Just minutes from the Molokaʻi Airport lies a hidden oasis of native plants, or uluwehi, but the star of the show is the uluniu, the coconut grove.

Within the grove is an array of palms huddled in groups of three, standing guard over a variety of native plants between their trunks. The trees were planted three years ago but already stand well overhead.

Artist Ipo Nihipali and her husband Kunani Nihipali, a former Honolulu police officer, built their homestead in Hoʻolehua just over a decade ago. As Hawaiian cultural practitioners, they were approached by members of the group Niu Now about cultivating the uluniu on their land as a seed bank to protect Hawaiian lineages of coconuts.

Molokaʻi is one of the few places in Hawaiʻi that has remained free of the voracious coconut rhinoceros beetle. But now, a looming infestation threatens the very place meant to protect that heritage.

The Nihipalis did not wait to respond to this impending threat. Traveling to Oʻahu for meetings over many months, they filed a petition and secured a victory for their small island. But the temporary fix leaves their future still uncertain.

“The petition wasn’t anything to make anybody pissed off,” Kunani Nihipali said. “If these things are brought in from off island, this island would be devastated.”

Elsewhere in the islands, a war is being waged to save the iconic coconut palm trees.

Twelve years after the first detection of the beetle on Oʻahu, funds and manpower at the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity cannot keep pace with the spread. A swarm of nonprofits, agricultural professionals and private individuals like the Nihipalis are stepping up in their own ways as the predator bores into palm crowns across the islands.  

Responses reflect the severity of the problem, ranging from Maui County, which is trying desperately to keep the pest out, to O‘ahu where its foothold is so strong that the strategy is more about managing a likely permanent presence. Hawaiʻi island is using dogs to sniff out beetles and contain them where they are while Kauaʻi endeavors to better educate the public to in how to spot the species and eliminate it.

Here’s a closer look at how each island is confronting the invasion.

The Friendly Isle

In September, the Nihipalis secured a historic victory in protecting Molokaʻi from the coconut rhinoceros beetle by petitioning the Hawai‘i Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity to block all shipments to the island of potential breeding materials — mulch, green waste, potted plants, gravel — for one year.

The petition came after the detection of beetles on Maui in 2023 and Lānaʻi in 2025, Molokaʻi’s closest neighbors and all part of Maui County. Swift action by Pulama Lānaʻi and groups on Maui took care of the problem, for now. However, the detections have left people on edge, concerned that if one of the islands in Maui County becomes infested it would be hard to stop it from reaching the others.

“It’s not ‘if’, but ‘when,’” said Lissa Strohecker, spokesperson for the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

Kunani Nihipali said he hopes the temporary shipping restrictions might also offer an economic opportunity for Moloka’i: beetle-free mulch for the rest of the state.

Butch Haase, executive director of the Moloka’i Land Trust and member of the island’s invasive species committee, cautions that while the measure is a good step toward protecting the island, there are other pathways for the flying beetle to reach Molokaʻi.

A strong wind could carry them the 8 miles across the ocean channel from Maui. Because of that, Haase said, groups working to prevent invasive beetles from reaching Molokaʻi must remain vigilant.

The Valley Isle

On neighboring Maui, no beetles have been detected since live larvae were found in a Kīhei palm in November 2023. 

Strohecker from the Maui Invasive Species Committee said they searched 26,000 palms in the area for other breeding sites following the detection and did not see any other signs of the beetle.

“We had a close call,” she said.

The committee has not let up in its response, continuing to focus on public outreach because building community networks, Strokecker said, has proven to be the secret to early detection.

Koa Hewahewa, deputy director of Maui County’s relatively new Department of Agriculture, agrees. As a non-regulatory agency that focuses on reducing burdens for agricultural producers, the department ranks green waste management as a top priority. Supported by $200,000 in state grants, the county will soon provide 10-yard and 30-yard rolloff bins that can be shared among neighbors for up to seven days.

Having dodged a beetle infestation once, Maui County has a positive outlook, he said, but also knows to “always be prepared and ready in response.”

The Pineapple Isle

Lānaʻi is owned almost entirely by billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose land management company identified coconut rhinoceros beetle larvae in two shipments of potted plants, in May and June 2025. Further inspection of one of the shipments turned up an adult beetle as well.  

Jonathan Sprague, co-director of conservation at Pūlama Lānaʻi, credited strict inspection practices. Because the island imports most of its goods, the company follows a series of protocols to catch pests such as little fire ants and coqui frogs that are wreaking havoc on other Hawaiian islands. 

“There’s no single process or protocol that is 100% effective at keeping pests off your island,” Sprague said. When you’re moving materials between islands, there’s always a chance you’ll end up with a hitchhiker.   

