In celebration of Volcanoes National Parks Centennial, former superintendent and founding member of Hawaii Conservation Alliance, Bryan Harry, recounted the conservation successes to which he contributed as well as current challenges. As guest speaker at the IUCN Conservation Congress in September, he also discussed the importance of Hawaii Hosting such a critical and prestigious event. The development of the park and resolutions of the Congress offer solutions to our current environmental collapse.
Harry arrived in the 1970s as park biologist to address the invasive goat problem that after 53 years had destroyed the biodiversity of the parks. As superintendent, he checked the goat problem after successful collaboration and cooperation with many agencies, of which led to the establishment of the HCA. They achieved consensus on controversial issues and began sharing plans, boundaries, staff and funding to reach goals becoming an international model for resource management. Congress leadership chose Hawaii because of the successful management of the parks, the collaborative nature of the agencies, and the key role played by Native Hawaiians.
After 35 years biodiversity is recovering evident in the successful conservation of silversword, mamane forests and nene. Once at a low of 32 at Volcanoes Park, nene now number 250, and statewide over 2,500. A monogamous pair voluntarily flew to their historic sites on Oahu for the first time in over 50 years. Harry explained that while successes bring hope, more species are going extinct every day than any other recorded time due to human impact. Glaciers are receding and coral reefs are dying threatening all species dependent on them. As Harry sought ways to recover the biodiversity of Mauna Loa, Scientist Charles Keeling began studying the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere in 1958 in the scientific reserve atop Mauna Kea. The Keeling Curve provides key information regarding the cataclysmic impact people have had on our environment since the industrial revolution that has led to the recent rise of our planets temperature by one degree Celsius.