ROD Seed Banking Initiative

Kalehua Consulting has become a collaborator in the ʻŌhiʻa Disease Resistance Program! We are using seeds from collections made through the ROD Seed Banking Initiative for research on resistance to ROD, so that our future forests can be full of healthy ʻōhiʻa trees. Mahalo for your support!

Through the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Seed Banking Initiative, the Hawaiʻi Seed Bank Partnership is expanding capacity for collection and banking of ʻōhiʻa seeds across all islands in response to the ROD crisis, for future restoration.

As of 2022, Hawaiʻi Seed Bank Partnership facilities have banked collections from over 1600 trees, bringing the total across all islands to >40 million seeds! These represent 13 of the 14 types of ʻōhiʻa, and come from 51 of the 55 seed zones. Since 2017, we’ve held 40 workshops on 5 islands + virtual/hybrid and trained >800 people how to collect ʻōhiʻa seeds.

Read more about ʻōhiʻa seed protocols, goals, and different types of ʻōhiʻa at Laukahi.org.

Community Involvement in ʻŌhiʻa Seed Conservation

In 2016, thanks to #OhiaLove Campaign donors, the Hawaiʻi Seed Bank Partnership (HSBP) developed seed collection protocols and a statewide collection strategy for ʻōhiʻa, and we began targeted seed collections. Since then, we’ve been expanding our efforts and scaling up collection – with your help! We do this by offering ʻŌhiʻa Seed Conservation Workshops, free of charge and open to the local community. These provide training on how to properly collect, handle, and process ʻōhiʻa seeds, without doing harm to trees or forests, using methods that protect seed viability and ensure conservation value for future restoration. We invite you to learn more about the workshops and join our efforts!

Need a refresher on ROD and what you can do to keep ʻōhiʻa forests safe when you visit them? Check out this video, and visit rapidohiadeath.org for lots more resources.

For questions about the ROD Seed Banking Initiative, email Marian Chau.

ROD Seed Banking Initiative partner FACILITIES include:

Hawaiʻi Island Seed Bank (Kona)
Lyon Arboretum (Oʻahu)
Army Natural Resources Program (Oʻahu)
National Tropical Botanical Garden (Kauaʻi)
Kauaʻi Division of Forestry and Wildlife (Kauaʻi)
Maui Nui Botanical Gardens (Maui)
Ulu Lehulehu Project at Institute for Pacific Islands Forestry (Hilo)