{"id":213100,"date":"2025-04-01T16:28:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T02:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=213100"},"modified":"2025-04-02T14:26:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T00:26:00","slug":"ohia-love-grows-ctahr-hilo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/01\/ohia-love-grows-ctahr-hilo\/","title":{"rendered":"\u02bb\u014chi\u02bba love grows at ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> CTAHR<\/abbr> event in Hilo"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Ohia
A healthy ʻōhiʻa tree with blossoms (Photo credit: Alan L.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than 1,300 people gathered in Hilo to celebrate and protect one of Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s most treasured trees—the ʻōhiʻa<\/span> lehua.<\/p>\n

\"People
Participants make fabric prints with lehua stamps<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
\"Two
Diagnostician Gabriela Benito and entomologist Pascal Albedion-Atalor from CTAHR<\/abbr> host a booth<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

Held at the Komohana Research and Extension Center in January, the ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Love Fest blended science, culture and community action. The event is a partnership between the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>), the East Hawaiʻi<\/span> Master Gardeners, and the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Death (ROD) Extension Program.<\/p>\n

Hands-on learning<\/h2>\n

ROD experts provided vital updates on the devastating disease that has killed more than a million ʻōhiʻa<\/span> on Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island alone.<\/p>\n

Participants of all ages were immersed in activities, learning practical ways to protect ʻōhiʻa<\/span> through seed planting, sustainable gardening and art.<\/p>\n

“A special mahalo to all the volunteers who facilitated the logistics with aloha and the many exhibitors and speakers. The 4-H keiki were also so proud to share about their experiences and professionally provided details with confidence beyond their years,” said Bruce Mathews, CTAHR<\/abbr>\u2019s Hawaiʻi<\/span> County administrator.<\/p>\n

Backyard conservation<\/h2>\n

Native garden tours and moʻolelo<\/span> (stories) offered a deeper understanding of the tree\u2019s role in Hawaiian culture.The East Hawaiʻi<\/span> Master Gardeners sold ʻōhiʻa<\/span> and other native plants with the hope of turning backyards into spaces of conservation.<\/p>\n

“What a great day!” said master gardener member Laura Rieber. “By partnering with ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Love Fest, we turned our little plant sale into a community event.”<\/p>\n

For more on the fight against Rapid ʻŌhiʻa<\/span> Death go to CTAHR<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 1,300 people gathered in Hilo to celebrate and protect one of Hawaiʻi<\/span>\u2019s most treasured trees—the ʻōhiʻa<\/span> lehua.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[212,665,1314,1018,73,9],"class_list":["post-213100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-conservation","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-rapid-ohia-death","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213100"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213166,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100\/revisions\/213166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}