Hawaii plantsman confounds greenies; Keith Robinson has a green thumb with endangered plants and a belief that the `green' tactics used by the environmental establishment are a total waste of time

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Feb 18, 2003 | by Eric P. Olsen

The propagation of Hawaii's most famous endangered species was a cloak-and-dagger affair that Robinson doesn't speak openly about. But he recalls mad dashes to get under cover when tour helicopters passed over, deliberately standing out in the open to be seen near decoy plants, moving secretively after dark and "silently aborting the mission if anything looked suspicious." In the end, he says, "the species was in peak condition when flowering season arrived. The plants produced flowers that were probably the best ever seen in a century. There were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands of them, and they were spectacularly beautiful."

The good seeds--the main object of the project--now are hidden in a secret location. Robinson originally planned to give these seeds away free to environmental agencies. But when he learned that family lands on Niihau and Kauai fell under the proposed critical-habitat designation he changed his mind. "Since they claim to be such experts," he says, "they can do the work and grow seeds themselves. The knowledge about how to grow these seeds has been kept secret. I never revealed it to anyone, and it will probably go to the grave with me. And there is a real chance that no one, including myself, will ever be able to grow K. cookei seeds again."

For years Robinson has defied environmental regulators by preserving plants he was unauthorized to handle. He once offered seeds of one of the world's rarest plants, the Solanum sandwicense, to the state-run Lyon Arboretum at the University of Hawaii, which refused, citing laws against the unlicensed handling of the species. Robinson then announced in Hawaii newspapers that he would send 10 seeds without charge to anyone interested. "I got more than 400 requests," he said in an earlier interview. "I handled each request personally, to ensure their privacy."

Robinson long has tried to get Hawaii's news media to report on his work and his conclusions that critical-habitat designations offer no protection for Hawaii's endangered plants and are a waste of public resources. "But they will not report that fact, even when I supply supporting data," he says. For Robinson, critical-habitat designations are more about political power, attorney fees and fund raising for environmental groups than endangered-species preservation. And he is not alone in his opinion.

On Kauai, an ad hoc community group, Concerned Citizens of Kauai and Niihau has gathered more than 2,500 signatures in opposition to the critical-habitat proposal. Native Hawaiians have joined hunters and small businesses to express concerns about access to federal lands and the impact the designation will have on land restrictions and property values due to the threat of crippling lawsuits.

The regulatory effect of the Endangered Species Act only pertains to federal lands and land use that may receive federal funds or involve federal permits. To fill in wetland, for example, requires a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers. But critical-habitat designations also may influence the state to introduce far more restrictive measures through rezoning of lands as conservation districts.