Sprague likens their approach to an onion, with layers of responses to threats. Items coming in from areas with possible infestations are quarantined in a manner specific to the species of concern. 

The coconut rhinoceros beetles that made it to Lānaʻi arrived in large potted plants, a weak point in inspections by the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. They were found on the island thanks to those protocols. 

“We were kind of as shocked as everybody else to find those CRB,” Sprague said. 

Following the first detection, the entire two 40-foot container shipment of plants was buried in a ditch, an approach endorsed by the state. For the second shipment, they opted to burn the plants, a method known to be more effective. 

Since then Pūlama Lānaʻi has updated its coconut rhinoceros beetle policies, which include not allowing plants in pots over 10 gallons to be shipped to Lānaʻi. Additionally, they do not import plants from areas with active beetle infestations and the potted plants that do come in are submerged in water for 24 hours, which Sprague said kills up to 95% of larvae.

“’It’s a hassle,” he said, “but it’s really kind of the only way to rest easy at night.”

The Big Island

The Big Island Invasive Species Committee is doing what it can to prevent an infestation from spreading from Kona to the windward side of the island. Should the coconut rhinoceros beetle gain a foothold in Hilo, the committee will likely have lost its window to eradicate it from Hawaiʻi island.

Mulch and green waste pile inspection and removal are top priorities. Crews use helicopter surveys to identify mulch piles, followed by on-the-ground inspections by specially trained dogs. Those efforts are accompanied by public education on green waste management and bug identification.

Beetle-damaged trees at the Kona International Airport have been treated with a systemic pesticide to stem the spread. Airports along with marine shipping ports are believed to be the primary points of entry.

Coconut rhinoceros beetle traps that lure beetles with pheromones have also been placed around the island. While the traps do not control beetle populations, they provide vital data on population densities. The rest of the hunt must be done in person.

On an early October morning, an old blue pickup truck from the University of Hawaiʻi pulled into the Honokōhau small boat harbor, followed by a silver Subaru with a sign on the driver side door that read “Working K9 Hawaiʻi Detection Dogs.”

At 7:30 a.m., this was their second stop of the day. The climate in Hawaiʻi limits how long detection dogs can search before overheating and having to stop for the day.

Trained dogs like Manu can be used to detect things people cannot see, but he is currently the only dog trained to hunt the beetles on Hawai‘i island. On this day, Manu had already successfully alerted handler Michelle Reynolds and invasive species field specialist Kawika Duff to larvae in a mulch pile out on Old Airport Road near Kona. However, they determined it was likely a look-a-like, a larval stage of the often mistaken oriental flower beetle.

Harbor Master David Leduc led the team a few minutes down a dirt road to a large pile of palm fronds and tree trunks. Reynolds checked the pile to see if it contained anything that could hurt Manu, such as glass, cactus or thorns.

“Not every spot is perfect for the dog to search,” Reynolds said. “Sometimes we just search manually.” 

Because of the kiawe debris in the pile, Reynolds chose to search by hand. She and Duff began digging. They explained what they were looking for as Leduc watched nearby. 

“I have to admit, I have not been on the beetle watch,” Leduc said. “I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t realize there was a problem so far down here.”

As they dug, Duff and Reynolds looked for signs of wet decaying materials, bore marks in wood and the presence of other invertebrates that could indicate a breeding site. While the leeward side of Hawaiʻi island is usually quite dry, a recent series of storms had provided the moisture needed for beetle breeding. After not finding anything, Duff marked down information about the site in his smartphone on a digital map used by the invasive species committee to keep track of mulch piles that need monitoring.

Leduc led the caravan back down the dirt path, toward the crystal blue water where a little park area offers visitors views of boats traveling in and out of the marina. In the center of the park sat a handful of palm tree stumps. 

Stumps that have begun to rot also provide breeding material for the beetles. This was a good spot for Manu but, after several rounds with no alerts, Reynolds decided that their work there was done. Even though the day was overcast, it was time to stop before Manu overheated.

“When they’re doing that breathing when they’re sniffing, it’s like the breath of fire that you do in yoga,” Reynolds said, “It brings the core temperature up.”

They would be back out the next day to search other sites in the Kona area recently identified by helicopter.

The Garden Isle

Two adult coconut rhinoceros beetles were first found on Kauaʻi in traps near the Līhuʻe Airport in 2023. The pest then spread rapidly throughout the lush island, perhaps hitching rides on agricultural materials like mulch. Today, eradication is considered unlikely.

“It’s like a living nightmare,” said Makana Martin, a Kaua’i resident and coconut grower.

Martin cares for his own grove and provides tree services to his community. Some clients were skeptical at first, accusing him of making up the beetle to charge them more. Others told him they thought trees at the golf course were being killed by a fungus rather than a bug.

