Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Samantha Jetzer | 230307-N-ML137-1031 HONOPU VALLEY, Hawai‘i (March 7, 2023) Pacific Missile Range...... read more read more
“Kauaʻi is the last refuge for many endangered native Hawaiian species including seabirds, waterbirds and forest birds,” said André Raine, who has a doctorate in ornithology (the scientific study of birds) and is the science director for Archipelago Research and Conservation (ARC). Raine talks about the various actions residents can do to get involved with environmental efforts on the island, such as dimming lights at night, keeping pets on leashes, and volunteering with conservation organizations. “The more in tune we are with our natural environment, the better we will be able to protect it!”
ARC specializes in seabird colony creation, management and monitoring, as well as helping companies assess and reduce bird collisions around infrastructure. In 2019, ARC partnered with Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife as well as Hallux Ecosystem Restoration LLC. to begin an experimental pilot project within the remote Honopu Valley on the northwest coast of Kaua‘i in order to create a safe haven to encourage the growth of breeding colonies for seabirds. These birds are protected under the Endangered Species Act, such as the ‘a‘o (Newell’s shearwater), ‘ua‘u (Hawaiian petrel) and ‘ake‘ake (band-rumped storm petrel).
Over the last five years, these organizations have been awarded $1.26 million in funding from the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program to increase the resilience of endangered wildlife in Honopu Valley. REPI has participated in funding this project since its inception through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant program. REPI funds federal, state, nonprofit, and private conservation organizations that help combat encroachment that can limit or restrict military training, testing, and operations. $5.29 million was awarded to various natural resource conservation projects on Kaua‘i in 2023 out of a total approximate $26.7 million for all of Hawai‘i.
“It's very exciting to see the progress of this amazing project, and in partnership with so many excellent and hard-working organizations,” continued Raine. “We have greatly enjoyed working together with the Navy on this project, and without REPI funds this project would not have been possible. We look forward to continuing to work with the Navy on projects focussed on the conservation of Kaua‘i's endemic and native seabirds!”
These funds support the mission at Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands, which is the world’s largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air, and space operations simultaneously. In order to facilitate these operational missions, PMRF has a determined team of environmental specialists working to conserve the natural resources on the installation.
“Environmental stewardship is foundational to what we do at PMRF,” states Capt. Brett Stevenson, commanding officer at PMRF. “Every mission, every project, and every training event begins and ends with an environmental assessment. Understanding how we can balance the needs of our mission with our mālama ka ‘aina (responsibility to care for the land) is among my top priorities and we have an extremely talented team of environmental experts to ensure we get that right.”
The base’s location on the west coast of Kaua‘i is an important breeding ground for ‘ua‘u kani (wedge-tailed shearwater) which are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. PMRF has implemented a range of programs aimed at supporting the seabird conservation effort and continues to work with other government and private conservation organizations to protect these ecologically important species.
“PMRF is dedicated to protecting the native wildlife on and around our installation,” Stevenson emphasizes. “It’s part of being a good neighbor here on the west side of Kaua‘i. Promoting biodiversity isn’t just the right thing to do — the health of local wildlife populations goes hand in hand with our ability to train those who keep our island home safe and our country free.”
Stevenson and other members of PMRF’s team met with Raine on March 7 in Koke‘e State Park to discuss the various environmental conservation projects being implemented at the colony site. During the visit, the group hiked down into Honopu Valley to see the work of these conservation efforts first-hand.
“This partnership with ARC in the Honopu Valley supports our mission at PMRF, and the development of this project is exactly the kind of work we strive to promote on Kaua‘i,” comments Stevenson. “It was really amazing for me to see how an impactful project like this can result from the continued partnership between PMRF and ARC. The site at Honopu Valley provides much needed habitat for many of the protected species that we’re passionate about here on Kaua‘i’s west side, so it’s heartening to see how federal and state governments can work together to protect our natural resources. It’s already making a big difference.”
The ‘a‘o, which is of particular concern, decreased 94% from 1993 to 2013, due to a combination of factors including powerline collision, light attraction and introduced predators. Light attraction is of particular concern to young seabirds, known as fledglings. These seabirds are nocturnal and use natural light sources to guide them out to sea. They can be drawn to any source of bright light, including man-made lights. The young seabirds that take flight for the first time can be easily disoriented by artificial lights and fall to the ground. There are currently only 7,500 to 11,000 breeding pairs of ‘a‘o left with 90% of the world’s population on Kaua‘i. The Honopu Valley breeding site offers a safe habitat for the population to be able to stabilize and thrive.
“It’s important for people to understand how important seabirds are to the environment,” adds Raine. “They provide marine nutrients in their guano (bird excrement) that are key to supporting the forests integral to a healthy watershed, something we all depend on here on Kaua‘i. Projects like Honopu are vital to the longer term survival of these and other endangered native species; without projects such as these, their very existence hangs in the balance.”
Honopu Valley is an ideal location for this program’s start-up since the area isn’t influenced by light pollution at night. The site also includes a landscape-level predator proof fence and larger ungulate (hooved animal) proof fence, predator and invasive species removal, placement of artificial burrows, social attraction equipment, monitoring of colony productivity, and a native plant restoration component to sustain a healthy ecosystem.
There are approximately 264 acres of protected breeding ground inside the outer fence preventing ungulates, such as pigs and deer, from entering. This fence spans 2.76 miles with an additional three acres inside spanning 0.45 miles long to prevent smaller mammalian predators from entering. The gates prevent predators and other invasive species, such as pigs, cats, dogs and black rats, from entering or burrowing under the fence. The predator-proof fence will also help with native plant restoration because it prevents rats from eating native seeds as well as keeps pigs from rooting up seedlings. There are already rare native plants sprouting and fruiting as a result of these protective measures. These native plants and seabirds have an interconnecting ecosystem as they provide support to each other. Seabirds bring in marine nutrients via their guano, which helps the plants grow. The plants in turn keep the soil together and provide sheltered nesting habitat ideal for seabird burrows.
In order to attract these endangered seabirds to begin using this colony, the project has implemented multiple “social attraction” techniques to encourage them to nest in a new area. Seabirds have a strong connection to the place that they were born, however, they can be influenced to nest in other locations. Some of these techniques include mimicking the birds’ vocalizations using speakers during the breeding season and using life sized decoys to appear like there is an active colony living within the fence. The site also includes 70 artificial nest boxes within the predator-proof fence to provide readily available burrows to new members of the colony. There are currently 41 boxes for ‘ake‘ake and 29 boxes for ‘a‘o and ‘ua‘u. ARC monitors the seabirds using multiple techniques, including burrow cameras, visual surveys by sending teams to rove the site, burrow searching and burrow monitoring.
Raine remarks, “In recent years the Honopu project has taken huge steps forward, despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the completion of the predator-proof fence, the initiation of social attraction to start attracting birds to the protected area, and visual confirmation of multiple ‘a‘o inside the fence in 2022.”
For more information about the REPI program, please visit https://www.repi.mil/
| Date Taken: | 03.20.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2023 14:11 |
| Story ID: | 440793 |
| Location: | KEKAHA, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 102 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, ‘The Last Refuge’ for Endangered Species, by PO1 Samantha Jetzer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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