All News Releases By Date

EPA awards $93,750 to Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources

Release Date: 12/7/2004
Contact Information: Dean Higuchi, (808) 541-2711

Funds to produce wetlands educational materials

HONOLULU -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded $93,750 to the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources to produce a wetland plant field guide.

"The project will provide a educational tool for better understanding wetland ecosystems and identifying wetland plant species in Hawai'i," said Alexis Strauss, the EPA's water division director for the Pacific Southwest region. "We are excited that students in Hawai'i will be using the guide in their efforts to protect and restore native wetland habitats, as these vital areas provide habitat for many important species of plants and animals."

The grant will support the writing, review and production of the Hawai'i Wetland Plant Field Guide, which will be an ecological and identification guide to wetlands and wetland plants of the Hawaiian Islands. The field guide will illustrate the types of wetland plants and identify the native species that will be ideal to use when restoring wetland areas in Hawai'i.

A focus of the guide will be on the lower elevation wetlands because these areas are particularly vulnerable to the impacts associated with urban and rural development and the spread of invasive species.

The guide will be presented at the Hawai'i Wetlands Conference and at the Hawai'i Conservation Conference in 2005. It will also be used as a teaching tool through the Bishop Museum's Summer Conservation Internship Program for Hawaiian students.

Wetlands are valuable ecosystems providing habitat for a wide variety of species and are an important part of Hawai'i's environment. Native wetland areas are vulnerable to environmental changes and the impacts of human activities. The EPA is working with local and state governments, and communities, in the effort to protect wetland areas.

# # #