Pacific Southwest Research Station

Programs and Projects	(RWU-4154)
Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry

The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, located in Hilo, Hawai`i, is a resarch program of the Pacific Southwest Research Station, headquartered in Albany, California. The unit and the research station are part of the Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

Hawaii and the Pacific Islands are national and global treasures of biological diversity. The wide geographic range and thousands of isolated island ecosystems across the Pacific have led to an extremely high diversity of flora and fauna. As the most isolated archipelago on earth, 90% of Hawaii's 10,000 native species are endemic. On some islands climatic gradients range from mangrove swamps to desert to rain forest to alpine communities in the span of less than 20 miles. The forests of the pacific are sources of freshwater, subsistence, wood, recreational, and aesthetic and cultural values.

Just as the scale of diversity on the Pacific islands is befitting that of a continent so are there a disproportionate number of threats to the island ecosystems. Among the most significant of threats are invasive species. Through our research and technical outreach programs we are improving our understanding of Pacific Island forests, the threats to their sustainability, and approaches to their restoration.

The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry has grown to become a center of research and technology transfer on matters of the management, preservation, and restoration, of natural ecosystems and landscapes throughout the Pacific. The Institute's area of responsibility includes seven US-affiliated political entities in the Pacific: the State of Hawaii, the Territory of Guam, The Territory of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. The area of Ocean over which the approximately 130 inhabited islands comprising these entities exists are dispersed exceeds the land area of the coterminous United States.

What's New

"Biological Control of Strawberry Guava in Hawaii" Web Site

"Biological Control of Strawberry Guava in Hawaii" web site now online - The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry launched a new online resource to provide information about strawberry guava and the threat it poses to native Hawaiian forests. The site also discusses the institute's proposal to manage the invasive tree using biological control. To learn more, browse the Biological Control of Strawberry Guava in Hawaii Web site.

Video Presentations

Browse IPIF's Video Presentations page to see our experts' lectures and presentations on topics in tropical ecosystems and forestry. Current titles include "The Hawaii Tropical Experimental Forest"; "A General Framework for Ecological Restoration in Changing Climate"; "Mangroves, Sediment and Water"; "Habitat Value of Mangroves for Fish in Micronesia".

Hawaii Experimental Tropical Forest.

This experimental forest (HETF) is being established to address the critical natural resource and conservation questions that must be answered to properly manage tropical forests and watersheds for a variety of objectives including restoration, preservation, and utilization. The experimental forest will provide a land base for conducting relevant natural resource related research -- both biological and physical in nature. Studies related to management of forest, natural areas, wildlife, streams, and watersheds, as well as fire, silviculture, soil ecology, invasive species, and global change will be encouraged. Landscape-scale and longterm studies critical to developing an indepth understanding of tropical forests will be established in the experimental forest, with the recognition that we cannot yet identify all the critical issues Hawaii will face 25, 50, or 100 years from now.

Learn more about the experimental forest as the Institute adds to its HETF web pages. Visit our Station's Experimental Forest's area to read an overview of the HETF.

RESEARCH EMPHASIS AREAS and TEAMS

The Institutes's work is conducted by a unique structure of teams that include both scientists funded by Forest Service research and professionals funded through State and Private Forestry and International Forestry.

We are organized into four interrelated teams: Restoration, Invasive Species, Wetlands, and Forest Management Services. The primary goal of the first three teams is research development and applications; the orientation of the Forest Managment Services Team is delivery of technical assistance through the provision of applicable research findings to resource managers and the interested public of the Pacific.

Invasive Species: Invasive exotic species are a major threat to Pacific Island forests. In Hawaii , almost 1100 exotic plants have naturalized during the last 200 years. Of these, more than 100 pose significant threats to native ecosystems and species, altering ecosystems processes such as regeneration, nutrient availability, water supply, fire regimes and biodiversity. More than half of these species were intentionally introduced to Hawai`i for their potential utility in forestry, horticulture and ranching. The Forest Service's Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry is one of the few federal laboratories whose mission includes research and control of invasive plants in native ecosystems.

Restoration of Ecosystem Processes: The research team is determining how to put tropical forests back on lands that were cleared for agriculture that were unsustainable. Such forests have immense conservation and economic value, serving as habitat for Hawaii's record-high numbers of threatened and endangered species as well as offering a mix of harvestable (e.g., wood, water, game animals) and non-consumable (e.g., ecotourism, recreation, esthetic) products of great economic importance to the State.

Forested Wetlands on Pacific Islands: The Institute's Wetlands Team conducts research on basic ecological processes in mangrove forests and freshwater swamps. Efforts are underway to incorporate the process of adaptive management into sustainable natural resource management in developing countries.

Research is based primarily on the island of Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, where mangrove forests (shown in green on the right) account for 15% of the land area. Freshwater swamps just inland from the mangroves probably account for another 15%. Approximately 8,000 people live on this 100-sq km island, primarily on the coastal plain behind the mangroves.

Forest Management Services: In addition to research, the Station hosts a Forest Management Services team at the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. The team assists island forest management agencies, community groups and non-industrial private forest landowners with sustainable management of forest resources by providing expertise in applying the results of research and developing policy options. The team provides staff training and technical assistance to island foresters, and leadership and education support for leaders and citizens in forest conservation. Team members are funded by the State and Private Forestry and International Forestry programs.

Internship Program

The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry offers summer internships to undergraduates interested in forests and related natural resource issues, whether their majors and career plans are in forestry or other fields. Internships differ from summer jobs in that student projects focus on a particular research, management or education topic. A high level of initiative and independence is required from the student, and supervisors are committed to mentoring the student and encouraging his or her professional development. Learn more about the program on our Job Opportunities page.