Protect native birds

Over the course of my career as a botanist in the islands, I’ve had the privilege of working in some amazing and remote places set aside to protect Hawaii’s rare plants and animals, and despite being a “plant guy,” I have fallen in love with charismatic and breathtakingly beautiful forest birds like the scarlet-vermillion ‘i‘iwi, whose call and songs have been compared to R2D2 of “Star Wars” fame.

In spite of the best efforts and dedication of my colleagues in conservation, rare forest birds like the ‘i‘iwi continue to decline in numbers, even in their remote mountain habitats, largely due to diseases carried by mosquitoes and the effects of climate change that allow mosquitoes to survive at higher elevations.

The thought of never getting to see, or hear, ‘i‘iwi and other forest birds again has almost left me without hope — until I learned of a project to release male mosquitoes to reduce the number of these disease-carrying insects in our forests.

This technique is already being used around the world to protect humans from diseases like dengue and the Zika virus, and could save many of our remaining endangered forest birds from extinction.

If you care about our forest birds, please support organizations working to protect their habitats, and please learn about the efforts to protect them from mosquitoes by visiting the “Birds, Not Mosquitoes” website.

Hopefully, ‘i‘iwi and our other rare forest birds will be around for future generations to experience. And if you haven’t seen or heard one before, I encourage you to go out and do so now. You’ll thank me when you do.

Chuck Chimera

Honokaa

Upgrade Kona pool

The Kona Aquatic Center pool is such a gem for our community! It is only open from 6:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., closed for 1.5 hours at lunch, and then open again from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. It is NOT open on the weekends.

This means that people cannot swim during their lunch hours or after work, and families cannot enjoy the pool together on weekends. Pool exercise benefits the health of all age groups.

Years ago, we raised money for the solar panels that are still located on the roof of the building on the north side of the pool. The solar system has not worked for the past seven years.

From a conversation with lifeguard staff, I learned there is a broken pump. This means no warm showers in the locker rooms, and the pool is not heated in the winter.

Two things would help make the pool more accessible and enjoyable to our community: (1) Please hire more staff so the pool can be open from 6:15 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. every day and on the weekends. And (2), fix the solar system so it works to heat the pool and shower water.

Funding to upgrade our gem of a community pool should be included in the upcoming budget. Please repair and upgrade the pool, which will help the health of our families and Kona community.

Debbie Hecht

Kailua-Kona