Mosquito release plan aims to save forest birds on Maui
State and federal officials are moving forward with a plan to release millions of incompatible male mosquitoes into the East Maui wilderness in an effort to save the region’s threatened and endangered forest birds.
The National Park Service announced Thursday that it signed off on a Finding of No Significant Impact document following the approval of the project’s environmental assessment, while today the Board of Land and Natural Resources is poised to approve a final EA for state and private lands and authorize the chair to issue a similar no-impact finding.
If the BLNR approves the EA today, a coalition of state and federal agencies and private conservation organizations will mobilize a campaign that has been described as the last best effort to save at least a couple of species on the brink of extinction and prevent most other Hawaiian honeycreepers from eventually suffering the same fate.
