Aerial surveys of Hawaii Island forests show rapid ohia death continuing to spread, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Aerial surveys of Hawaii Island forests show rapid ohia death continuing to spread, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
The department said in a press release Monday that the area affected by the fungal infection has increased 50 percent since the previous survey in July 2016.
“Rapid ohia death continues to spread at an alarming speed,” DLNR survey forester Philipp LaHeala Walter said in a written statement. “It appears the original outbreaks are increasing in size and the disease is moving north along the Hamakua coast of Hawaii Island.”
Surveyors assessed more than 82 percent of the state’s ohia forest. The disease was not found on other islands.
On Hawaii Island, an additional 26,000 acres of forest had ohia trees with brown or no leaves, a sign of rapid ohia death. That’s on top of the 48,000 acres seen last July.