PLANTING PONO: How local nurseries are preventing the spread

Aloha Nui kākou! 

KISC has partnered with Seaside Nursery to highlight ways to prevent the spread of invasive species in our community. 

KISC participates in a program which focuses on the prevention of the importing and spread of invasive species. The Pono Endorsement Program is a voluntary partnership between nursery and landscaping businesses, Plant Pono, and Kauai Invasive Species Committee (KISC). KISC. By participating in the Pono Endorsement program, our partners are informed about all target invasive species and how to implement best management practices to mitigate them. Our endorsed nursery partners go a step further. They pledge not to carry any plants on our blacklist of species, all of which have the potential to become invasive. Other measures our partner nurseries take to minimize invasive species include:

• Pre-screening all new incoming plants.
• Attempting to source all plants locally or from other Pono Endorsed businesses.
• Surveying and inspecting all incoming material from off-island for Little Fire Ant and Coqui Frog.

Over the years, KISC has endorsed about eight local nurseries and ten landscaping businesses. Are you interested in supporting local Pono businesses? In that case, our complete directory of partners is listed on the KISC website linked below. If you would like to get your business Pono endorsed, email, kisc@hawaii.edu