Ka‘ū News Briefs, Tuesday, May 17, 2022

and advance habitat restoration, invasive species control, conservation of at-risk and listed species and benefits to several significant ecosystems.
    Gov. David Ige said, “Several species of native Hawaiian forest birds are on the verge of extinction, possibly within the next two years. 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.”
    The Interior funding announcement was made Friday. In April, federal and state conservation officials revealed results of a bio-cultural study which describes the near-future extinction plight facing four Hawaiian honeycreeper species.
        The report indicated that without intervention the birds have grim prospects. There are many fewer of these birds when compared to the last two decades, and even the last few years. Their available range has been significantly reduced as species move higher into the mountains to escape mosquitoes.
    Avian malaria, carried by mosquitoes, is wiping out birds. Both the disease and the mosquitoes that carry them are not native to Hawai`i. Already a large group of government agencies and conservation organizations have 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.    Dr. Chris Farmer is the Hawai`i Program Director with the American Bird Conservancy and helps facilitate the Birds, Not Mosquitoes initiative. “We have a huge group of scientists, conservationists, land managers, and others from non-profit, private, and government organizations engaged in a collaborative process to break the avian disease cycle and save these birds as quickly as we can. We can only do that by controlling non-native mosquitoes where our honeycreepers have their last mountain refuges,” Farmer said.
    The DLNR is receiving $6.5 million, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), for the development of novel mosquito management using non-compatible mosquitoes on a landscape-scale basis and for the development of additional captive propagation facilities at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Maui Bird Conservation Center.
    Other initiatives receiving funding:$1 million – USFWS Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office to supporting inter-bureau endemic species extinction prevention efforts: novel eradication techniques for invasive mosquitoes $592,000 – US Geological Survey Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center for supporting inter-bureau endemic species extinction prevention efforts: vector management for invasive mosquitoes
$6 million – National Park Service to stand up an interagency field deployment team and develop tools to suppress non-native mosquito populations at Haleakalā National Park
        Dr. Lainie Berry, Wildlife Program Manager for the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) noted, “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. This tremendous level of additional federal dollars will go a long way toward supplementing and increasing earnest efforts already in place to save these species; as well as the ‘akeke‘e and ʻākohekohe, whose wild population numbers are slightly higher.”
    Ulalia Woodside, the Hawai‘i and Palmyra Director for The Nature Conservancy, a core partner in the Birds, Not Mosquitoes effort, added “With climate change moving mosquitoes to higher and higher elevations, the loss of more native species is imminent without clear action. The millions in extra funding will support the development and implementation of the tools needed to give these endemic Hawaiian birds a fighting chance.”
    “When faced with such bleak prospects for our beloved honeycreeper species, there are certainly no guarantees,” commented DLNR Chair Suzanne Case. “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.”

    See the story on the mosquito program in the May 13 Ka'u News Briefs at http://kaunewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2022_05_13_archive.html.

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KA'ALAIKI ROAD HAS BEEN REOPENED BETWEEN PĀHALA AND NĀ'ĀLEHU. The old sugar cane haul road through the mountains serves ranches and farms, is considered a scenic road, and becomes the emergency access road during fires and traffic accidents along Highway 11. It was shut down by the county last Thursday after a sinkhole appeared. The closure made it difficult for many coffee farmers and ranchers to reach their lands.

     The breach in the road was about 2-ft wide, 4-ft. long, 8-ft. deep about 1.5 miles above Pāhala. The temporary repair is a metal plate. The section of Ka'alaiki Road is owned by Kaʻū Mahi, a subsidiary of Colorado land development company Resource Land Holdings, which subdivided land around the road and is selling parcels to existing Kaʻū Coffee farmers and other buyers. Kaʻū Mahi recently paved roads to the properties. According to John Cross, who works for Kaʻū Mahi, a metal plate covering the sinkhole was installed Tuesday morning, allowing traffic to proceed. 

Kala'aiki Road is used by farmers and ranchers and as an emergency route between Pāhala and Nāʻālehu. It reopened today after being  shut down due to a sinkhole. Photo by Julia Neal

     A spokesman for the company repairing the road said that it would be best if the public would self-limit traffic to farmers and ranchers needing access to the area until more repairs are completed. The road has been used recently for heavy trucks hauling gravel and heavy equipment to build and pave roads for the subdivision. 

    Cross said that Kaʻū Mahi will repair the hole in the road and a culvert that has failed after many years of use. He said the damaged section of the road was build by Kaʻū Sugar Co. in 1972 and 1973. He said that roads belonging to Kaʻū within the agriculture subdivision and is section of Ka'alaiki will be turned over to a landowners association once the subdivision is completed.

     Kaʻū Farm Bureau President Phil Becker and state Farm Bureau President Randy Cabral have both written to the county asking for help in maintaining Ka'alaiki as a Road in Limbo (a road with unclear ownership), especially since it is used as an emergency route by the public. A county Department of Public Works staffer said that the county is happy to have Kaʻū Mahi repair the section with the sinkhole and broken culvert, particularly since Kaʻū Mahi claims ownership of the section that abuts its lands.

        The county is helping to maintain the Old Government Road section, which begins in Nāʻālehu and extends about two miles inland and toward Pāhala. The rest is owned by whomever holds title to the adjacent properties along Ka'alaiki Road.

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