#Birds Not Mosquitos

This year was “Makahiki o nā Manu Nahele: Year of the Forest Birds,” officially proclaimed by Gov. Josh Green, M.D., in January. An estimated 47,000 people engaged in bird-related education events over the year with the goal of raising awareness about Hawaiian forest birds and their plight. But for the birds themselves, it was a complicated year filled with both troubling declines and new rays of hope.

US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, secured $394 million in new congressional directed spending, also known as earmarks, in the first half of this year’s government funding bill. Additional earmark funding for Hawai‘i is expected to be included the second half of the funding deal which is set to be announced on March 22.

At a meeting on June 9, the state Plant and Animal Advisory Committee will consider taking steps to further a collective plan to introduce mosquito birth control to try to save four native bird species from extinction in Hawai’i.