“With an estimated 45 ‘akikiki remaining in the wild on Kaua‘i, and 135 kiwikiu left in the wild on Maui, it’s easy to see we have daunting and urgent work ahead of us,” said Dr. Already a large group of government agencies and conservation organizations has banded together in the Birds, Not Mosquitoes working group to develop a program to introduce incompatible male mosquitoes into the habitats of ‘akikiki and ‘akeke‘e on Kaua‘i, and kiwikiu and ‘ākohekohe on Maui, to suppress the populations of wild mosquitoes and to engage with local communities on this issue. Both the disease and the mosquitoes that carry them are not native to Hawai`i. “However, the federal infrastructure aid targeted at preventing the extinction of these forest birds is a clear demonstration that the federal administration and lawmakers recognize the urgency with which we must use every tool available now, and in the future, to ensure the natural and cultural resiliency of our forest birds.”Īvian malaria, carried by mosquitoes, is wiping out birds. “When faced with such bleak prospects for our beloved honeycreeper species, there are certainly no guarantees,” commented DLNR Chair Suzanne Case. Department of the Interior, which will administer the law’s $1.4 billion for Ecosystem Restoration and Resilience, this amount…“is a significant down payment in protecting our shared natural heritage.” The DOI funding announcement comes after federal and state conservation officials revealed the results of a bio-cultural study that describes the near-future extinction plight facing four Hawaiian honeycreeper species. This federal funding could not come at a better time and will add significantly to projects and efforts already underway to try and save species, like ‘akikiki and kiwikiu from vanishing forever,” said Gov. “Several species of native Hawaiian forest birds are on the verge of extinction, possibly within the next two years.
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