HISC: Don't Plant a Pest

"Don't Plant a Pest"

eNews

May 29, 2007

Featured Update

Bishop Square, Honolulu

Photo by Aaron Akau, ASLA

The American Society of Landscape Architects Hawaii Chapter is developing a recommended list of potentially invasive plants to avoid using within the industry.

The ASLA Executive Committee has determined three basic approaches to best address the invasive plant issue:

· Develop a more proactive approach

· Use more caution in choosing plants

· Continue to use plants that have more benefit than risk

The committee reviewed only the plants on the

Weed Risk Assessments (WRA) list that are predicted to be invasive, focusing only on the benefits, since the WRA has determined the risk.

WRA is an ongoing process by the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife Kaulunani Urban Forestry Program, with a grant from the U.S. Forest Service, to list plant species that are predicted to be invasive.

An initial review of each plant was conducted by ASLA with six possible determinations:

1. Do Not Plant

2. Continue to Plant

3. Plant but refrain from using near sensitive environs

4. Obtain industry input and consensus

5. Do not plant if equal alternative is propagated

6. Request additional information

"We have ethics codes in our different industries, such as not introducing invasive species that might cause problems to the ecosystem," said Christopher Dacus, landscape architect with the state Department of Transportation, Highways Division Design Branch. "How do we at ASLA take this and provide questions of planting with more black-and-white answers: Should you use it? Should you not use it? Should you seek an alternative or should you use it only in certain locations? This can be seen as building on what Christy Martin and the Codes of Conduct have been doing, looking at about 20 plants," Dacus said. "But, this is looking at more than 150 plants, all the ones identified as potentially invasive by the WRA. We looked at the whole list as a survey. It's a way of building on the Codes of Conduct and getting more of the industry involved."

MALP signs on to

Codes of Conduct

The Maui Association of Landscape Professionals (MALP) has signed on to the Codes of Conduct Project, a self-regulating process adopted by members of the green industry to help protect the environment from new invasive plant species. The Oahu Nursery Growers Association (ONGA) and the Kauai Landscape Industry Council (KLIC) have also pledged to abide by the Codes of Conduct.

Codes of Conduct goals (in brief):

Have plants screened for their potential to be invasive in Hawaii before they are introduced.
Agree on a short list of plants to phase out and discontinue.
Educate the public about the issue and promote non-invasive ornamentals or native plants.

Copies of the Codes of Conduct are available on the Landscape Industry of Hawaii website.

For more information contact Christy Martin, Public Information Officer for the statewide Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species (CGAPS) and the Invasive Species Committees of Hawaii (ISCs), statewide and island-based partnerships working to protect Hawaii from invasive species, at (808) 722-0995.

Aloha!

The Hawaii Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) was developed to predict which plants would become invasive if they were introduced to Hawaii. As defined by Executive Order 13112, an invasive species is an alien (non-native) species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Because the initial testing of the WRA used species already growing in Hawaii, a second layer of information for screened plants uses published or verifiable accounts of whether a plant is invading high-value forest and agricultural areas.

More than 600 plants have been screened so far, making it the most comprehensive science-based list available. Plant industry associations like the ASLA, ONGA, KLIC, and most recently MALP, are taking the next step in using the WRA information to prevent the introduction of new invasive plants into Hawaii, and stem the further spread of some invasive ornamentals. Their efforts will change the landscape and protect it for generations to come.