HILO — Hawaii County is ramping up awareness next month about the threat of little fire ants.
Mayor Harry Kim is slated to sign a proclamation today declaring October as “Stop the Ant Month.” The campaign, which will include radio spots and advertising through island media, is part of a statewide effort to spread awareness about little fire ants, which have been confirmed in every district on Hawaii Island and are one of the island’s biggest pest problems.
“We’re hoping to saturate the market this year,” said West Hawaii resident Carolyn Dillon, founder of the citizen-led advocacy group Little Fire Ant Hui, one of several groups attending the signing ceremony. “We’re really at a tipping point … (little fire ants) are spreading to West Hawaii terribly and people are still thinking it’s just a Hilo problem. We want to control this and arrest the spread.”
The county distributed 1,742 coupon vouchers to residents last year for little fire ant treatment. The vouchers were part of a grant-funded program aimed at combating the little fire ant population by increasing access to treatments. About 75 percent of vouchers were redeemed, according to the county Department of Research and Development.
There are currently 29 neighborhoods islandwide working on year-long treatment plans to eradicate the ants from localized areas. Early results from about a dozen of those neighborhoods appear promising.
Big Island Invasive Species Committee spokeswoman Franny Brewer said many reported “really significant decreases in ants” and some residents are “putting out sticks” and getting “only half” the original number of ants and “not nearly the density.”
Brewer said experts are worried about “more populations popping up on the west side.” She said outbreaks have been reported “in North Kohala all the way down to Captain Cook and in places people haven’t been looking.”
She said the campaign is encouraging residents to survey their property early — ants can be present six months to a year before a noticeable population is detected and most places on the island are not yet “completely infested.”
“So there’s still a chance we can contain and control this problem,” Brewer said. “… But what worries me, I think, is people just not engaging with the problem. If that continues to happen and we have people who are not acting and taking advantage of available resources, it could potentially be a threat to our natural areas and agriculture. Right now, it’s not about the ants, it’s about the humans. Are the people going to help us with this problem? It’s a Big Island problem and we have to deal with it.”
State Rep. Richard Onishi, D-Hilo, Keaau, Kurtistown, Volcano, introduced a measure during the 2017 Legislature which would have created a pilot pesticide treatment program within the state Department of Agriculture. The bill did not pass.
Onishi told the Tribune-Herald on Thursday he was awaiting more information about success of the county voucher program before considering introducing a new measure during the 2018 Legislature.
More information about the statewide campaign can be found at StopTheAnt.org.