The scientists saving Hawaii’s rarest plants need to be saved
Four thousand feet above sea level in Hawaii’s Kokeʻe State Park, the weather is drier and cooler than the island of Kauaʻi below. Unlike the lowland, where invasive species dominate the landscape, there’s a forest of mostly native trees and plants all around us. “It’s very pleasant to walk in,” says Steve Perlman. A field botanist who’s been at the forefront of protecting Hawaii’s endangered plants for over 40 years, he’s known for rappelling from ridges to find rare plants. In 2014, he joined the Plant Extinction Prevention Program (PEPP), which focuses on protecting Hawaiian plants that only have fewer than 50 individuals left in the wild.
We arrive at a spot where the trail enlarges a bit and is covered in gravel. The gravel was put…
