For Immediate Release: September 18, 2008

Contact: American Bird Conservancy, 202-234-7181, ext. 216, www.abcbirds.org

Endangered Hawaiian Species Given Short Shrift Over Recovery Spending

Report Finds Conservation Needs of Dozens of Endangered Hawaiian Birds Not Being Met

(Washington, D.C. – September 18, 2008) A new study has found that federal and state funding to conserve and recover Hawaiian birds species listed under the Endangered Species Act is much lower than for mainland birds, and is insufficient to recover the many declining bird species on the islands. The study found that on average, endangered bird species on the mainland received 15 times more funding than endangered Hawaiian birds. Of the total spent toward recovery of listed bird species between 1996 -2004, the 31 birds unique to Hawaii received only 4.1% of the recovery funds available from all sources, which included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, other federal sources, and the state, even though nearly one third of all U.S. endangered birds are found exclusively on Hawaii.

The study, “Recovery expenditures for birds listed under the US Endangered Species Act: The disparity between mainland and Hawaiian taxa” by David L. Leonard, Jr. of Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, was published this year in Biological Conservation 141:2054-2061. The analysis found that total expenditures for Hawaiian bird species from 1996-2004 was $30,592,692, whereas spending to recover mainland bird species during this same time period was $694,455,100. The amount spent on Hawaiian birds is also dwarfed by the amount being spent to recover certain fish species. In 2004 alone, $161 million was spent to recover Chinook salmon and $117 million on steelhead.

“Hawaiian birds receive far less funding than do listed mainland species; without a dramatic increase in funding, additional Hawaiian birds will likely go extinct,” said Leonard. “The Hawaiian Forest Bird Recovery Plan estimated the cost of recovering 18 Hawaiian forest bird species at $2.5 billion over thirty years or $83,333,333 a year, far more than the $3.4 million annual average amount spent on Hawaii’s 31 listed birds from 1996-2004.”

The analysis also found that species that were the center of economic conflicts received the lion’s share of recovery funding. Just four of the 95 listed birds (during the period 1996-2004), the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Northern Spotted Owl, Marbled Murrelet and Mexican Spotted Owl, whose conservation and recovery can conflict with forest management, and military operations in the case of the woodpecker, received over 1/3 of all recovery funds spent from 1996-2004. In contrast, the Alala or Hawaiian Crow, which has benefitted from a captive breeding program, is the only Hawaiian bird with an economic conflict.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must change how it determines priorities for recovery spending,” said George Wallace, American Bird Conservancy’s Vice President. “There are 17 species of Hawaiian birds with fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining, and two species with pending listing petitions, filed by American Bird Conservancy, the Akikiki (Kauai Creeper) and Akekee (Kauai Akepa), that are rapidly declining to that same dangerously low level. But, currently, no Hawaiian birds are even in the top twenty bird species benefiting from recovery spending.”

Before human settlement, Hawaii was home to 113 endemic bird species. Since then, 71 Hawaiian birds have gone extinct. Of the 42 endemic bird species that may remain, 31 are federally listed. However the status of ten of these species is currently unknown. Loss of habitat, non-native diseases and predators, and habitat degradation from introduced ungulates, such as feral pigs, and invasive plants are hindering recovery efforts and causing the continued decline of some species. Fortunately, focused conservation efforts on Hawaii species such as the Laysan Duck and Small Kauai Thrush or Puaiohi have shown that with adequate resources, species can be maintained and recovered.

“Since the Endangered Species Act was enacted, as many as ten Hawaiian bird species have gone missing, and there has been little focused search effort,” said Leonard. “We need to determine the status of these species, but due to the lack of funds, we simply don’t know if they still survive.”

These ten listed birds have not been seen for between three and 40 years, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers their status unknown. In fiscal year 2006, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service provided $442,420 to fund searches for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This exemplifies the funding that should be dedicated to determine the status of each of the ten Hawaiian birds whose status is unknown.

One comparison in the Leonard’s paper shows how the funding disparity between species may be preventing the recovery of Hawaiian avifauna. The Newell’s Shearwater, a Hawaiian endemic, and the Marbled Murrelet of the Pacific Northwest have a great deal in common. They are both pelagic seabirds with populations that depend on forests to breed, both are listed as threatened and in decline, and both are given a priority rank of three by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the system that is supposed to guide the agency’s recovery efforts. There the similarities end. From 1996-2004, the Marbled Murrelet, which depends on old growth forests for its survival, received recovery expenditures 132 times that of the Newell’s Shearwater. Its population is however still ten times greater than that of the shearwater.

The staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is doing its best to conserve Hawaiian birds given the limited resources available. In 2008, the agency is providing significant funding for several key actions to address threats to the Palila, an endangered finch-billed Hawaiian Honeycreeper, and its dry forest habitat on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea volcano. These actions include constructing dip-tanks to improve fire response in the area where Palila nesting density is highest, increasing aerial hunting of non-native sheep that damage natural vegetation around Mauna Kea, and identifying and fencing a management unit on the mountain to facilitate ungulate removal and forest restoration.

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American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is the only organization that works solely to conserve native wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. ABC acts to safeguard the rarest bird species, restore habitats, and reduce threats, while building capacity in the conservation movement. ABC is the voice for birds, ensuring that they are adequately protected; that sufficient funding is available for bird conservation; and that land is protected and properly managed to maintain viable habitat. ABC is a 501(c)(3) membership organization that is consistently awarded a top, four-star rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.