As fires increase in frequency and intensity across hawaii, having seeds on hand for immediate habitat rehabilitation and restoration has been identified as a significant resource need

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded a $400,000 Cooperative Agreement under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation program (CFDA 15.657) to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The purpose of this 5-year award is to collect, store, and propagate native Hawaiian plant seeds, including rare and endangered species, to support post-wildfire habitat restoration and recovery efforts across Hawaii. This project will prioritize collecting and storing seeds from rare plants threatened with extinction to ensure they are available for replanting if impacted by wildfires. The stored seeds will be used to rehabilitate and restore native plant communities after wildfires, which is critical for recovering watersheds and threatened and endangered species in Hawaii's fragile ecosystems.

If seeds are not collected, stored, and ideally put into production before a wildfire occurs, the plant materials will not be available for planting post-wildfire to slow the invasion of fire-prone grasses resulting in ecosystem degradation post-fire and loss of opportunity to restore populations of rare plants. As hawaiis ecosystems are continually battered by the onslaught of invasive species, their fragility increases and biodiversity decreases. Their habitats also become less suitable for rare plant recovery efforts. Habitat restoration before and after wildfires is essential to recovering our watersheds and threatened and endangered species. Protecting hawaiis flora from wildfire project has a primary goal to collect and store seeds and propagate native hawaiian plants to have on hand for future post-wildfire restoration. This includes collecting from rare plants that are threatened with extinction so recovery actions can be conducted if they are impacted from wildfires. The plant extinction prevention program has the expertise and knowledge to prioritize rare plant collection needs throughout hawaii. This project will support standard pepp operations on department of interior lands (refuges and parks) while simultaneously supporting post-wildfire restoration by securing propagules of the rare species that are integral to native habitats. In order to restore habitats post-wildfire, many seeds of native plants are needed. Once habitats have been restored, functionality of ecosystems will be dependent on healthy populations of vegetation communities comprised of both common and rare species. IT is critical that we do not lose any plants to wildfires, especially the rarest species that are already so threatened with extinction. These collections will be essential for not only their recovery, but the recovery of ecosystems they depend on.