Kimeona Kane called the Department of Agriculture’s Plant Pest Control Branch as soon as he suspected a native plant he purchased was infested with little fire ants.
As soon as the DOA employee asked where Kane purchased the plant in Windward Oahu, “he immediately told me: ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got LFA,’” Kane said. “That’s what got me really going,” he said. “One, that the Department of Ag knew, and two, the place that sold it to me knew.”
Kane is chair of the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board, and people in the community are worried about the proliferation of the ants. They are concerned LFA will overrun the community, upturn local farm production, and alter the community’s relationship with the land.
Kane discovered that the state agricultural agency has little power to do anything about that nursery or several others in Hawaii that knowingly or unknowingly sell plant materials infested with invasive species.
Read more at civilbeat.org