Interior proposes to protect 48 Hawaii species

HONOLULU, Hawaii—Applying a newly developed, ecosystem-based approach to species conservation, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday a proposal to add 48 species found only on the island of Kauai to the federal endangered species list and designate critical habitat.

This new approach, undertaken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides hope for Kauai’s natural ecosystems and the species that call them home. The 48 species include 45 plants, two birds and one Hawaiian picture-wing fly.

“By addressing the common threats that occur across these ecosystems, we can more effectively focus our conservation efforts on restoring the functions of these shared habitats,” said Kempthorne. “This holistic approach will benefit the recovery of the listed species and also all the species within the native ecological community.”

The new ecosystem-based approach to the listing and critical habitat designation process is designed to protect multiple species that occur in shared ecosystems and experience common threats. Critical habitat was identified using the best available scientific information.

“Kauai, the oldest island of the main Hawaiian Islands, has been called a ‘treasure trove of biodiversity’ and is believed to house the greatest diversity of plants in the state,” said Patrick Leonard, Field Supervisor, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office. “Therefore, it is appropriate that we begin this new approach to listing species and designating critical habitat in Kauai.”

Over the next several years, the Service plans to use the ecosystem approach to propose listing and designating critical habitat for all of the endemic candidate species from the Hawaiian Islands, one rule each for Oahu, Hawaii and Maui Nui (Maui, Molokai and Lanai). The Service will also propose a single rule for Hawaiian species that are found on multiple islands. Each rule will propose endangered or threatened status for each species and will also propose critical habitat for species when prudent.

Wednesday’s proposed listing of 48 species includes 45 plants, two Kauai birds—the akikiki and akekee—and one Hawaiian picture-wing fly.

The species are found in six ecosystem types ranging from rainforest mountains to moist lowlands and dry cliffs. Although most of the species are found in just a single ecosystem, a few of them occur in more than one of the ecosystems. A total of 22 separate geographic areas comprising 27,674 acres in 6 different ecosystem types are being proposed as critical habitat. Of the total proposed acres, 26,028 acres overlap existing critical habitat for other species and 1,646 acres are proposed as new critical habitat. The majority of the proposed critical habitat (21,704 acres) is located on State of Hawaii lands, while 5,970 acres are located on private lands owned by approximately 12 different landowners.

In today’s proposal, critical habitat for one of the 48 species, the plant Pritchardia hardyi, was considered not prudent and is not being proposed because this rare palm is attractive to illegal collectors. A critical habitat designation could increase its risk of collection by alerting collectors to its location.

This proposed rule departs significantly from the Service’s recent efforts to designate critical habitat for threatened and endangered species in Hawaii. In the past, the Service focused critical habitat designations on small areas known to be recently occupied by the species. However, the Service rarely had species-specific information sufficient enough to determine if those areas occupied by the remaining individuals of a species were the best areas to emphasize for future conservation efforts.

Species that are endemic to single islands are inherently more vulnerable to extinction than widespread species because of the higher risks posed to a few populations and individuals by genetic bottlenecks, random demographic fluctuations, climate change and localized catastrophes such as hurricanes and disease outbreaks. These problems are further magnified when populations are few and restricted to a very limited geographic area and the number of individuals is very small.

All of the Kauai species are threatened by ongoing destruction or modification of habitat due to feral ungulates such as pigs and goats, nonnative plants and hurricanes. Several Kauai species are threatened by destruction or modification of habitat due to fire, landslides and flooding. In addition to the threats to their habitat, one or more of the 48 species are threatened by limited numbers, predation, competition from nonnative plants, lack of reproduction, diseases, vandalism and over collection.[B][I] (DOI)[/I][/B]