Nainoa Goo

Nainoa Goo is the Greenhouse and Field Specialist for the ʻŌhiʻa Disease Resistance Program (ʻŌDRP). He was born and raised in Puna on the east side of the Big Island. He grew up spending a lot of time outdoors going fishing, hunting, spearfishing and surfing. After highschool, he attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and majored in agriculture and graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in General Agriculture. Nainoa first started working with Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) in 2017 when it was fairly new to the Big Island as a member of the ROD Squad, helping to confirm ROD in dying trees as well as installing over 200 ROD monitoring plots island wide, and have since joined the Akaka Foundation for Tropical Forests with the ODRP team. Our primary goal of this project is to grow ʻōhiʻa trees that are resistant to Rapid Ohia Death so future generations will be able to enjoy this special tree as much as we do.