Extinction crisis 'worse' in Hawai'i

By Ron Staton
Associated Press

Almost half of the 114 species that have become extinct in the first 20 years of the federal Endangered Species Act were in Hawai'i, according to a new report by an advocacy group.

The report by the Center for Biological Diversity says the federal government's failure to protect species "has been spectacular" and accuses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of knowingly delaying listings "to avoid political controversy even when it knew the likely result would be the extinction of the species."

A statement from the Fish and Wildlife Service said the agency "denies the inflammatory claim" and challenged the accuracy of the report. It said recovery of species is a very long process and noted that at the time the act was passed in 1973 that some species were in such bad shape the agency couldn't recover them.

The agency said money has been limited because of litigation over critical habitat and noted that fish and wildlife habitat has been declining for decades because of urbanization.

Kieran Suckling, the center's executive director and a co-author of the document, said in the report released Wednesday, "The extinction crisis in Hawai'i is worse than anywhere else."

Species lost from the Islands include the large Kaua'i thrush, which once was the most common bird on the island; the Moloka'i thrush; and 11 species of O'ahu tree snails.

Almost all the species could have been saved if the Endangered Species Act had been properly managed, fully financed and "shielded from political pressure," Suckling said. "Instead they were sacrificed to bureaucratic inertia."

Hawai'i is unique not only for the number of species on the list, but because state law requires that every species placed on the list is automatically added to a state list, said Michael Buck, administrator of the Forestry and Wildlife Division of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which works in partnership with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Buck acknowledged, however, that "just getting something on the list does not save endangered species." The No. 1 issue for Hawai'i, he said, is "coming up with resources and public support."

California was the next highest state in the report with 11 extinctions. Guam had eight, while Alabama and Texas each had seven.

Fifteen of Hawai'i's extinct species were terrestrial snails, 13 each were flowering plants and insects, eight were birds and three were moths.

The four-angled pelea, a flowering plant endemic to Kaua'i, is an example of a species being lost by inaction, Suckling said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service became aware it was endangered in 1975 when the Smithsonian petitioned to have it listed, he said.

The next year, the agency said it would propose adding it to the list, but when nothing happened, the Smithsonian re-petitioned in 1978, he said. In 1980, the wildlife service agreed the plant was endangered but put it on the candidate list, Suckling said.

In 1994, the agency listed it as endangered, but it had become extinct in 1991, he said.