Excerpt Photo credit from hawaiitribune-herald.com
There is an off-grid, solar-powered storage container just north of Kailua-Kona filled with millions of seeds.
Containing mostly native plants and some food crops, the Hawaii Island Seed Bank was created to help preserve and protect the island’s native species.
It is a mission that has only become more pressing over the years as the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly felt across the state, especially in the form of more frequent and intense disasters.
“If we have floods – which we do – if we have fires, if we have other Earth events, droughts – then we need to have backup,” said Jill Wagner, a Kona-based forestry specialist who runs the seed bank. “If we have a human-caused event, if something we do causes the destruction of native systems, it’s very important.”