Question: I saw a television report last week about the state pulling out bromeliads from planter boxes on the freeway by Honolulu Airport because of concerns about mosquitoes. Who determined what plants to use, because it’s obviously not someone who knows anything about plants. When I first saw them putting in the bromeliads, my first thought was that they are a perfect breeding spot for mosquitoes. The city/state needs to hire people with knowledge of plants, or the results will be costly.
Question: I saw workers removing the bromeliads at the freeway near the airport. What is the fate of those plants? Could I get some?
Answer: The bromeliads, planted by the Department of Transportation along the H-1 Viaduct near Honolulu Airport in February 2012 as part of a $319,000 beautification project, were pulled because of concerns they would lead to the spread of dengue-transmitting mosquitos.
The state Department of Health requested the bromeliads be removed after the Aedes aegypti species of mosquito was found in traps set at the airport on five occasions since March 2012, said spokeswoman Janice Okubo.
“The mosquito is of public health concern because of its ability to rapidly spread dengue and yellow fevers,” she said. “The department was concerned about mosquitoes breeding in the bromeliads and migrating over to the neighboring homes, where they could flourish.”
Most bromeliads are shaped in a way that allows them to store water.
The decision to plant the bromeliad, Aechmea blanchetiana, was made after consulting with various horticulturists and nursery owners across the state, said DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter. “It was recommended for its low maintenance requirement, no supplemental water requirement and its ability to thrive in cinder.”
The Aedes aegypti mosquito was first discovered at the airport in March 2012, after the bromeliads were planted.
“Before February of last year, this type of mosquito had not been found on Oahu since World War II,” Sluyter said.
Since then the DOT has been implementing Health Department recommendations to cut back plants and trees at the airport and to reduce or eliminate standing water where mosquitoes might breed, she said.
It cost $12,000 to remove the $58,000 worth of bromeliads. Removal was completed Friday. The rest of the $319,000 spent on the project covered planters, irrigation, soil, etc., which can be reused, Sluyter said.
There is no funding to immediately replace the bromeliads. A decision hasn’t been made as to whether another type of plant, a rock garden or something else to help beautify the area without adding a lot of maintenance cost will fill the now vacant planters.
The DOT is checking with other government agencies to see if they would like to take the plants, but so far there have not been any takers.
State Procurement Office inventory rules prohibit donating them to any private entity or person, Sluyter said.
Dengue Danger
Okubo explained that the Health Department has laid traps in which mosquitoes lay their eggs around Honolulu Airport since March 2012.
The eggs are collected and grown into adult mosquitoes, then examined to identify their species.
Most recently, 31 live eggs were collected the week of June 24-July 1, with “a handful of those eggs” growing into the Aedes aegypti species, Okubo said. “The process is continuing, so complete counts are not yet available.”
The species has been found in other parts of the state.
“We know the A. aegypti species exists in pockets on Hawaii island in forested areas,” Okubo said. “So the possibility of it migrating to other islands has always existed.”
She said the A. aegypti mosquito tends to travel within a 200-meter radius, “so the area near the (airport) viaduct could act as a natural barrier with the traffic flow” — minus the bromeliads.
For now, because of budget cuts, the department’s focus is on mosquito surveillance and control at Honolulu Airport.
Okubo noted that during the 2009 budget reductions, the department lost 50 vector control positions.
“The Legislature approved four additional vector control positions this year to increase our mosquito control at points of entry across the state to include airports and harbors,” she said. “However, the program is nowhere near the capacity it once had before 2009.”
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