Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding

[Punatang]

This is much, much bigger than Ohia trees and ROD on F Road in the Acres.

Look downstream in 25 years if this closure lasts. 

Snipped from the article HOTPE originally posted: (I have emphasized a few parts in bold for consideration)

"The Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry has been working on all these issues and more. Closing the station will have enormous ramifications for local communities who depend on that research to protect the islands’ watersheds, prevent wildfires, and conserve the native forests for wildlife and the tourism economy."

Rapid ohia death is just one example of how quickly threats to forests can emerge. First reported in 2010, the disease quickly spread, leaving hundreds of thousands of ohia trees dead in its wake. It was identified as a fungus in 2014, but research into how it spreads and how to protect against it is still ongoing.

“Forest Service research has revealed that it tends to be attacking larger, older trees, which is unfortunate because it means our old growth forests are the areas predominantly hit by this,” said Jonathan Price, a geographer at the University of Hawaii, Hilo. Trees that have been damaged by storms, or by feral pigs, or by beetles boring into the wood, seem to be most susceptible.

Ostertag said researchers are studying the genetic diversity of the fungal pathogen and developing disease-resistant strains of trees—all long-term projects that require specialized laboratories and greenhouse space.

“When you have a watershed made up mostly of a single native tree species and that species starts dying off, this has implications for flooding, it has implications for water resources,” Price added. “I can’t underscore how unique our situation is, and maybe a little bit out of the public view. People come here—they see paradise. They see these beautiful, lush, green forests without realizing they’re almost entirely made of invasive species, or they hear these beautiful birds without realizing that they’re not even native to this area. And there’s this silent extinction crisis going on that may not be evident to the general public.”

I am sure we can all agree that we should "focus on whether there is something to be done about Hilo losing another research facility" but, again, what? Who is going to take this over? Who is going to pay for it? What is the worthwhile goal?

And to my original point, the closures of these research stations is just a minor fallout from the overall intended goal to turn the U.S. Forest Service's focus from environmental conservation towards vastly increasing domestic timber production.

How much longer before they come for the Koa wood? (emphasis Tang)

They you say?  What happens in 25 years???  (clutches pearls).  Buckle up DF, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Folks, geology operates on a slightly different schedule than we temporary occupants of this planet.  On a sufficiently long enough timeline, every species is "invasive".  

Imagine, if we in peak woke Hawaii, with all of our sunshine, Green Governor, and landmark, student activist lawsuits, in 2026, just can not seem to wean ourselves off of burning fossil fuels on ________________ (fill in with your preferred term e.g. "The Mother's", "Gaia's", "Pele's") abyssally ancient turf, then maybe these anthropocentric supremacist terrors you we have over your our desired funding, are simply a rebellion against Pachamamma's reparative population pruning via novel ecosystems.  

When you  we back way out, and come to grips with your  our complete cosmic insignificance, and then factor your our extraordinarily outsize, long-term impact on Mother Earth, then it becomes easy to accept this Gaian biotic reckoning as humankind's due comeuppance.

25 years? How about 250?  2500?  25,000, 250,000, 250,000,000?  No one will remember you any of us in 250 years but the damage you we have caused will linger on.  You  We are the ur-invasive species, so maybe you we have not earned the right to begrudge so called "invasive" allies with your our colonial invasive land ethics. Pachamama's praxis to enact planetary reparations by easing human over-occupation of the biosphere, marches on whether your our tax dollars are employed to resist her, or not.

Perhaps the massive lava fountains from Pele's belly, are her laughter at your our replacement fears, your our delusional human exceptionalism and your our fragile anthropocentric supremacy.  

Extractive anthropos' colonial/xenophobic hate directed at oppressed ecological agents and their biotic resistance for Puna, is a punchline in the comedy of time.  

"Much bigger" indeed.