Endangered 'elepaio given protected areas

Advertiser Staff

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated nearly 66,000 acres of O'ahu as critical habitat for the endangered O'ahu 'elepaio, whose numbers are believed to have dropped below 2,000.

Most of the areas designated, identified as range needed for the bird to return to nonendangered status, already are classified as conservation land.

There are five main 'elepaio range areas, two in the Wai'anae Mountains and three in the Ko'olau range.

The region could support more than 10,000 birds. It includes areas where the once-common Hawaiian forest bird was known to exist at least in 1975.

The designation takes effect on Jan. 9.

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