Now, he said the damage is so widespread that it’s hard for people to deny the beetle’s presence. It’s become an issue of how to handle it. He feels certain the government is not going to help him.

Martin is taking an approach informed by that of the other countries and what he’s learned through his own professional experience. He has designed a system to manage the infestation that has been pretty successful, but it is labor intensive.

“We’re just doing our own research,” Martin said, “and now we’re in the stage of testing the theory.”

Martin packs the crowns of palm trees with salt and sand. He said the trees themselves have evolved to be salt-resistant due to their proximity to the ocean, but the fine salt particles can suffocate beetles.

Other natural remedies include using Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap and basil oil as a deterrent. Then, nearby, Martin places an inviting trash can full of mulch covered in filament gill netting and a pheromone lure, topped with a UV light. Certain frequencies of UV light have been found to disrupt the flying patterns of the beetles, as Keith Weiser of the University of Hawai‘i CRB Response Team confirmed.

Martin then leaves beetles caught in the trap to attract more beetles to the pile or drowns them in buckets of saltwater, instead of using the insecticides being injected into palms elsewhere in Hawai‘i.

Like Maui, in 2024 Kauaʻi County received $200,000 from the state to address the problem. Much of the grant went to contracting a company to make more accessible materials to educate the public about the issue, which is being worked on now. But improving education isn’t the only hurdle to managing the infestation.

Managing green waste by breaking down large trees or turning mulch piles requires expensive farm equipment that a lot of people cannot afford. The county is also exploring how that material is being disposed of so it doesn’t just pile up somewhere else. 

“We’ve heard that managing (agricultural industry) green waste was just too expensive,” Kunioka-Volz said, “because it ultimately meant that they had to hire heavy equipment to move or flip piles.”

To defray the cost, the county used funds left over from a different grant to share in the cost of green waste management. It teamed up with the nonprofit Mālama Kauaʻi to connect funding with applicants. 

The group’s executive director, Megan Fox, said the grants were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the cubic yards of green waste applicants needed to process.

Some recipients contracted services to deal with their green waste, others rented chippers or bought biochar kilns to burn their waste, she said. Martin, who calls himself “the coconut man,” said he used his funds for a chainsaw.

Fox said finding money to help agricultural producers and small farm operations access the machinery they need to manage their green waste should really be a priority. 

“I don’t think education’s worth anything if people can’t afford to do something about it,” Fox said.

She said she’d like to see some sort of machine-sharing program on the island for these tools but that they haven’t been able to find a person or organization to take the lead. 

The Kauaʻi Invasive Species Committee is planning to use funding from a U.S. Forest Service grant to help answer these questions. The $94,000 grant is the first coconut rhinoceros beetle-specific funding the committee has received.

Committee project manager Tiffani Keanini said they intend to create a community liaison position to help identify how best to address the threat.

The Gathering Place

At the epicenter of the infestation, efforts are focused primarily on containment, with pesticide treatments occurring around airports and ports to prevent the spread to other islands, while residents and business owners are largely left to fend for themselves.

At a palm nursery in Waimānalo, Mark Fukui, the third generation of his family to run Contemporary Landscaping, began noticing signs of beetles about two years ago. 

Fukui said that it was easy to write off the early indications when one of his 100 or so palm trees lost a frond, “and then by the time your coconut trees are getting eaten, it’s already pretty late in the game.”

Once Fukui was aware of the issue he began doing research into how to address it. He found videos from the University of Guam that recommended using half-inch filament netting to protect the crowns of palms from beetle invasion. 

From there Fukui’s company began to collect data on CRB populations using black panel traps with pheromone lures across his 17-acre property, then becoming a distributor for the traps on O‘ahu. The data collection led them to experiment with other trap designs, including using UV lights to disorient the beetle’s flying pattern.

Prior to adding the lights, Fukui said they’d collect around 40 to 50 beetles a month from their 10 traps. Once they set up the light traps, some weeks that number quadrupled. 

Contemporary Landscaping has since stopped counting beetles. They know they are present in force, Fukui said, and it isn’t worth the time it takes to total them up anymore. Although their nursery still has palms on site, he said no one has been buying them for a while now because of the damage. Even if the trees have been treated for the beetle, they are no longer physically desirable for shoppers looking to decorate their properties. 

“It’s not only coconut trees,” Fukui said. “It’s like fan palms and foxtails and joannas and sealing wax and Manila palms are getting eaten.” 

Company profits are down 25% from last year, he said, a good portion likely due to the declining sale of palms.

“Basically, the only reason why I’m keeping them around right now is to hope that they one day make it to fruiting age and that they seed,” Fukui said.

