ʻŌHIʻA LEHUA - Fungus Threatens Our Forests In Hawaii
Please check out these 2 videos - that document the challenges of our Hawaii Forests.
Saving Ohia: Protecting Native Forests - 9 minutes - 2025 released
Saving Ohia: Hawaii's Sacred Tree - 28 minutes - Full Documentary - 2019 released
Above: Pūʻā Foundation Board Director, Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi planting ROD Resistant Ohia - it has been hailed as the beginnings for seed trials & to plant orchards - which is planned for over 2000 acres of Ohia forest to mālama that Pūʻā stewards.
🌳❤️ Pūʻā Foundation made history this spring by planting ROD-resistant ʻōhiʻa lehua—protecting Hawaiʻi’s sacred forests and creating a future of resilience and healing for our people and our ʻāina.
Against the backdrop - as shown in documentaries, in April 2025, Pūʻā Foundation became the first Native Hawaiian community-based nonprofit permitted to plant ROD-resistant ʻōhiʻa lehua trees, marking a historic step in protecting Hawaiʻi’s forests and cultural heritage. Pūʻā planted seedlings developed through five years of research to identify trees that can withstand the fungus devastating native forests. The planting took place at Pūʻā’s 1.3-acre agricultural parcel in the ahupuaʻa of Punahoa II, which is being developed into a Biocultural Diversity Learning and Wellness Campus with a seed bank, greenhouse, care farm, and cultural activity center. Together with the 2,000 acres of ʻōhiʻa and koa-ʻōhiʻa forests already under Pūʻā’s stewardship, this effort weaves science, ancestral knowledge, and healing practice to mālama ʻāina and mālama kanaka—planting not only trees, but seeds of hope and resilience for generations to come.