[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 150 (Monday, September 19, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S4823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. HIRONO:
  S. 4883. A bill to require the Secretary of the Interior to partner 
and collaborate with the Secretary of Agriculture and the State of 
Hawaii to address Rapid Ohia Death, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce a bill, the 
Continued Rapid Ohia Death Response Act of 2022. This bill requires the 
Secretary of the Interior to continue partnering and collaborating with 
the Secretary of Agriculture and the State of Hawaii to address Rapid 
Ohia Death, ROD. ROD is a fungus, Ceratocystis, that was first found in 
Hawaii in 2014 and has since killed over a million native Ohia trees. 
Since then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service has 
partnered with the State of Hawaii and the U.S. Department of the 
Interior in efforts to detect and respond to the spread of ROD. 
Sustained efforts, such as those supported by this bill, are necessary 
to protect Ohia trees, which comprise 80 percent of Hawaii's native 
forests.
  Over the past 8 years, ROD has been detected on Hawaii Island, Kauai, 
Maui, and Oahu. Efforts are currently underway to educate the public to 
reduce the spread, research transmission vectors of ROD such as humans, 
beetles, ungulates, and weather events, and test ROD resistant 
varieties of Ohia. This bill directs the Secretary of the Interior, 
acting through the U.S. Geological Survey, to continue providing 
resources for the purposes of researching ROD vectors and transmission. 
It also requires the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, to work with the State of Hawaii and other 
local stakeholders on ungulate management in control areas on Federal, 
State, and private land. Finally, the bill requires the Secretary of 
Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, to 
continue providing resources to prevent the spread of ROD and restore 
the native forests in Hawaii and to also continue to provide financial 
and staff resources to the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, IPIF, 
located in Hilo, to continue research on ROD.
  The bill authorizes $5 million in appropriations for each fiscal year 
from 2023 through 2033 for both the Secretaries of Agriculture and 
Interior to carry out these actions, which are necessary to protect and 
restore Hawaii's most abundant native tree--Ohia--for future 
generations.
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