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<title>Daily Smile: Friday, May 29, 2026</title>

Golden retriever and baby have a cry-off...

Daily Smile: Friday, May 29, 2026

 Golden retriever and baby have a cry-off...

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Aloha Spirit

Mike Shiroma’s neighborhood in the Pālolo Valley sounds different than it did when he was a kid, all because of the invasive coqui frog.

The quarter-sized tree frog native to Puerto Rico calls from dusk to dawn. They are one of the loudest frogs in the world, with calls reaching up to 100 decibels, similar to a lawnmower or motorcycle. They hitchhiked to Hawaiʻi Island in 1988 and have since set up colonies on Oʻahu in Pālolo Valley, Waimānalo and the Kuliʻouʻou summit.

Shiroma said he’s witnessed the number of frogs grow from a handful to dozens to thousands, and now estimates that there are 15,000-20,000 coqui frogs in Pālolo Valley.

Shiroma described the coqui frog noise as a “permanent, audio graffiti.”

“They're changing the environment forever,” he said.

Sidney Lynch called the noise deafening. She noticed the occassional frog washing down the Waiʻōmaʻo Stream and would call the Department of Agriculture to catch it. She offered to help after she noticed more and more frogs washing down the stream in 2025.

She co-founded Pālolo Coqui, a group of volunteers that meets multiple times a week to catch and kill coqui in the Pālolo Valley. Volunteers have caught 6,085 since they started in March.

“Even though it’s only concentrated in a five street area, it’s getting much noisier and they can spread,” Lynch said. “At this point, if there’s the chance to eradicate them, we may as well try.”

When volunteers came to Shiroma’s door with a flyer earlier this year, they joined forces to fight the invasion, going from what Shiroma called an “army of one” to a team. Shiroma has been hunting coqui frogs for years, and said he’s getting burned out and discouraged.

Volunteers wear long-sleeve neon shirts, long pants, headlamps and sturdy shoes, and carry plastic tubes, UV flashlights, citric acid solution and radios, and head out into the protected state land bordering the neighborhood to search for frogs.

Here’s how it works: Volunteers listen for the distinct “ko-KEE” call, approach the frog and place a long plastic tube on the frog. The frog jumps up and into the tube, and volunteers put the frog into a small bottle full of a citric acid solution where it is killed.

The male frogs like to hang out on logs and smooth leaves, such as monstera, pothos and heliconia. The “ko” of the coqui’s call asserts their territory and the “kee” calls for females.

Shiroma read scientific papers that said certain amphibians floresce under UV light. He tried it out, and found that certain UV light makes the coqui appear black and their eyes glow, allowing volunteers to look for frogs with UV flashlights when they are not calling.

“To me, this is the game changer. There’s no better discovery than this,” Shiroma said.

The coqui frog is one of 15 high priority pests that the 

 is monitoring. OISC is a project under the University of Hawaiʻi Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit that coordinates between communities, the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and the Department of Land and Natural Resources. OISC first got involved with coqui frogs in Pālolo Valley in September 2024.

Robbie Snyder, a community engagement liaison with OISC, detailed the negative impacts coqui frogs can have on Hawaiʻi.

Coqui frogs have no natural predators on Hawaiʻi, so they get more dense than they would in their home country. Snyder said that one acre of land on Oʻahu can be home to 36,000 coqui.

The noise changes the soundscape of Oʻahu’s forests, Snyder said. Lynch said that the noise impacts resident’s quality of life.

Homeowners are required to disclose if there’s a coqui frog infestation on or near their property, which can drive down home prices.

Coqui frogs eat invertebrates, which damages Oʻahu’s native plants and can harm native plants when those plants aren’t being pollinated.

“Those insects also play vital pollinating services to our native plants, so when the frogs eat the native insects, we then lose things that can pollinate our native plants, and that has a cascading affect through the ecosystem,” Snyder said.

If snakes were introduced in Hawaiʻi, coqui frogs would provide a “massive food source” and aid their spread.

According to Snyder, the current goal is to contain coqui frogs until the state has the resources or better tools to eradicate them.

“With the resources we have right now, site level eradication of coqui is not possible,” Snyder said. “There isn’t enough funding, there’s not enough people, there’s not enough resources, and that’s even with the incredible community volunteers that we have, but we need more and we need a years-long commitment to funding.”

Snyder said that hand capture alone isn’t enough at this point to eradicate an infestation.

“There are small enough local populations that they haven’t become widespread. Hope is not lost with coqui frogs,” Snyder said.

OISC and state agencies spray a liquid combination of citric acid and water in an attempt to contain coqui frogs. Citric acid, which is found in citrus, some soft drinks and some candies, poses little risk to people and the environment, but is lethal to amphibians because they respirate through their skin.

OISC has been spraying 400 gallons of citric acid month in the Pālolo Valley for about two years and increased to spray twice monthly starting in August.

When coqui frogs infested Wahiawā in 2003, the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biodiversity, the Oʻahu Army Natural Resources Program, the Department of Land and Natural Resources and OISC teamed up and eradicated the coqui infestation with a mix of citric spray and hand captures by 2007.

