FY26 Funded Projects

Since its inception in 2003, the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council (HISC) has disbursed funding to support interagency invasive species projects that: 

  • Fill gaps between agency mandates or existing agency programs, and/or
  • Advance our collective knowledge through research and development of new tools. 

Funds are disbursed via an intra-governmental granting process wherein state, county, and federal offices may submit requests for funding and meet to collaboratively draft a recommended budget for HISC review. 

For Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26), the legislature appropriated $5,750,000 to the HISC as its primary base amount of funds. Supplemental funds of $1,500,000 were also provided to the HISC budget by the legislature. The HISC appropriations are subject to a 10% expenditure restriction by the Department of Budget and Finance and 5% overhead from the Division of Forestry and Wildlife (Forestry and Wildlife) at the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) as the administrative host of the HISC. The account that the HISC appropriation is allocated to, LNR402, was subject to a 20% reduction in FY23 – FY25 which carried over to FY26.

This year the legislature also appropriated an additional $4.25M in funds to HISC through Act 236.  The allocation related to HISC funding is set forth below:
o $1.725M 5 Island Invasive Species Committees
o $865,500 for research projects that enhance tools and technology.
o $300,000 for Biocontrol

Total Funding available $5,661,958.62.

 

Funding Awards are set forth below.

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FY25 HISC AWARDS

Budget for Programmatic Requests 

Number of considered Programmatic Applications: 14  
Total Requested: $7.5M 
Total Available: $3,825,212 

Application Number and Title 

Organization  

Submitted Request 

Approved Award 

12: Engaging the Public to Protect Maui County from Invasive Species – Maui/Molokai Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

 

$289,013.00 

$110,197 

01: Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Outreach and Extension – University of Hawaiʻi 

UH CTAHR 

$58,779.15 

$22,749 

07: Invasive Species Control + Outreach in the Ko’olaus – Koʻolau Mtns Watershed Partnership 

UH PCSU 

 

$205,448.00 

$83,298 

16: Early Detection & Rapid Response and Control – Kauaʻi Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$1,085,516.00 

$560,125 

04: Priority Weed Control – Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$1,195,230.67 

$566,686 

05: Outreach & Education – Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$367,612.56 

$126,147 

17: Public Outreach and Education on Kauai – Kauaʻi Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$213,942.00 

$239,839 

02: Widespread Invasive Species Mitigation Program – Big Island Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$536,184.00 

$266,684 

06: Early Detection & Rapid Response on Oʻahu – Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$383,053.64 

$135,665 

10: Community Engagement and Pest Early Detection & Rapid Response – Big Island Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$502,492.00 

$274,255 

09: Invasive Plant Prevention, Early Detection & Control on Hawaiʻi Island – Big Island Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$679,141.00 

$336,969 

11: Detection and Control of Invasive Species in Maui County – Maui/Molokai Invasive Species Committee 

UH PCSU 

$1,451,288.00 

$739,803 

13: Hawaiʻi Ant Lab Core Funding 

UH PCSU 

$450,000.00 

$281,970 

08: Coordination & Outreach for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species 

UH PCSU 

$98,000.00 

$80,825  

 

Collective Totals and Summary for Island Invasive Species Committees 

Program 

Total Submitted Requests 

Approved Award 

BIISC 

1,717,817  

 $      877,908.50  

MISC/MoMISC 

1,740,301 

 $      850,000.00  

OISC 

1,945,897 

 $      828,497.59  

KISC 

1,299,458 

 $      799,964.00  

ISCs Total 

6,703,473 

 $   3,356,370.10  

 

Budget for Project Requests 
Number of considered Project Applications: 32  
Total Requested: $3.4M 
Total Available: $2,124,032 

Application Number and Title 

Organization 

Submitted Request 

Approved Award 

26: Compatibility of an introduced coffee berry borer parasitoid and entomopathogenic fungi treatments 

UH CTAHR 

$115,883.00  

$39,398 

24: Targeted RNAi-Based Herbicides for Landscape-Scale Control of Widespread Invasive Plants 

UH Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering 

$144,983.00  

$54,769 

35: Management of Turmeric Red Staining in Hawai‘i – Research Proposal 

UH CTHAR 

$54,799.91  

$45,000 

03- UH – Managing Queensland Long-Horned Beetle 

UH Hilo 

$108,845.00  

$55,000 

43: Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Invasive Coqui Populations on O‘ahu 

UH Hilo 

$13,750.00  

$13,750 

33: Behavioral Ecology of Invasive Mammals- Leveraging Game Camera Data to Guide Management 

