News & Events

The 3rd Annual ʻŌhiʻa Love Fest will be in Hilo on Hawai‘i Island on Sunday, August 25th, 2019 from 9 am to 4 pm at ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. The free festival celebrates ʻŌhiʻa trees and promoting awareness about Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death.

The first-ever ROD Science Symposium was held in May 2019 at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai‘i on the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo campus. The symposium brought together top scientists and managers for two days of scientific presentations followed by a half-day workshop with the goal of identifying the next steps in combating the fungal disease that is killing ʻōhiʻa trees on Hawai‘i Island.

The annual advisory committee meeting of the Tropical HTIRC was held January 28-29, 2019 at the USDA Forest Service Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo, Hawai‘i. The meeting brought together scientists and managers for a day of scientific presentations in Hilo addressing issues in restoration of native Hawai‘i forest species including koa, ʻōhiʻa and sandalwood.

The Tropical Hardwood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center (TropHTIRC) is hosting the "Acacia koa in Hawaii: Facing the Future" Symposium 2016. The focus of the symposium is to convey the current state of scientific knowledge in management and ecology of koa with purpose of informing present and future management under a changing environment. This event will feature recent scientific and management advancement of koa.

Twenty-year old koa trees grown at HARC Maunawili on Oahu (400 ft. elevation) were harvested and sent to a large tone-wood timber buyer in Washington State.

In 2014, Bob Masuda and others organized the first TropHTIRC retreat for the Steering Committee and collaborators. The purpose of the retreat was to spend time together to discuss our progress so far and strategize for the future.

TropHTIRC was well-represented at the 2014 Hawaii Conservation Conference (HCC). TropHTIRC coordinator, Faith Inman-Narahari, organized a special forum to discuss forest restoration with koa.

Recent land use changes have led to opportunities to reforest large areas of degraded land with koa. There is now a large demand for improved koa seeds and seedlings that can grow well in a variety of environmental conditions.

Recognized experts will lead short presentations to stimulate discussion on different topics related to koa restoration and conservation.

We're proud to announce that the 376-page Tropical Nursery Manual has been published and is available free online.

J. B. Friday, extension forester with the University of Hawaii Manoa Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management and Cooperative Extension Service, recently held the second annual Forest Stewards program in Volcano.

Over 110 participants attended the "Growing Koa in Hawaii Nei" Symposium on November 16th, 2013, and over 40 of these landowners, foresters, students and others interested in growing koa participated in the tour of Keauhou Ranch the following day.