The volunteers in Pālolo have mixed opinions about the use of citric acid spray. Lynch believes citric acid spray is an effective tool and Shiroma believes it’s not as effective as hand capturing the frogs.

Shiroma called it an “agency failure” that the Department of Agriculture hasn’t dedicated more resources to preventing the spread of coqui.

“You guys are using the same broken playbook that’s not working and hasn’t worked for decades. This is not a new problem.” Shiroma. He advocated for the Department of Agriculture to make a dedicated team that works at night.

While the coqui frogs keep calling, Pālolo Valley neighbors will continue donning neon shirts and heading into the forest to stop them.

Coqui in Pālolo

<title>Volunteers battle coqui frog infestation in Pālolo Valley</title>

The Pālolo Coqui volunteer group is working alongside the Oʻahu Invasive Species Committee and state agencies to contain a coqui frog infestation in their neighborhood.

Volunteers battle coqui frog infestation in Pālolo Valley

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Government & Politics

Gov. Josh Green signed House Bill 1860 into law

, which designates Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra as the state orchestra of Hawaiʻi. The moniker does not come with funding, although earlier drafts of the legislation had proposed that.

“We are tremendously grateful and honored to be recognized with this designation,” 

, president and CEO of Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, told Aloha State Daily. “This distinction puts Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra on a cultural platform with other organizations that have been recognized by the state as being valuable to our culture, such as the 

. It's really meaningful because it will give the orchestra more visibility across the community. It recognizes that the symphony is important, and what we bring to the community is of value and valuable.”

The legislation was signed into law on June 5.

Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra offers more than 50 concerts annually. Its programs include the 

, which features world-renowned guests on stage; the 

 which puts local headliners — such as 

, which puts movies on the big screen while the symphony plays the score live; and the 

, which will honor America’s 250th anniversary with eight performances this summer.

ASD spent time analyzing the symphony's finances via tax filings over the years.

Between the Form 990s for 2015 (which covers July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015) and 2024 (which covers July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024), nonprofit Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra had more expenses than revenue for seven of those 10 filings. For the 

, the symphony’s total revenue was about $5.1 million. Total expenses were about $5.27 million, leaving a deficit of $170,367.

“Just to put this in perspective, this is unfortunately not unusual across the symphony orchestra world across the country,” Iwano said. “What we do is very labor intensive, and there just are no shortcuts to bringing close to 100 musicians to the stage and getting thousands of people through the door to enjoy the live music. I can say, though, that our last fiscal year and this year will tell different stories, and making the orchestra sustainable is a priority for our board and everybody at the organization.”

Iwano, who took the helm July 1, 2024, shared the 

’s most recent Form 990 for 2025 (which covers July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025) with ASD via email. In that filing, the nonprofit had $6.4 million in total revenue 

 which was generated by tickets sales, grants, 

. Revenue minus expenses resulted in $422,983. That brings the nonprofit’s net assets to a deficit of $362,897, an improvement from a deficit of $785,880 at the start of the filing period.

Salaries are the symphony’s biggest expense, she said. About $4.3 million of the approximately $6 million in expenses listed in the Form 990 for 2025 went toward salaries, other compensation and benefits. The rest went toward concert hall rentals, production costs and more.

“The biggest cost — of course — is the orchestra itself,” Iwano told ASD. “We have 84 musicians, and on top of that, we have our production crew, and then we have our admin staff. But the orchestra is by far the largest portion.”

The predecessor of Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra was 

 to reorganize, and the following year converted to 

“We do hope that the designation will give people more confidence that we are here to stay,” she said. “That it will help to tell our story and support fundraising in that way.”

 have been one way to help the symphony continue its work.

“We're talking to people more and more about how legacy gifts can impact the symphony,” Iwano said. “That's one of the main ways that we see to make our ongoing situation sustainable.”

The symphony has also been working to reach new listeners, and participated in a collaboration with the Polynesian Voyaging Society for a symphonic piece about the double-hulled voyaging canoe, 

 for Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in March. There are also other programs 

, which partner with local organizations.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"State orchestras are rare, Iwano added."}]

“We're determined more than ever to serve the whole state, so we're also looking at ways to reach out to the other islands,” she said. “To take our music and our musicians out — beyond Oʻahu — and to other parts of Oʻahu, beyond Honolulu.”

Sometimes that means taking smaller groups to untraditional spaces.

“For example, this past April, we sent chamber ensembles from the orchestra to six different medical centers and health facilities,” she said. “And in February, we did a project called 

 for Valentine's Day. We sent chamber ensembles all around the city. They played at the farmers market and at 

. We really want everybody to join in celebrating our symphony in all these different ways.”

Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra

<title>Governor designates state orchestra for Hawaiʻi</title>

Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra has a new title, which comes with statewide recognition. Amy Iwano, president and CEO of the nonprofit, shares what this means for the organization. Aloha State Daily takes a closer look at the symphony's finances over recent years.

Daily Smile: Friday, May 29, 2026

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