Hawaii's national parks will be among the first recipients of funds from the National Park Service's (NPS) Natural Resource Challenge to fight the spread of invasive alien vegetation, U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) announced today. Using funds provided by Congress for FY 2000, the Park Service established a Biological Resource Management Division and selected four field-based Exotic Plant Management Teams. Hawaii has been designated as a site for one of the four teams nationwide.

Haleakala National Park, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Kalaupapa National Historical Park, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, and Pu'ukohola National Historic Site submitted a successful joint proposal to NPS. Haleakala National Park will act as the host park. The goal of the Hawaiian Islands Exotic Plant Management Team is to prevent newly established alien weed species from gaining significant footholds in native habitats identified as Special Ecological Areas. The Hawaii team will receive $1.25 million over five years for the initiative. The team will continue the parks' longstanding relationship with the University of Hawaii to address the threats posed by invasive species to national parks on Hawaii, Maui, and Molokai.

"Alien species are wreaking havoc, and nowhere is this problem more apparent than in Hawaii," Akaka noted. "Invasive noxious weeds and plant pests do more than just compete with Hawaii's domestic species. They transform the landscape. They change the rules by which native plants and animals live, and they undermine the economic and environmental health of our state. As an advocate for comprehensive federal action against noxious alien plants and animals, I welcome this Park Service initiative against invasive alien species."

Native ecosystems in Hawaii are seriously threatened by invasive alien plant species. Miconia, banana poka, and fountain grass are among the alien species that pose the greatest threat to native ecosystems in Hawaii's national parks. Invasive alien vegetation drastically alters habitat composition; these plants change native ecosystems, disrupt ecological balances, reduce diversity, and destroy natural succession. Within Hawaii's parks, over 60 alien plant species have displaced native vegetation. Native ecosystems dominated by endemic species (species found nowhere else outside of Hawaii) are at greatest risk. These endemics display remarkable examples of adaptive radiation and other evolutionary processes. The affected ecosystems include the greatest extent of tropical rain forest and dry forest under federal protection. Over six percent of the native vascular plants and vertebrates are listed as Threatened or Endangered in Hawaii's national parks.