Posted on: Friday, June 7, 2002
$10.7M federal plan set to destroy frogs
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Federal agriculture officials are gearing up to implement a four-year, $10.7 million plan to rid Hawai'i of the noisy coqui and its cousin, the greenhouse frog.
The plan, created late last summer by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services agency, describes an all-out assault on the tiny but loud Puerto Rican frogs that have landed on all four major Hawaiian Islands.
Wildlife Services officials are scheduled to meet with other agencies and groups in Honolulu next week to discuss environmental issues associated with the plan, which kicks off Oct. 1 with $200,000 in federal money obtained through a University of Hawai'i research program.
While the rest of the money remains uncertain at this point, Wildlife Services state director Mike E. Pitzler said yesterday he's confident it will come through — mainly because he has the support of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye and USDA officials.
When the plan was being developed last year, emergency money was a virtual certainty, Pitzler said.
"We had planned to be working full-bore by this time,'' he said.
But in the wake of the Sept.11 attacks, political forces and other circumstances led to a shift in spending priorities. Letters of support from Gov. Ben Cayetano and others were lost in the mail during the anthrax scare. The money didn't come through.
Now, with the frog count growing bigger by the day, the window of opportunity for eradication is shrinking, Pitzler said.
"The longer we let it go, the more likely we won't be able to eradicate this animal,'' he said.
Under the plan, Wildlife Services would combine with other state and federal agencies to mobilize an army equipped with sprayers, vehicles and equipment.
Caffeine, which has been proven to kill the frogs by what has been described as giving them heart attacks, is likely to be the chemical of choice, though others will be considered, said Tim Ohashi, the Wildlife Services biologist who wrote the plan.
Some biologists believe that the frog is too well established to allow eradication on the Big Island, where more than 260 infestations are reported.
The effort faces other bureaucratic hurdles, such as the federally required environmental documentation. While officials want to conduct a simple environmental assessment, the plan might require a lengthy and costly environmental impact statement.
"There could be delays up to a year and a half. By that time, we're going to be living with the frogs. It'll be too late,'' Ohashi said.
However, there may be options to speed up the process or get an exemption, he said.
Much of the initial $200,000 will go to the National Wildlife Research Center to collect the data necessary for Environmental Protection Agency permission for long-term use of caffeine.
The state received limited approval but ran into problems because of restrictions attached to its use, a situation that has helped leave three tons of caffeine sitting unused in a Big Island warehouse. In any case, the permit is scheduled to expire in a few months.
If any of the initial allocation is left over, Pitzler said, it will go to a pilot program to eradicate the frog populations on Kaua'i as well as a few isolated sections of the Big Island.
Meanwhile, state agriculture officials conducted a test on a wild colonies of frogs near Hilo last week using hydrated lime, which "dries'' the creatures to death.
State agriculture official Lyle Wong said the test results showed a substantial drop in noise, offering officials hope that the inexpensive chemical might join the arsenal of weapons employed in the war against the frogs.
In addition to the Big Island infestations, Maui is reported to have at least 41 separate colonies of frogs, while O'ahu has 20. Kaua'i has two.
The coqui is only a couple of inches long, but males vocalize at up to 80 to 90 decibels from a distance of 1 1/2 feet — comparable to the sound of a lawnmower. The coqui lives in plants and is active at night.n their native Puerto Rico, Eleutherodactylus coqui live in densities of up to 8,000 an acre. Females can produce more than 200 eggs a year and reach sexual maturity in just eight months. The coqui's cousin, Eleutherodactylus planirostris, or greenhouse frog, is about half the size and isn't quite as loud.
Both of these frogs arrived in Hawai'i in recent years in plants imported from the Caribbean, and likely spread from island to island as hitchhikers in nursery material.
Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.
