HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – So-called “bad actors” linked to little fire ant investigations were recently outed in a state Senate hearing.
Lawmakers were frustrated the Department of Agriculture won’t name names after an infestation temporarily shut down the plant sale at the Punahou Carnival in February.
There were seven businesses that donated plants to the Punahou Carnival Plant Sale.
The state says after the sale was temporarily shut down because of little fire ants, all the businesses worked with the Agriculture Department — except one.
During a hearing last week, senators were frustrated that the agency wouldn’t name what businesses are suspected of moving plants with little fire ants.
So state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole named names instead.
“The other one is Pua Lani Landscaping. That’s the other one, right? We talked about a landscaping company. That’s the Punahou one that you are that you are not able to gain cooperation with at this point,” Keohokalole asked during the hearing.
“Unresponsive,” replied Sharon Hurd, director of the state Department of Agriculture.
“Uncooperative, unresponsive. OKAY. So how hard was that? When you have an uncooperative actor,” asked Keohokalole.
“We have ants that were found to be infesting material from seven nurseries. Are we able to concretely time those plants definitively to any particular location? No,” said Darcy Oishi, acting manager of the Agriculture Department’s Plant Pest Control Branch.
Hawaii News Now then learned after Thursday’s meeting that the department was able to make contact with the landscaping business.
Pua Lani Landscape Design told Hawaii News Now it was being wrongly blamed.
“We are not hiding anything and we are not trying to spread anything,” said Matt Culver, son of Pua Lani Landscape Design President Greg Culver.
The company added in an email there were no infested plants from its nursery.
“The Hawaii State Department of Agriculture has recently named Pua Lani in public hearings, using our company as a scapegoat to distract from their inability to manage LFA on a statewide basis,” Greg Culver wrote, in the statement.
Kimeona Kane, Waimanalo Neighborhood Board chair, has been pushing the state to get more aggressive and name “bad actors.”
“The public knows that you folks are linked and that you folks haven’t necessarily been responding,” Kane said.
“Can it be detrimental? Absolutely. But I think in this particular circumstance, I think the more the public has awareness of circumstances like these, we have an opportunity to now hold accountability differently,” he added.
During the meeting, Koba’s Nursery in Waiamanalo was also mentioned.
Those at the farm told HNN they did not donate to Punahou Carnival’s plant sale this year.
The nursery also released a statement:
“At our last inspection in early 2024, a small, secluded area was found with a colony. We immediately treated it and have been monitoring that space and others around our nursery for little fire ants. “We have not found any infestations since then, and we are confident that the plants we have sold to our customers have not been infected.”
The state Agriculture Department also mentioned during the hearing that fire ants were found at Kamehameha’s Hoolaulea and cut flowers at Iolani School.
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