Shame, community, and recovery inform the fight for ʻōhiʻa lehua

April is Native Hawaiian Plant Month, a time to celebrate Hawaiʻi's unique flora and the vital role it plays in our culture, identity, and spiritual well-being. It also offers an opportunity to raise awareness of ongoing environmental threats that endanger cultural cornerstones. While ʻōhiʻa lehua isn’t currently listed among Hawaiʻi’s 578 endangered species, its rapid decline is reshaping ecosystems across the islands and posing real challenges for those working to safeguard Hawaiian heritage for future generations. 

ʻŌhiʻa lehua comprises roughly 80% of Hawaiʻi’s native forests. Many of Hawaiʻi’s federally recognized endangered birds and pollinators rely on the tree for food and nesting sites. It also plays an essential role in watershed protection and conservation, preventing erosion and flooding.

Beyond its ecological importance, ʻōhiʻa lehua holds deep cultural significance. Rooted in the moʻolelo of Pele and considered a sacred kinolau of other deities, ʻōhiʻa lehua features prominently in Hawaiian ceremonies and practices, including hula, kapa cloth making, music, farming and food cultivation, weaponry, and medicine. 

For over a decade, ʻōhiʻa lehua has faced an invasive fungal blight known as Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD). Infected trees appear to die within days of (and up to a few weeks following) exposure. ROD has been detected across Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, Maui, and Oʻahu, devastating more than 270,000 acres of forest and killing over one million trees.

“Playing out an average mortality rate of 10% per year, you’re going to see 100% mortality in a given ʻōhiʻa stand in less than 20 years,” Flint Hughes, an ecologist with the Pacific Southwest Research Station, said. 

Multi-agency ROD teams have been working alongside Native Hawaiian groups on handling ʻōhiʻa material in cultural practice. Some hālau have stopped using ʻōhiʻa altogether, sparking public debate, and controversy, over whether the plant should and could be used. Lei makers, in particular, face intense criticism for their use of lehua blossom and liko; and many leverage the scrutiny to draw attention to ethical and sustainable gathering practices. (Cultural practitioners in southern and central California are turning to a New Zealand-derived variety of ʻōhiʻa lehua in their lei making, allowing them to continue cultural practice while remaining aligned with lei makers at home.)

The fight for ʻōhiʻa lehua extends beyond Hawaiʻi. Teams across the continental U.S., including at Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin, and Arizona State University, are efforting preservation and reforestation. Some researchers working to combat the disease were born and raised in Hawaiʻi. 

Prevention and awareness remain key strategies in the battle against Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, absent an effective treatment. However, recent cuts in funding and reductions in the federal workforce, particularly those at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Hawaiʻi, are sure to hinder these efforts, and impact conservation and invasive species mitigation in the years ahead.

“Lehua is the first warrior that goes into battle. It’s the first sacrifice,” Hiʻilani Shibata, a cultural practitioner and consultant, said in 2016. “So when I think about the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, I think…the ʻōhiʻa is telling us something. It's almost like the first thing telling us we're out of balance.”