Oishi and his team of specialists looked at 82 container loads of Christmas trees yesterday at the Matson Navigation Co. shipping yards. They pulled trees from containers, shook them over sheets and watched for anything that moved.

Each container, he said, contained nearly 500 trees. Hawai'i's trees typically come from the Pacific Northwest, and this year most of them have been from Oregon.

Only three container loads of trees were held up by the Agriculture Department yesterday.

Oishi said they are awaiting paperwork that is likely to arrive by today or tomorrow, he said. Once the paperwork is in line, those containers will be released and the trees distributed.

Entomologist Darcy E. Oishi of the state Department of Agriculture found this carabid beetle while inspecting one of the containers of Christmas trees that was shipped here. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Salamanders and tree frogs were found in one of the earlier shipments, Oishi said. In past years, agriculture inspectors have found snakes and shrews.

The worst-case scenario, Oishi said, is when especially dangerous insect pests, such as wasps, hornets or gypsy moths, arrive in a container.

When that happens, he said, inspectors build a tent around the container, then collect the pests inside the tent, being careful to make sure nothing escapes.

"None have had to be tented over this year, thankfully," Oishi said.

The Hawai'i Department of Agriculture checks all agriculturual products that enter the state.

Some common insects that pose no threat — such as those that won't survive to reproduce in Hawai'i's climate — are allowed to live out their final days on the contents of the containers.

Oishi asked that residents be on the lookout for uninvited guests on their Christmas trees that aren't the creatures normally hitchhiking on flora in the state.

"If they find anything unusual, they should call the Pest Hotline," Oishi said.

The Agriculture Department's pest hot line is 586-PEST, or 586-7378.