Hopeful Signs for 'Alala Recovery, But Sanctuary Acquisition Is In Doubt

posted in: June 1995 | 0

In April 1991, Environment Hawai`i reported on the decline of the ‘alala, or Hawaiian crow. Inbreeding of the few captive birds made their reproduction difficult. Capture of birds in the wild was held up by private landowners. Since then, settlement of a lawsuit has led to new genetic stock being added to the captive birds. Captive propagation has been better than ever, with record numbers of chicks growing to maturity in 1994. Plans for federal acquisition of prime `alala habitat, however, are in jeopardy.

Corvus hawaiiensis, better known as the ‘alala, or Hawaiian crow, seems to be slowly drawing back from extinction’s threshold. Following capture of eggs from the wild flock at McCandless Ranch near Honaunau, in South Kona, seven chicks were raised to adulthood in 1993. Five were released into the wild, with three of those five known to have survived. Two of that year’s crop were sent to the state’s captive breeding facility at Olinda, on Maui.

1994’s breeding season added seven birds to the world’s known population of `alala. All of those were released to the wild. It’s still too early to say what 1995 will bring, although early signs from Olinda are propitious.

Sanctuary Stalled

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had hoped to be able to purchase a 5,300-acre area in South Kona that is nesting territory for two of the three reproducing pairs of wild `alala. The area, called Kai Malino Ranch, used to be part of the McCandless Ranch and adjoins the state’s 1,200-acre Waiea tract. The former Kai Malino Ranch was proposed to be managed as the Kona Forest Unit of the service’s Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Apart from the `alala, other endangered species are known to inhabit the area, including at least three species of birds and the Hawaiian hoary bat.

When the Kai Malino Ranch went on the market, the Fish and Wildlife Service, working with The Nature Conservancy, arranged a purchase agreement. The asking price was $8.3 million, but The Nature Conservancy would purchase it for $7 million, with the difference of $1.3 million to be regarded as a donation by the sellers to the refuge. The federal government would pay The Nature Conservancy approximately $5.5 million in 1996 and the remainder in 1997.

The proposed acquisition became the top-ranked item in the Interior Department’s Land Acquisition Priority System and has been included in President Clinton’s budget request for the 1996 fiscal year. With the Republican-led Congress having announced a moratorium on most land purchases, however, acquisition of Kai Malino Ranch is in trouble.

At this writing, a final budget for 1996 has yet to be signed by the president. People supporting the acquisition of Kai Malino Ranch may still write letters stating their views to members of the Hawai`i congressional delegation.

A New Roost

For almost a decade, the state has had an `alala breeding facility at Olinda, Maui. Soon, the federal government, in cooperation with several private entities, will have a captive breeding facility on the Big Island. The Fish and Wildlife Service is leasing 100 acres of land from Bishop Estate’s Keauhou Ranch, near Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The private Peregrine Fund will operate the facility.

— Patricia Tummons

Volume 5, Number 12 June 1995

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