Category Archives: Hawaii

Feds Announce State Wildlife Grants

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Oregon vesper sparrow and Mazama pocket gopher; mountain plover, burrowing owl and McCown’s longspur; the palila, a rapidly-declining Hawaiian honeycreeper; Karner blue butterfly, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, and northern harrier; and white-tailed, Gunnison’s, Utah, and black-tailed prairie dogs are among the non-game species to benefit from this round of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s State Wildlife Grants.

The competitive federal grants focus on large-scale, cooperative conservation projects for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) that are included in State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans (also known as State Wildlife Action Plans — what would government be without changing terminology?).

Seven projects will take place in 12 states: Washington (2), Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Montana, Texas, Wyoming (and also British Columbia, Canada).

Read about the projects in the USFWS press release, here. Don’t bother to follow the link in the press release for more information about individual projects. It takes you to information about the grants that hasn’t been updated in years.

Photo: Black-tailed prairie dog, by Gary M. Stolz, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Feds Announce State Wildlife Grants

Posted on by
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Oregon vesper sparrow and Mazama pocket gopher; mountain plover, burrowing owl and McCown’s longspur; the palila, a rapidly-declining Hawaiian honeycreeper; Karner blue butterfly, grasshopper sparrow, Henslow’s sparrow, and northern harrier; and white-tailed, Gunnison’s, Utah, and black-tailed prairie dogs are among the non-game species to benefit from this round of the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s State Wildlife Grants.

The competitive federal grants focus on large-scale, cooperative conservation projects for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) that are included in State Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans (also known as State Wildlife Action Plans — what would government be without changing terminology?).

Seven projects will take place in 12 states: Washington (2), Oregon, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii, Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, Montana, Texas, Wyoming (and also British Columbia, Canada).

Read about the projects in the USFWS press release, here. Don’t bother to follow the link in the press release for more information about individual projects. It takes you to information about the grants that hasn’t been updated in years.

Photo: Black-tailed prairie dog, by Gary M. Stolz, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Hawaiian Fence Even Keeps Out Mice

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When invasive species are harming the nests of ground-nesting birds, an obvious solution is to erect an exclosure. Sometimes that solution works, and sometimes it doesn’t. So just imagine the situation in Hawaii, where non-native rats and even non-native mice are part of the problem. It’s hard to keep those tiny critters out.

The American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced recently that a 2,040-foot long, 6.5-foot-high, stainless steel fence surrounding a 59-acre wedge-tailed shearwater nesting area on O’ahu is a success. This year’s chick count is up 14 percent, and is the highest number ever recorded at the colony. The fence has been up for eight months.

Read the ABC press release for the details. Also see the press release announcing the project, which has some interesting additional information, including that the project has spirit gate in an accommodation to local belief.

This is the first time such a fence has been used in the United States, but it was developed in New Zealand, which has a similar problem with ground-nesting birds and non-native predators that range from house cats (high jumpers) to mice (can squeeze in just about anywhere).

Check out this link for more information on the New Zealand-style exclosure fencing. It may be expensive, but it seems to be effective.

You may not have Hawaiian-caliber nesting bird issues, but even adopting some aspects of this fence can offer solutions to tough exclosure problems.

Photo by George E. Wallace, ABC, used by permission.

Deer Problems in Paradise

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The islands of Hawaii have no native deer, so, you might think, that corner of paradise would be free of the deer over-population problems that plague most of the country, particularly those parts of the country where there are white-tail deer. You would be wrong, of course. Axis deer (native to India) were introduced to Hawaii, and deer over-population problems have ensued. Read more about the situation in the Maui News.

We’re reporting this just in case you thought that taking a job in Hawaii would get you away from deer management issues.

Axis deer are also naturalized in Texas and Florida. Read a species description from the Mammals of Texas.