Stop the Little Fire Ant

September is little fire ant month at the Kaneohe Public Library.

The library is one of nine on Oahu where residents can pick up fire ant test kits and drop off samples of dead ants for identification by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. The library is at 45-829 Kamehameha Highway, next to the Kaneohe Police Station.

The library program is part of a month-long campaign called Spot the Ant, Stop the Ant. It’s designed to raise awareness of the ant problem among residents and to turn them into ant detectives.

Little fire ants are considered a major threat to the state. Their stings are painful, they are aggressive invaders and they can damage farm produce. The ants were discovered in our state in 1999 and on our island in 2013.

Agriculture officials spent a year treating known infestations and say the ants are currently either eradicated or at undetectable levels on Oahu. However, ants can continue to reach the island on shipments from infested areas.

More information is available at the library and online. 

Coqui frog on Windward Oahu

"WAIMANALO (HawaiiNewsNow) - The coqui frog is tiny and tenacious. Its call in the wild has been heard all over Oahu.

"There are a few sites on Oahu where they're currently established. We're working on that. I think there are three in Waimanalo and one in Hawaii Kai," Neil Reimer said.

He runs the state's Plant and Pest Control Branch. He said between June 2010 and June 2011, inspectors located and eradicated coqui in 70 different areas of the island."

Hear a coqui, call 832-0578

Oahu Democrats passed a resolution pointing out that keeping invasive species out of Hawaii is vital and recommending that  the Plant and Pest Control Branch be fully funded.  They provide a vital service that protects public health, Hawaii agriculture and native forests.  This is a vital service that cannot be subject to the vagarious funding.

Brown tree snake hunted at MCBH Kaneohe

State search teams were hunting last night for a snake spotted early Wednesday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe that fits the description of the brown tree snake. A base resident reported seeing a 2-foot, greenish-brown snake at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Search crews have set up traps with mice and combed the area, but a snake has not yet been found. See, "Snake reported" for full story.




What can be done to stop the spread of invasive species?