detection,
and try to figure out
some management techniques
for the Ceratocystis
fungi killing ohia.
So once we got the wood samples,
now we want to detect the fungus
in the wood to make
sure that they have died
because of Rapid Ohia Death.
One of the commonly used
microbiological methods is
carrot baiting.
>> You could see this
black fungal material,
that's actually the
Ceratocystis fungi.
>> You can see the
fruiting bodies
of the fungus known
as Perithecia.
But a major advancement
from that microbiology side
was a molecular technique
that we developed, and instead
of having wait about a month
to figure out if Ceratocystis is
there or not, now within the day
of receiving samples,
we can actually tell you
if Ceratocystis is
present in the wood.
>> And all this area here
is colonized by the fungus,
and when it's colonized,
the tree is not able
to uptake water, so that's what
is essentially killing the tree.
You're getting kind of the
same result as drought stress.
Species A is much
more aggressive.
It basically will enter the
water stream of the tree
and just get carried all
from the top to the bottom
of the plant, as opposed to
B, where the fungus is kind
of spreading from
a central point
and just kind of
radiating outward.
Kind of our goal is not to
just lump these together.
We want to really clarify
these minute differences
between the two so
that we can kind
of develop management
strategies that can kind
of target those differences.
>> Now on a bigger scale,
we're trying to figure
out how does the host
respond as a large population?
You can go into an area where
you see widespread mortality
in the field, 99 percent
of the trees are dead,
but there are still survivors.
Okay. Is that maybe
host resistance
that you're looking at?
>> Hopefully the work that I do
and that we all do here helps
to kind of prolong the life
and the longevity
of the ohia forest.
>> We've made a lot of progress
in the last three years now
since we identified
the pathogen.
We're only three years into a
hundred years' worth of research
and knowledge that we
need to do about this.
>> I mean we're watching,
we're watching very carefully
the situation on the island
of Hawaii, the spread of Rapid
Ohia Death across from Puna
into other places
on the islands.
It was frankly a very pleasant
surprise that the Department
of Agriculture and
the Department of Land
and Natural Resources were able
to work together so rapidly
to create a quarantine.
>> As soon as we explained
to them there's a new fungus
outbreak on the Big Island,
it could move, if anybody moves
anything ohia to other islands,
it'll move this to other
islands, they said fine,
we're going to put a quarantine,
you can't move anything made
out of ohia off the
island unless it's tested.
A lot of logs have been
denied the ability to ship.
They've said no, you can't ship
it, we found Ceratocystis in it,
and so they don't move.
The same thing for
the nursery industry.
There's no way of testing
a small ohia seedling
without killing it, so you
can't ship ohia seedlings.
And you can't prove a negative,
but we know that things
that could have spread it to the
other islands have been stopped
because of this quarantine,
so I say it's working.
When you watch my dancers,
although we're here on Oahu,
they are not wearing
any ohia, and it's sad,
it's very sad because
we should be.
>> Traditionally and culturally
hula really is an embodiment
of our surroundings, and
you look at hula movements
and what they represent, and
it's really people being able
to manifest what we see around
us, and so who would we be
if we didn't take our
responsibility to take care
of the forest, and the
things that are around us.
>> But we've made a
conscious decision as a halau
to find other ways that we
can be symbolic to our mele.
>> One really interesting
thing that I noticed
about Merrie Monarch that year
was there were a lot of halau
who took that real,
and took a stand
to make sure they didn't
use, not just lehua,
but forest plants in general.
We didn't even want
to go into the forest
to make sure we didn't pick
up the fungus or anything,
you know, just to be safe.
>> We're at the Ainaho gate
right now, and we are going
to do a quick decon, brush
all the mud off of our shoes
and spray down with alcohol
to make sure we're not
spreading any fungal spores.
>> What you got there, brother?
>> So we're going to brush
down mud, brush all the mud
and debris off of our shoes and
then spray them with alcohol,
and we're going to do that kind
of a little bit out of the way
so that no one tracks thru it.
>> Hawaii Volcanoes National
Park receives nearly two million
visitors per year, making it
the premiere visitor attraction
in the Hawaiian Islands.
And that's significant
because a lot of people come
to Hawaii Volcanoes and
then go to other areas
of the Hawaiian Islands,
areas which may not necessarily
be dealing, or as aware of,
the challenges posed
by Rapid Ohia Death.
This forest is a wonderful
opportunity for our visitors
to connect with these forests
and immerse themselves
in these forests.
We are intensively
sampling trees,
suspect trees throughout
the park,
and where we do confirm the
disease, we are bringing
in scientists and
working with our partners
and carefully evaluating what
management strategy makes the
most sense, and that
varies by site.
It's a challenge because
we don't, we don't know,
this is such a new disease,
we don't fully understand
how it spreads.
>> We're still learning about
the different methods of spread
but the main hypothesis is
that it spread in beetle frass,
ambrosia beetle frass in
the wind, and it's deposited
on the trees, and if
there's a wound on the tree,
then the tree may
become infected.
>> My name is Curtis Ewing.
I'm with the department of Plant
and Environmental
Protection Sciences.
And here is a gallery.
Ambrosia beetles attack dead
and dying trees preferably,
but they will attack
healthy trees,
especially if there's any kind
of drought stress or a wound.
And if you look at the tree,
you can see all this
dust right here.
This is what the
beetles are pushing
out as they create galleries.
They can actually push
out quite a lot of dust.
Over the course of two or three
weeks, if they are very active,
they can fill this
vial with boring dust,
actually pack it
completely full.
The chances that this boring
dust are transmitting the
disease locally is
very, very high.