He said that he is waiting for the University of Hawaiʻi to produce an effective biocontrol or for another solution to come along, then he could plant those seeds and have palms to sell again.

In a laboratory on the University of Hawai’i Mānoa campus graduate student Kristen Gaines donned a disposable lab coat, slipped medical blue covers over both of her shoes and stepped into the work space. Surrounded by microscopes and electric centrifuges, Gaines set a Tupperware container full of larvae onto the sterile workspace in front of five square containers filled with soil.

Then one by one, she selected a fat squirming larvae with one hand while using the other to slide an insulin syringe into a fluid-filled cavity near the larvae’s abdomen and inject a serum containing a virus that targets the beetle.

The CRB Response Team on Oʻahu has just started research on a biocontrol with a strain of virus brought back from Pulau this September. 

“I am hoping the science is done in two years,” Principal Investigator Mike Melzer said. “Then it’s up to the regulatory agencies.”

The next stage is what he called host range testing, to assess whether the virus could negatively impact similar non-targeted species. In this case those include: dung beetles, which provide important ecosystem services for cattle ranchers, flower beetles and, perhaps most importantly, Hawaiʻis only native scarab beetle, located on Kauaʻi.

“We’re calling that our final boss,” Melzer said. 

The current permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture only allows the CRB Response Team to test its virus on the larval stage of the beetle due to concerns the current research facility is not secure enough to prevent the escape of an infected flying adult. 

But testing on early life stages of the pest may not be enough to gain USDA approval for widespread usage of the biocontrol. Melzer said he’s working to secure a permit to test on adults in their current lab, but if it is not issued he will need to work with the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources to use one of their secure labs. That could delay the release of the biological control by at least two years.

In the meantime, the CRB response team is continuing beetle containment and community outreach efforts throughout the island. The team is focused on keeping the beetle from being transported elsewhere by treating palm trees around ports and airports and inspecting and treating materials such as plants and mulch that are being shipped off island, including by using dogs, according to Weiser, with the UH response team. 

Before receiving a grant from the USDA to train dogs, members of the team had to do all of the work by hand, digging through large piles of mulch with shovels according to Field Operations Supervisor Rian Huizingh.

“It was brutal,” Huizingh said, “Like we’d sit out there in the sun all day and just pick out bugs.”

The team’s work remains taxing. Many hours are spent canvassing vast properties, using binoculars to assess for signs of damage such as bore holes, scalloped frond edges or V-shaped cuts to the fronds.

On one day this October, field team lead Reid Hamasaki and field technician Ian Hamasaki were cataloging palm trees at the Navy Marine Golf Course near Pearl Harbor.

Each tree has a metal tag nailed into the trunk with a serial number to log damage and treatments in an online database. In a situation typical of negotiations across Oʻahu, Reid Hamasaki said the golf course trees need another round of treatment, but the team had to wait for the golf course to trim them first.

When palm trees are systemically treated, a pesticide is injected at the base, with the amount required calculated based on the height and trunk circumference of each palm.

The pesticide must then travel up the trunk through the tree’s vascular system all the way to the top, to reach the beetles feeding within the crown. Using this method, the pesticide can be effective for up to a year, according to Huizingh.

The response team also has begun applying pesticides directly to the crown within the last several years, but once again Hawaiʻi’s climate plays a role. Huizingh said that the topical form is not as effective because it breaks down more easily in sun or rain.

The Future

Across all of the islands, the need for cooperation to address coconut rhinoceros beetles became the tie that binds the responses together — whether through cooperation within or among communities, or between organizations. 

Franny Brewer, project manager for the Big Island Invasive Species Committee, said she is in regular communication with the other committees to talk about strategy and learn from the other islands. 

Keanini of the Kauaʻi committee said that it has been important for them to share the lessons from Kauaʻi to improve response elsewhere. For instance, they discovered the importance of regulating the transport of possible breeding materials such as mulch, green waste and gravel.

“One of the more important lessons learned on Kauaʻi,” Keanini said, “is that there really needs to be a policy or regulation in place to mitigate those high-risk pathways of moving CRB.”

For now, teams across all of the islands are supporting communities as they try to manage their green waste and helping with early detection as they hope for a potential biocontrol to even out their odds of winning the battle.

“If we’re going to have any chance at all, everyone, unfortunately, does need to take a little kuleana on what their piece of mitigating is,” said Kinslow Brewer from the Big Island Invasive Species Committee.

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation; coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation; reporting on Kauaʻi is supported in part by a grant from the G. N. Wilcox Trust; and coverage of environmental issues on Hawaiʻi island is supported in part by a grant from the Dorrance Family Foundation.