{"id":11745,"date":"2019-08-31T01:28:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T01:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11745"},"modified":"2019-08-31T02:29:52","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T02:29:52","slug":"new-noteworthy-rust-rule-alala-coming-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=11745","title":{"rendered":"New & Noteworthy: Rust Rule, \u2018Alala, Coming Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Puccinia Rule: <\/strong>On August 27, the state Board of Agriculture (BOA) unanimously approved a rule intended to reduce imports of plants that could carry a fungus, Puccinia psidii<\/em>, that poses a danger to \u2018ohi\u2018a trees. As Environment Hawai\u2018i<\/em> reported more than four years ago, the rule would be the first to protect a native tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As welcome as the rule is, the long delay in its approval is puzzling. The puccinia rust was first observed in Hawai\u2018i in April 2005. Shortly afterward, the BOA approved a three-year emergency rule banning importation of plants in the Myrtle family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the emergency rule expired in 2008, the BOA followed up … seven years later, and even then, only after the 2014 Legislature urged it to \u201cexpeditiously adopt a permanent rule restricting plants in the Myrtaceae family.\u201d A broad range of plants are in that family, including guava, mountain apple, and eucalyptus, as well as \u2018ohi\u2018a.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public information officer for the Department of Agriculture was asked why the processing of the rule has taken so long. No response had been provided by press time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more on the history of the Puccinia psidii <\/em>rule, see the cover stories in the September 2011 and April 2015 editions of Environment Hawai\u2018i.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost \u2018Alala: <\/strong>Late last month, as the \u2018Alala Project prepared to release another cohort of the endangered birds into the Pu\u2018u Maka\u2018ala Natural Area Reserve, it also revealed some recent setbacks: Mele, a male for the 2017 cohort, had been found dead with wounds suggesting he was attacked by an \u2018io (Hawaiian hawk), and a female released at the same time, \u2018Awa, \u201chas not been able to be located for the past month after her transmitter stopped emitting a signal,\u201d an Instagram post states. The project also noted that another 2017 cohort male, Kalokomaika\u2018i, had tobe treated at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center for minor injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile these recent events can be challenging, the potential for loss in re- introductions is a reality and the reasons for loss are often part of the ecosystem as well,\u201d the group stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give Aloha, Again: <\/strong>It\u2019s September, and that means that it\u2019s Give Aloha month at all Foodland stores in the state. Customers may choose to donate to Environment Hawai\u2018i <\/em>and other charities at checkout, and Foodland will augment those donations in proportion to the given charity\u2019s fraction of all donations to all charities made during the month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The registration number for Environment Hawai\u2018i <\/em>is 77036<\/strong>. But no worriesif you forget: there\u2019s a list of charities at every checkout stand that customers can refer to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our November\u00a08\u00a0Event:\u00a0<\/strong>Jeffrey Polovina will be the special guest speaker at\u00a0Environment Hawai\u2018i\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>annual dinner, to be held this year on November 8 at the \u2018Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For much of the 38 years that Polovina was with the National Oceanic and At- mospheric Administration, he was senior scientist and chief of the Ecosystem and Oceanography Division at NOAA\u2019s Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu. He began his work in Hawai\u2018i by studying the trophic systems in the islands\u2019 coral reef ecosystems. Out of that work came ECOPATH, an ecosystem model that is still in wide use today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his colleagues also studied the physical-biological linkages in marine ecosystems, looking closely at the ways in which regime shifts, such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and El Ni\u00f1o events, affect ecosystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polovina\u2019s current research uses climate and ecosystem models and data to identify potential fishing and climate impacts on marine ecosystems, with particular focus on the central North Pacific pelagic ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost is $75 per person, which includes a $40 donation to Environment Hawai\u2018i<\/em>. For reservations, call 808 934-0115.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Puccinia Rule: On August 27, the state Board of Agriculture (BOA) unanimously approved a rule intended to reduce imports of plants that could carry a fungus, Puccinia psidii, that poses a danger to ‘ohi‘a trees. As Environment Hawai‘i reported more than four … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[458],"tags":[7,3],"class_list":["post-11745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-september-2019","tag-patricia-tummons","tag-teresa-dawson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}