And you can see all
the dust pouring out.
Then inside is the xylem, that's
where the nitrogen, phosphorus,
and water from the roots
go up to the leaves,
and that's where both the
fungus and the beetles are,
and that's why we suspect
that the beetles are an
important vector of the disease,
because they are the only thing
that in large numbers is
attacking ohia trees and going
into this inner part of the tree
where the fungus is and kicking
out this dust that's full of
the spores and also themselves.
When they're done, a couple
dozen of them will all fly
out of here, and they'll
go and seek a new tree.
>> The Kohala ditch goes out of
the back of this valley and out
to service the people of Kohala.
It's about 7 to 13
million gallons a day,
and all that water was
recognized years ago
as important to the
sugar plantations as well
as to the farmers in
the area and as a source
of drinking water and ag
water for our citizens.
I was on the flight that where
we saw it for the first time
in early September, and all
of us on board were mortified.
>> The most recent outbreak
in Kohala Mountain is about 30
or 40 miles from the
other known location
of Rapid Ohia Death
on the island.
So somehow it made that jump
30 or 40 miles to Kohala.
Maui is the same distance away.
So we're really concerned
about it getting to Maui
and starting another epidemic
all over again on their island.
>> I think the wind
is clearly one,
surely one source,
one probability.
But we don't know, and that's
where the research comes in
and trying to understand
how it moves.
>> We are doing a lot of
sampling to try to test
that hypothesis, that the
fungus can move by the air,
and it's significant because
if it can move long distances,
it has the potential to jumping
to other islands on its own.
And so we have developed
these two traps to see
if we can pick up spores.
>> We prepare the slides with
scotch tape and bacon grease
on it, which is very
sticky, so all kinds
of different stuff
gets stuck on it
by the air stream and the trap.
>> We can say for sure that
we can detect them locally
around infected trees.
There's no question about that.
It's when we start moving to
longer distance dispersal,
for example, we've
been operating traps
for almost a year at the
southern end of the island,
and so far we've only
analyzed about half the samples
but don't have any
detections down there.
But, you know, it's really hard
to interpret negative results.
There's always that possibility
that you're missing something.
If this wind movement
is a very rare event
or maybe it's not
happening at all,
maybe it's more localized
movement,
it has some big impacts on
how we manage for the disease.
So it's an important thing
to try and figure out.
>> If the ohia people decide
that for some reason they need
to go in dormancy, then you
need to worry about economy.
>> Some people say that you
can break down the word ohia
to a root word Ohi,
and they'll talk
about how the ohia is really
important in its function
of gathering water for the land,
gathering up this
rain and this mist.
>> If the ohia people's roots
don't break up the landscape,
if their bark and the moss
that grows on their bark
and their fuzzy leaves
cannot collect water anymore,
where do you think your
water is going to come from?
>> The most important product we
get out of our forest is water.
It is certainly true
that healthy watersheds
save our soil as well.
>> You need something
to hold the land back.
The ohia, and specifically
without it,
you put so much strain
on everything else.
Then the runoff goes
into the ocean,
and it suffocates the coral,
and it's just a domino
effect after that.
And you really, really
have to take care
of every part of Hawaii.
You can't just focus
on one area.
>> Rain is important.
Ohia is important to the rain.
There's this old Hawaiian saying
that everybody likes to quote.
The rain follows the forest,
and if the ohia is gone,
our dominant forest tree,
what happens to the rain?
If the rain is gone,
what happens to us?
>> You know, that's just a
scary, scary thought to think
that there is a threat out
there that can demolish our way
of life here on the island.
And I don't want to be known
as the generation
that lost the ohia.
You know, it's that Hawaiian
saying, you know, you take care
of the aina, the aina
takes care of you.
>> I just, I just love Hawaii
just because of the outdoors.
You know, now I live up in
the mountains and spend a lot
of time out in the
woods with my bow.
It's been kind of an interesting
topic because if you don't live
in an ohia forest, and if
you don't know anything
about the trees, if you don't
spend time outdoors hiking,
a lot of times people don't
consider it very important.
We live in the forest, so
for me it was quite a scare,
and so I wanted to learn how
to prevent it from spreading,
how to prevent it from the areas
that have not been affected yet,
and just kind of
educate myself a bit.
>> So the first thing
is, there's a pathogen.
There's two pathogens.
They've come in here like
one more invasive disease,
and they started
killing a lot of trees.
Then secondly, a lot of this
is going to be human vectored.
It's people moving stuff around.
The dead trees are
full of fungus;
so don't move wood around,
because you're moving
fungus around by that.
The fungus needs some sort
of wound to get into a tree
because it's in the sapwood, so
don't ding trees or watch a tree
if you ding the bark,
because it's able to get that.
The fungus comes out of the
tree when the boring beetles get
in the trees, and everybody's
seen boring beetles attacking
sick trees, and then
that sawdust is full
of fungal spores.
That sawdust on the ground
is full of fungal spores,
so if you're in a
diseased forest,
don't track mud into
a clean forest.
Clean your shoes,
clean your gear off.
The fungal spores are
sticky, so anything you cut
into a tree is going to
get contaminated with.
Clean your tools,
sterilize your tools.
Moving within a locality, it
does tend to move by the blowing
of the frass from the beetles,
but moving in long jumps,
it's going to be people moving
it, and if people know not
to do that, that
can really help.
>> Allow this inspiration
to take root,
so that it becomes foundational.
And we're talking about the
physical tree, and we're talking
about the inspiration in here,
so this tree, and this tree.
If we're well, then
they'll be well.
So be well.
