DoI Announces Avian Malaria Plan for Maui, Big Island
Department of the Interior Releases Multiagency Strategy for Preventing Imminent Extinction of Hawaiʻi Forest Birds
HONOLULU — The Department of the Interior today announced a multiagency strategy that seeks to prevent imminent extinction of Hawaiian forest birds imperiled by mosquito-borne avian malaria. The strategy includes more than $14 million in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other appropriations to address avian malaria, which causes widespread mortality of endemic honeycreepers and other forest birds.
Hawaiian forest birds are an integral ecological and cultural component to the Hawaiian Islands. They are representative of the health of the forest and remain a cultural connection between the Native Hawaiian Community and the Hawaiian Islands. Many native and endemic species evolved for centuries in isolation, free from threats such as avian malaria spread by invasive mosquitoes.
