‘Native’ vs. ‘non-native’ dogma misguides conservation

Our koa forests are under attack!

Swarms of koa moths have invaded more than 30,000 acres of koa forest on Hawaii island. It was recently reported that, for mysterious reasons, the moth is breeding like wildfire, defoliating koa trees throughout the Hilo and Hamakua regions, up to elevations of 3,700 feet.

Forest mortality from the moth can be as high as 35 percent, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

What is being done about this moth attack? Nothing! The moth is "native," so hands off.

That’s right. If you are a native species, you are protected, even if you are a pest.

Apparently, these koa moth attacks have happened before, but never to this extent. In the past, government officials would have sprayed the area to kill the moths. Now, they are watching in shock and horror, and try to argue that the damage may not be as bad as it looks. Wishful thinking as they rationalize why they are doing nothing to stop the destruction of our precious koa forests.

To them, the koa moth is also precious. That’s because it is native and found nowhere else on Earth.

This shows the extent to which our environmental policy has become so protective of native species that it has become anti-environment. The pro-native species agenda is like a religion, and its dogma is that native species deserve protection, period. It doesn’t matter what they are doing to the environment.

Of course, if an introduced moth was attacking the koa, there would be an outcry to protect the trees. Researchers would look for a biocontrol agent against the moth. Insecticide would be sprayed from helicopters to kill the invaders. War would be declared on the moth.

But the koa moth is being protected. It’s native; it can do no wrong.

To the koa trees, of course, it doesn’t matter if the moth is native or not.

A central dogma of current environmental policy is that native ecosystems are balanced and do not need control. On the other hand, all introduced species, this policy holds, are disturbing that balance and must be destroyed.

The assumption is that native ecosystems are perfect. Get rid of the introduced species, and all will be well.

The reality, however, is that through climate change and human activity and species introductions, we now have different ecosystems and conditions than in the past. Changes in temperature, humidity and rainfall may be why the koa moths are at shocking levels that pose a real threat to our koa forests. The ecosystem has changed. Intervention may be required to save our koa.

Then again, maybe this will all blow over, as it has in the past with these moths. Nature does have a way of reaching a balance, whether the species involved were in Hawaii centuries ago or had been introduced in recent times. It would be preferable not to spray poisons into our forests, or release any new insects to control these moths.

We always face the dilemma of knowing when to intervene and when to leave things alone. We can draw on past experience, but current conditions have changed, so we really don’t know if the past will repeat itself.

But it should have nothing to do with whether the species is native or not. A pest is a pest, regardless of where it came from. It is what a species does that makes it a pest, not where it came from. And the koa moth is acting like a serious pest.

Our state’s current conservation policy of killing non-native species, even if they are beneficial, while saving native species, even if they are destructive, is bad for the environment. Hopefully, we won’t have to lose our koa forests before the government realizes that native species can be pests, too.