What We Do: Invasive Species
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Invasive Species Goal: Reduce the impacts of invasive species to native species and habitats in Hawai’i
Along with climate change, invasive species are the most serious threat to native Hawaiian species and ecosystems. Invasive species are plants and animals that were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by humans either intentionally for a purpose such as the pet or garden trade and ranching or accidentally by hitchhiking on imported potted plants or in the hull of ships. Once these species escape cultivation and become feral in the case of domestic animals such as cattle, sheep and goats gone wild, or naturalized in the case of introduced plants, they contribute to the loss of native Hawaiian species and ecosystems. They also threaten public health and safety, the economy, and the Native Hawaiian culture, which depends on native plants and animals to survive. Among the most serious invasive species in Hawai’i are wild cattle, sheep, and goats, and deer and mouflon brought in for hunting, strawberry guava, which is literally taking over our native rain forests, and miconia – both of which were brought to the Islands as ornamental plants, and introduced ants, which prey on seabird and other chicks. In 2008, we launched the E Huli! Campaign to reverse the game management paradigm in Hawai’i. The State of Hawai’i currently allows feral and game mammals for public hunting to roam freely on public and private land unless they are fenced out. We are pushing the State to begin managing these animals responsibly in appropriate game management areas. We wrote a bill requiring the State and others to begin fencing these destructive animals in, while the rest of us continue to fence them out. This is a long-term campaign, and we will not relent until state land managers and elected officials take effective action. A bill we wrote for the Hawai’i State Legislature paved the way for allocating small shipping fees to help cover the costs of inspecting imported goods to prevent invasive species from entering the Islands. Efforts are under way to identify additional sources of funding to keep invasive species out of Hawai’i and control the ones that are already here. Our environment, quality of life, culture, and economy depend on it. We also have been fighting for a permanent line item in the U.S. Department of Defense’s transportation budget to fund inspections of shipments from Guam to prevent the introduction of the brown tree snake to Hawai’i. This snake is responsible for the loss of twelve of Guam’s native bird species, half of its lizards, and probably Guam’s last native mammal, the Marianas fruit bat. An increasing military presence on Guam means more opportunities for brown tree snakes to hitch a ride to Hawai’i and the loss of unique Hawaiian birds if a snake population was established in the Islands. Despite being able to easily cover the relatively small cost of adequate inspection of craft and cargo leaving Guam, DOD resists. We administer programs to locate and remove invasive species, such as miconia, an introduced plant, on O’ahu, and we sponsor reforestation service trips to important forest bird habitats, such as the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island of Hawai’i. |
For more information: Stop the Silent Invasion (pdf) The Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species (CGAPS) action plan (pdf) |
