ULUPALAKUA – Maui has made great strides toward saving some of its most vulnerable native plants, but many local habitats are still facing “desperate situations,” environmental experts said Sunday. Surrounded by the lush greenery of the D.T. Fleming Arboretum, scientists and conservationists gave guests a glimpse of what’s happening on the front lines of preservation in Maui Nui watersheds, forests and the ocean. It was part of Maui’s firstever Indigenous Crop Biodiversity Festival, a parallel event to the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress, which Hawaii will host for the first time from Thursday to Sept. 10 in Honolulu.