Plans to reintroduce ʻalalā into wild on Maui get go-ahead from BLNR

Plans by the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a pilot release of captive-bred ʻalalā, the native Hawaiian crow, in forest reserve lands of east Maui were approved last week unanimously by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

No release date has been set.

The released crows would come from a captive population of 120 birds housed at two conservation breeding facilities managed by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance on Maui and Hawaiʻi Island.

An earlier re-introduction project on the Big Island was stopped, largely because ‘io, the native Hawaiian hawk, were preying on the birds. The hawk is the crow’s natural predator.

While ʻalalā were last known to exist on Hawai‘i Island, there is subfossil evidence of a crow family species on Maui and Moloka‘i.

The area for the planned Maui release was identified through a collaborative process that evaluated eight sites on Maui and Moloka‘i. Since Maui Nui does not have a breeding population of ‘io, researchers are hopeful releasing ʻalalā on the Valley Isle will be successful.

An environmental assessment was prepared to address any impacts of pilot releases of ʻalalā, focusing on the two highest-ranking sites, Kīpahulu Forest Reserve and Ko‘olau Forest Reserve.

Project areas include a radius of 2.4 miles surrounding release sites, which is the maximum distance ʻalalā are expected to travel based on the previous Big Island releases.

The state Land Department’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife indicated the preferred alternative is to release ʻalalā in the Kīpahulu Forest Reserve to minimize potential impacts to rare snails and other native species.

The environmental analysis also addressed potential impacts to other threatened and endangered plants and animals; cultural, recreational and wilderness resources; and public health and safety, air quality, climate change and environmental justice.

The environmental assessment found no significant impacts would be made by the pilot release of ʻalalā in east Maui.