Ka`u News Briefs Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017

Wisdom, estimated to be at leat 66 years of age, has returned each year for more than six decades to Midway Atoll and to the same nesting siteshe and her mate Akeakamai use each year. It takes the pair about seven months to incubate and raise each chick, the most recent hatching in February. See story below. Photo from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

A DAY WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS saw protests across the country Thursday, with businesses shutting down to show how empty they would be without an immigrant workforce. The action drew the backing of Mazie Hirono, who represents Ka`u in the U.S. Senate. "I stand with families across the country participating in A Day Without Immigrants, but I came to work today to fight against President Trump's fearmongering, anti-immigrant agenda," she said.
     Hirono, and other Senators announced legislation to rescind Pres. Donald Trump's Executive Order on deportation.  She stated that  "Most of us are not far from our immigrant roots and for myself I am an immigrant. I am living the American dream. where my mother brought me to this country as a single parent and raised three children by herself. The continuing attacks by President Trump on immigrants in this country are particularly painful and troubling to me." She contended that Trump "has done more harm to America in just a few weeks than most presidents do in the entirety of their term. She contended that Trump has tried to ban Muslims from entering the United States solely because of their religion."

Sen. Mazie Hirono called for Congress to rescind Pres. Trump's order to deport undocumented immigrants. Image from U.S. Senate

     Hirono reported that "Instead of pursuing consensus on a comprehensive immigration bill, President Trump has launched a new assault on immigrants and their famlies. The stories we've all seen and heard over the past week have been heartbreaking. Families are being torn apart, lives are being destroyed. The vast majority of those arrested are not violent criminals. They are people that contributed to their community for decades."
     The Senator said that "We can trace this new assault directly to President Trump's Executive Order on so-called interior safety. It fulfills one of his own campaign promises...those promises should never have been made because of the damage that it does to millions of people in our country." She reported that nearly than 700 people have been arrested in raids across the country. "This is only a taste of what's to come and American people should be infuriated."
    Hirono pointed out that  "waves of immigrants have played a major role in shaping my home state of Hawai`i. We need to band together to resist this executive order now. We need to stand up whenever our President, this President, tries to divide our country and targets minority groups for discriminatory treatment. And if we don't stand up, as we are doing on a regular basis these days, then we are complicit in what follows."
     She called the order "so sweeping that it will encompasses some eight million of the 11 million undocumented people in our country and this order is spreading fear throughout our community." She called it unworkable and inhumane.

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WISDOM, THE OLDEST KNOWN WILD BREEDING BIRD IN THE WORLD, has a new offspring. The egg that she laid - see the Jan. 5 Ka`u News Briefs -  has hatched in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The chick hatched approximately two months after Wisdom, at least 66 years old, was first spotted incubating an egg at the same nesting site that she and her mate, Akeakamai, use each year.

Wisdom and her new chick. Photo from U.S. Fish & Wildlife

     “Wisdom continues to inspire people around the world. She has returned home to Midway Atoll for over six decades and raised at least 30-35 chicks,” said Bob Peyton, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Project Leader for Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Memorial. “Because Laysan albatross don’t lay eggs every year and when they do, they raise only one chick at a time, the contribution of even one bird to the population makes a difference.”
     It takes nearly seven months to incubate the egg and raise a chick to fledge. In that time, Wisdom and Akeakamai, like all albatross parents, take turn incubating the egg or caring for the chick while the other forages for food at sea.
     Albatross and many other seabirds exhibit high nest site fidelity, returning to the same nesting site each year, and relying on protected nesting sites like the Refuge and Memorial to raise their young.
    "Laysan albatross and other seabirds depend on the habitat protected by Midway Atoll and other Pacific remote wildlife refuges to raise their young,” said Peyton. “Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, we have been able restore the native habitat that the birds need for nesting sites, ensuring a future for these seabirds.”

USFWS Refuge biologist Meg DuhrSchultz and volunteer Aisha Rickli-Rahman gave Wisdom's 2016 chick a permanent adult  band. Photo from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

    Wisdom and Akeakamai are not alone in calling the Refuge and Memorial home. Midway Atoll is home to the world’s largest colony of albatross. Nearly 70 percent  of the world’s Laysan albatross and almost 40 percent of Black-footed albatross, as well as endangered Short-tailed, all rely on the Refuge and Memorial. Albatross start to arrive to return from sea to breed in late October and by the end of November nearly every available nesting space on the atoll is claimed by a breeding pair.
       Located at the far northern end of the Hawaiian archipelago within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Midway Atoll Refuge and Memorial is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One the oldest atoll formations in the world, the atoll provides nesting habitat for over three million seabirds, and was the site of the decisive Battle of Midway, one of the most significant naval battles of World War II, and in history. To learn more about Midway Atoll, visit: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/midway_atoll/.

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FREE BAGS OF NON-PERISHABLE FOOD will be given away next Wednesday, Feb. 22 at noon in Na`alehu Commuinty Center. The  giveaway is a partnership between Tutu & Me Traveling Preschool and the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Hawai`i Island Food Basekt. There are no income or financial eligibilty requirements or age limitations for the distribution of food. For more information call Betty Clark, Site Manager for Tutu & Me at 929-8571.

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THE ALOHA GROWN MALAMA HONUA FUND has announced the competition this year for five $500 awards to local non-profits, schools, organizations or initiatives on the Big Island that embody Aloha Grown's philosophy to "Support Local. Sustain the `Aina. Share the Aloha."
     Interested groups must complete an application form and write a one-page essay explaining how their organization follows Aloha Grown's philosophy. Essays must include the organization's mission and vision, along with the specific project, program and/or effort that the $500 award would be used to fund.
     "Aloha Grown is committed to supporting efforts to care for our island, our people and our culture. That is why 2% of every Aloha Grown sale goes to the Malama Honua Fund, which awards local nonprofits, schools, organizations and initiatives that embody our philosophy."­­
     Previous award winners have included Na`alehu School, Kohala Elementary School, Punana Leo o Waimea, Hawa`ii Institute of Pacific Agriculture, Honpa Hongwanji Hilo Betsuin, Laupahoehoe Community Public Charter School, and many more. Their sustainability programs and efforts have included community gardens, aquaponics systems, keiki farm stands, culinary programs, and outdoor  classrooms.
     All submissions are due by March 31. For more on Aloha Grown or to see previous year's Malama Honua Fund award winners, visit www.alohagrown.com.