Hanalei resident Ed Ben-Dor had no idea that he would be slapped with an environmental violation when he cleared invasive hau and widened a passageway to allow a canoe to move through wetlands adjacent to his home along the Hanalei River.

He also had no idea that the violation would lead him to create a “spot treatment” of hau eradication and plant replacement that conservationists currently seek permission to begin.

Last Friday the Environmental Protection Agency announced that Ben-Dor had restored the wetlands near his home as it requested: by not only removing soil structures, but also re-establishing native vegetation.

The agency now holds Ben-Dor to a higher standard than his neighbors, said Wendy Wiltse, an environmental scientist with the EPA. He must maintain the native species and keep out invasives like the hau he eradicated during the 2002 and 2003 work cited in the violation, she said.

Hau, a member of the hibiscus family, thrives in wet areas, shading out absorbent ground cover and choking waterways, redirecting water into the flood plain where it picks up soil, said Lex Riggle, district conservationist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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(Source: Kauai Garden Island News)