Teaching Change
Ohia forest in Laupahoehoe Natural Area Reserve
Laupahoehoe Natural Area Reserve
Dead ohia in Laupahoehoe Natural Area Reserve

The Citizen Science for Hawaiian Forest Data is a recently developed, innovative program with the goal to empower high school students to engage in citizen science to protect ʻōhiʻa trees (Metrosideros polymorpha) from Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death (ROD) on Hawaiʻi Island. This program will be launched in Fall 2020 in collaboration with the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station and Laupāhoehoe Community Public Charter School (LCPCS). High School students at LCPCS will help the Forest Service screen for resistance to ROD, a disease caused by fungal pathogens affecting one of Hawaii’s most important keystone tree species, ʻōhiʻa. This program was funded in December 2019 by the USDA Forest Service’s Citizen Science Competitive Funding Program.

Course Details

Grade Level
9th - 12th
Student Capacity
4 High School Science Classes
Duration
1 Year, Multiple Classroom & Field Visits
Chaparones
2
Food
BYO Brown Bag Lunch
Transportation
4x4 | Provided

location

Laupāhoehoe Wet Forest

LCPCS students will lead data collection of the phenology of ʻōhiʻa on their campus and propagate ʻōhiʻa to provide seedlings for ROD resistance screening. Seedlings who come back testing positive for ability to resist ROD will be planted at Kupuaʻe, the ʻōhiʻa garden at Kahikina Learning Center, one of the Hawaiʻi Experimental Tropical Forests managed by the Forest Service in Laupāhoehoe.

Laupahoehoe map

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