One of Makua's most endangered plants, haha (Cyanea superba spp. superba), was almost lost forever. In 1998, less than ten of these lobelias remained on the planet.

Rats climbed their tall stems and devoured their fruit. If any fruits made it to the soil to sprout, slugs mowed down the tiny seedlings. The few remaining plants were rapidly aging and unable to successfully produce new plants.

Due to this alarming trend, the Oahu Army Natural Resources Program (OANRP) staff, in cooperation with local botanists, set out to save these haha from extinction. Seeds were collected and grown until they developed into healthy 3-foot tall plants - a process that takes up to three years.

The OANRP staff planted the young haha back into the gulches of Makua Valley's upper forest, marking the nation's first endangered plant re-introduction onto Department of Defense land. Staff increased rat control efforts, and researched the use of an organic bait to control slugs around these plants.

These efforts continue to this day, and more than 100 haha now thrive in Makua's gulches. Their future remains delicate, but the hand-planted haha are now successfully producing new seedlings, giving hope to a species that truly experienced the brink of extinction.

Hawaii is home to only a single type of native palm: loulu, a kind of fan-palm known scientifically as Pritchardia. Loulu in Makua Valley belong to the endangered species Pritchardia kaalae.

Only 74 mature loulu were known in Makua Valley in the mid-1990s, and none of them were producing new plants. Rats climbed the loulu's tall trunks and devoured their fruit, destroying the seeds within.

The OANRP staff began controlling rats around these plants, but other predators were also at work. Goats, common in Makua at that time, were constantly grazing young plants and seedlings. With the help of a fence constructed by the U.S. Army along nearly the entire perimeter of the Valley, goats were successfully excluded from Mäkua in 2004.

Today, old and new plants flourish due to this combined rat and goat control. Seedlings carpet the southern ridge of Makua, and nearly 1,000 young loulu are thriving. The original 74 mature loulu still remain, joined by additional plants reintroduced by the OANRP staff. These loulu are able to produce flowers, fruit and seeds - the makings of future generations.

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