UH NREM 

$38,711.40  

$0 

45: AI mobile application for rapid ID of invasive plant seeds 

UH Lyon 

$62,903.76  

$0 

51: Scaling up rat lungworm surveillance in Hawai‘i a model for integrated early detection 

USDA APHIS 

$134,779.00  

$70,000 

53: Develop image-based phenotyping tool for early plant disease detection and host resistance screening 

UH CTAHR 

$50,000.00  

$22,666 

39: Integrated Weed Management of Invasive Rubus Species – Hawaii Island___ 

UH CTAHR 

$200,000.00  

$98,218 

19: Ecological restoration of Myoporum. sandwicensis by mitigating the impact of K. myopori on Myoporum 

UH CTAHR 

$200,000.00  

$113,328 

28: Exploring acoustic deterrents for controlling and disrupting coqui frogs 

Utah State 

$146,388.50  

$122,000 

52: Red Imported Fire Ant – Early Detection and Rapid Response Tools for Hawaii 

USDA ARS 

$100,000  

$65,000 

21: eDNA Strategy for CRB Detection on Hawai‘i Island 

UH Hilo 

$56,647.80  

$34,239 

22: Survey of Guava Root-knot Nematode on Vegetable Crops in Hawaii 

UH CTAHR 

$111,728.00  

$67,530 

29: Drone-Mounted mmWave Harmonic Radar System for Invasive Pest Insect Monitoring in Hawai’i 

UH Electrical & Computer Engineering 

$200,000.00  

$60,000 

37: Design and test new devices and practices for trapping Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles  

UH CRB Response 

$27,500.00  

$27,500 

14: HACCP Training – Preventing Intro + Spread of Invasives 

USFWS 

$31,250.00  

$21,249 

18: Integrated Strategies to Control Invasive Coqui Frogs 

Univ of Puerto Rico 

$291,189.59  

$85,000 

23: Building a DNA barcode reference library to improve early detection of invasive arthropod species 

UH CTAHR 

$58,529.00  

$42,009 

30: Mobile large-scale CRB traps – a tool for control rapid response and community assistance 

Colorado State 

$152,585.00  

$66,000 

25: Evaluating Novel Pulse Electric Field Technology in Controlling Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle 

UH CTAHR 

$51,168.00  

$51,168 

38: Scaling Canine Detection with VOC Sampling for CRB Biosecurity 

USDA Forest Service 

$170,000  

$128,439 

54: Optimizing Food Preferences Bait Attractiveness and Organic Pesticide Efficacy for Little Fire Ant  

UH CTAHR 

$120,039.00  

$100,000 

36: Mites Viruses and Bees The challenges and opportunities of apicultural biosecurity in Hawaii 

UH CTAHR 

$75,208.00  

$62,503 

32: Distributed Autonomous Sensing Systems for Early Detection of Invasive Species in Hawaii 

UH CTAHR 

$140,316.00  

$121,914 

27: Understanding + controlling the spread of invasive coqui frog  on O’ahu 

UH CTAHR 

$51,456.00  

$46,651 

42: A interference for Little Fire Ant 

UH CTAHR 

$36,395.00  

$36,395 

41: Ramie Moth Impacts Submission 

UH CTAHR 

$87,890.00  

$87,890 

15: Ballast Water Database 

DLNR DAR 

$25,000.00  

$25,000 

50: Assessing efficacy of LFA treatment options – Research 

UH PCSU 

$200,000.00  

$196,436 

47: Mosquito Surveillance Capacity in Hawai’i 

DOH Vector Control Branch 

$164,980.00  

$164,980 

 

 

 

Budget for Biocontrol Requests 
Number of considered Biocontrol Applications: 4  
Total Requested: $465,000 
Total Available: $300,000 

Application Number and Title 

Organization 

Submitted Request 

Approved 

Award 

46: Biocontrol of invasive Rubus species (Yellow Himalayan Raspberry) 

USDA Forest Service 

$129,800.00  

$74,880 

49: Assessing releases of biocontrol agents for wiliwili gall wasp and macadamia felted coccid 

UH CTAHR 

$93,940.00  

$57,806 

44: Classical biological control of hala scale, lobate lac scale, two lined spittlebug, and coffee berry borer 

UH CTAHR 

$143,792.00  

$99,542 

48: Biocontrol of invasive plants in Hawaiian forests and rangelands 

USDA Forest Service 

$97,900.00  

$67,773