“Albizia trees are a major cause of electric service disruptions on the Island of Hawaii. This invasive plant forces us to spend a disproportionate amount of time, energy and resources to address issues created by this plant. For example, although Albizia trees comprise less than 4% of the trees located near HELCO power lines and substations, they are the majority cause of tree related service outages for our company, and in 2012 affected thousands of our customers.

We hope that one of the results of this resolution will be increased public awareness of the Albizia tree problem and lead to better education on how to deal with stopping the proliferation of this invasive plant.”

“This invasive species not only poses a threat to native forests but poses a risk to the health and safety of residents and motorists of Hawaii Island. Stands of these very large, weak, and vulnerable trees can be found along primar/roadways and throughout many residential subdivisions. It is not uncommon for these trees to break under mild to moderate wind and rain conditions and to have large limbs and even whole trees fall across roadways and damage utilities.”

“Although we have another serious invasive specie prolem with fire ants here in Puna, we also have been plagued for years with albizia. Perhaps in solving the problem by eradicating the albizia, we can look at ways of using it. Albizia is a nitrogen fixing plant. It is soft, light wood which can be easily chipped and composted to provide these soil-less lands with much needed organic mulch and compost. The wood of the dark albizia is beautiful and could be used as wood for furniture. The lighter albizia can replace any use of balsa wood. Maybe we could “fell two trees with one axe.”

“… in 2011 HISC resolved to formally designate Albizia as an “invasive species” once an administrative rule process for such a designation is in place. HISC staff have been working on a draft of these rules and in 2013 are anticipating the recruitment of additional capacity and expertise in a partner agency that would facilitate the completion of draft rules for approval. This designation would provide the authority for State department staff to enter private
property for the purpose of control (pursuant to Section 194-6, Hawai’i Revised Statutes), but efficacy of control efforts would still depend on state capacity and funding for control.

With regard to planning, HISC does not currently have the in-house capacity to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for control or eradication (current staff include one coordinator and one communications staff). However, HISC is currently engaged in active recruitment for new staff in 2013 with planning expertise to assist in: 1) The development of a five-year Strategic Plan for the HISC, as the current Strategic Plan expires in 2013, and, 2) The facilitation of species-specific management plans. Albizia could be one of the species targeted for management planning, though it is important to note that with limited resources, a heavy focus on Albizia would come at the expense of focusing on other species that may provide more urgent threats, such as Little Fire Ant (Wasmannia auropunctata), miconia (Miconia calvescens), vectors of human disease such as mosquitoes capable of transmitting yellow fever (e.g., Aedes aegypti), or axis deer (Axis axis).”