Hawaii s native plants are the foundation of flourishing ecosystems which protect our watersheds and provide habitat for countless other organisms such as birds, bats, snails, and insects

The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 awarded $955,000 under the Endangered Species Recovery Implementation (CFDA 15.657) federal grant program to the State of Hawaii Department of Land & Natural Resources to support conservation efforts for endangered native plant species in Hawaii. Funding will support infrastructure upgrades and staffing increases at rare plant nurseries operated by the Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife's Rare Plant Program through September 2027. The nurseries serve as triage centers to rescue and replicate rare plant populations from the wild to prevent extinction. Automating irrigation systems, upgrading equipment, and improving backup power and water supplies at the nursery facilities will increase productivity and efficiency in propagating threatened native plant species for restoration. The grant aims to maximize conservation of Hawaii's rare flora through critical upgrades that enhance the nursery infrastructure's capacity to preserve these species for future generations.

They protect our oceans from runoff and our neighborhoods from dangerous flooding. Native plants also have a fundamental role in hawaiian culture. Rare plant nurseries provide the thousands of plants needed for restoring natural areas. Upgrades to these nurseries are critically needed. The division of forestry and wildlife s dofaw rare plant program operates statewide to conserve and protect endangered plant species. Dofaw staff and our partners scour natural areas to locate remnant populations of rare native plants. Once found, fences and other threat control is installed to protect the site. Populations of rare plants can be slow to recover on their own, so collections of seeds or clones are taken to the nearest rare plant facility or seed bank. These facilities are triage centers for hawaii s rarest plants, ensuring that anything salvaged from the wild can survive under better conditions in a nursery. Once rescued, plants are replicated and planted into protected habitat to resume their important roles in native ecosystems. This is how extinction is prevented. In the last decade, botanists have made collections from nearly all of the rarest species. However, nursery facilities statewide are still operating on small budgets with minimal staff using manual labor to water and manage pests. Automating irrigation systems and updating equipment would greatly increase productivity and efficiency at each of these facilities. In addition, installing back-up power and water supplies, as well as hardening structures needs to be done before disasters strike these nurseries. With increased support for infrastructure upgrades and better staffing at our nurseries, we will be able to maximize federal funding for these efforts and preserve these plants for future generations. Without IT, we risk losing more of our native plants to extinction.