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EXHIBIT A HISTORY OF WASMANNIA AUROPUNCTATA IN HAWAII 45 tata on a hapuu log (Cibotium sp., a tree to allow treatment staff access. This re- fern) purchased from a local landscaping suited in the HDOA taking the unusual supplier.The discovery prompted a larger step of obtaining a court order (Hawaii investigation by HDOA who discovered Department of Agriculture 2016),and later that several shipments of hapuu logs,origi- declaring a quarantine on the property nating from the Big Island,were infested in order allow the eradication program (Hawaii Department of Agriculture 2013). to continue at this site. The delays to These shipments and subsequent distribu- treatment activities have allowed W. au- tion to retailers were located and inspected ropunctata to recover and spread further by quarantine officers. A number of into this property,necessitating additional these also had W. auropunctata. These treatment effort. were either destroyed or treated in situ. The site at Waihee, which had been Two additional nascent infestations were ant-free since 2010,was surveyed repeat- found in south Maui (Wailea area)during edly between 2010 and 2014. In 2016 the first half of 2014 and these have been another survey was conducted at this site. eradicated by HDOA and MISC. W.auropunctata were again detected in an In September 2014,MISC field workers area immediately adjacent to the original were stung by small ants while conduct- treatment area. It is possible that some ing other activities in Nahiku(near Hana, infested plant trimmings may have been Maui).These ants were later identified as moved there before the original detection LFA and subsequent surveys found high in 2009.Only spanning an acre or so,this density LFA in challenging rainforest ter- site is now being treated again to ensure rain on both sides of the Hana Highway, no live ants remain. extending 11/2 miles along a drainage to Oahu. The detection of infested ship- the ocean.Four properties were involved. ments of hapuu in Maui prompted HDOA The infestation appeared to have spread to investigate other shipments from the downstream from an initial upstream same supplier destined for Oahu and establishment point to the ocean. The Lanai. Some of these were also infested, speed at which W. auropunctata spread and as a result,HDOA staff systematically downstream was substantially faster than surveyed the retail stores that received normal lateral spread, most likely facili- these items. Several of these retail stores tated by the movement of infested debris also had become infested,and these were during periodic flooding events. Due to systematically treated by HDOA staff the challenging nature of this infestation, (Hawaii Department of Agriculture 2013). agencies collaborating on the response The increased publicity surrounding (HAL, HDOA, Maui County and MISC) the infested hapuu led to the discovery formulated a containment and aggressive of two well-established infestations on control plan, first removing LFA from Oahu, each covering approximately five locations from which it would be likely to acres (Figure 6). One of these was lo- spread,then to later assess the possibilities cated in abandoned agricultural land in for a more comprehensive approach.This Waimanalo and another in a suburban plan is ongoing. area of Mililani. Eradication plans were Another LFA discovery was made developed for each site and baits were in Huelo in January 2015. An eradica- applied repeatedly to both sites over the tion plan has been developed and partly course of one year.One year after the last implemented. Activities at this site were treatment was applied (2016), both sites hampered by the refusal of one resident are putatively free of LFA.