‘Ohia Challenge’ offers $75,000 to help save trees

Conservationists have issued a challenge to the public: Help us find a solution to rapid ohia death, the fungal blight that is decimating hundreds of thousands of ohia lehua trees in Hawaii, and win at least $75,000.

“When invasive species reach our shores, they care little for whether the lands are federal, state, local, or private,” said Scott J. Cameron, U.S. Department of the Interior principal deputy assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, in a news release. “Cooperation and innovation are needed when confronting the issue of invasive species and the Ohia Challenge is a step forward in addressing that need. We must be good neighbors and seek ways to solve this problem together.”

The “Saving the Ohia — Hawaii’s Sacred Tree” challenge, launched by the U.S. Department of the Interior in partnership with Conservation X Labs in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, invites the global science, entrepreneurship and technology communities to submit ideas for tackling rapid ohia death. There is currently no cure for infected trees.

Participants are encouraged to come up with novel ways to identify infected trees earlier, minimize the spread of the fungi and prevent the infection of new trees. The ultimate goal is to develop a treatment for infected trees and to eliminate the pathogens that cause the blight.

The Department of the Interior has provided a starting seed purse of $75,000, according to Kimo Kaloi, director of the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations. Conservation X Labs is seeking additional sponsors and partners to increase the purse as well as to help promote the challenge among other communities.

Two invasive fungi — Ceratocystis huliohia and Ceratocystis lukuohia — are responsible for rapid ohia death.

Since 2014 the fungi have infected thousands of acres of forest and, if unstopped, could irreversibly change Hawaii’s ecosystems and culture. It had been detected only on Hawaii island but was found for the first time on another isle — in the Moloaa Forest Reserve on Kauai — in May.

Conservation X Labs hosts what it calls the Digital Makerspace, a platform for various communities to create solutions to conservation problems.

“Our goal is to use the best of human ingenuity to identify technological solutions that can save part of Hawaii’s beauty,” said Alex Dehgan, CEO of Conservation X Labs, in a news release. “This is why we look to engage innovative thinkers within other advanced technology fields through this challenge prize. We don’t have to accept ohia’s extinction.”

Current detection methods for infected trees are labor-intensive, requiring sample collection from rugged terrain and lab analyses. The only known visual cue of an infection is when a tree’s leaves suddenly turn brown, but by then it’s too late to save it.

By creating the challenge, organizers hope to find novel solutions.

“It reaches a lot of different people that might now necessarily be in the normal mix of folks who are looking at an issue with a fungus or fungi,” said Kaloi. “So we’re looking for different innovations. … Everyone recognizes that this is a game-changing type of problem, where you lose these ohia trees and we lose not just the plant, but part of our history, part of our culture.”

The ohia lehua, or polymorpha, is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the myrtle family central to Hawaiian culture. It is also considered the keystone native tree species because it provides shelter and food for native birds and insects while helping to replenish island aquifers.

One version of Hawaiian legend tells the love story of a warrior named Ohia, who fell in love with a young woman named Lehua. The goddess Pele got jealous and turned Ohia into a twisted tree. Lehua was transformed into the tree’s flower. If you pluck the blossoms of an ohia tree, legend says the lovers’ tears fill the sky with rain as they are separated again.

Ceratocystis huliohia causes a canker disease beneath the bark and spreads slowly through the tree, killing off localized areas of water-conducting tissue. Ceratocystis luku­ohia, which is more aggressive, chokes off the water supply to the tree quickly, causing the entire crown to go brown.

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge and the National Invasive Species Council (NISC) Secretariat are also working with Conservation X Labs. More details, including deadlines, will be revealed in coming weeks.