Critically endangered forest birds on Maui and Kauai could find new homes on the Big Island, according to a plan by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Earlier this month the DOI released a “Strategy for Preventing the Extinction of Hawaiian Forest Birds,” a five-point plan for protecting four forest bird species — the ‘akeke‘e and ‘akikiki on Kauai and the kiwikiu and ‘akohekohe on Maui — that could become extinct in one to two years.
The plan outlines five separate actions for saving the endangered species. Most notably, one such action is the possibility of relocating certain endangered species to new habitats on the Big Island’s higher elevations.
“Hawaii Island is the only island in the state with a relatively large amount of disease-free habitat,” the plan reads. “Under this strategy, some species at risk of imminent extinction on Kauai and Maui would be released at suitable sites on Hawaii Island.”
According to the plan, the relocations could happen by 2026, with site selection to take place by 2025, following a lengthy public outreach period as well as coordination with Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners.
The DOI projects the total cost to relocate the birds would be about $6.2 million over four years.
The plan claims that “initial efforts to develop techniques for kiwikiu translocation have already occurred.” This appears to be a reference to an attempt in 2019 by the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project to relocate 14 kiwikiu, also called the Maui parrotbill, from both captivity and the wild to a site on the slopes of Haleakala.
By 2020, all but one of those birds had died of avian malaria.
Another of the four actions outlined in the plan is already underway: the implementation of the “insect incompatibility technique,” whereby mosquitoes impregnated with bacteria that renders them incapable of reproduction are introduced into local mosquito populations, reducing the insects’ numbers and limiting their ability to spread avian malaria.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources already has begun the process of importing such mosquitoes for deployment throughout the state, including the Big Island, to protect the endangered palila.
The remaining three actions are less specific. One action would establish captive care programs for the most endangered species by 2026, while another would develop “next-generation tools” by 2032 — such tools could include genetic engineering to improve malaria resistance in birds and more precise techniques for sterilizing insects.
The last action in the plan would develop conservation strategies informed by Native Hawaiian biocultural knowledge, which would be implemented throughout the other four actions.
DLNR representatives were not available for comment.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune.com.