Officials at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on Friday reported another successful nene breeding season on the slopes of Maunakea.
“During the 2021-2022 breeding season (October to March), our management of habitat and invasive animals supported 16 nesting pairs of geese, and resulted in 8 goslings surviving to sub-adults capable of flight,” said Lena Schnell, U.S. Army Garrison, Pohakuloa Training Area’s Natural Resources Program Senior Program Manager.
According to Schnell, young goslings unable to fly are extremely vulnerable to invasive predators such as mongoose and feral cats. Several management methods are employed to help increase the survivorship of young geese at the refuge.
“We enhance the actual habitat in a roughly 3-acre area near the Pua Akala barn by mowing the grass, providing shelters, and controlling invasive plants like gorse,” she said.
The Army staff has been partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge for five years on the Hawaiian Goose (Nene) Conservation Project. Since 2017, the project has seen an overall increase in the nene population in the Saddle region.
“Over the five years we have worked in partnership with USFWS at HFNWR (2017-2022), our efforts have supported 65 goslings to survive to sub-adults,” Schnell said.
The 22-person natural resource team also manage invasive animals in the habitat enhancement area and along key roads in the area.
“It’s great to see another successful nene breeding season. We are extremely proud of the natural resources team here. Their efforts and partnerships with various agencies across the island and state of Hawaii makes a difference in our combined efforts to support the environment,” said Lt. Col. Kevin E. Cronin, commander U.S. Army Garrison Pohakuloa.
The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1985 to protect and manage endangered Hawaiian forest birds and their rain forest habitat, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 32,733-acre Hakalau Forest Unit supports a diversity of native birds and plants equaled by only one or two other areas in the state.
The nene, Hawaii’s state bird, is a species endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. By 1952, only 30 birds remained statewide. Various conservation partners began efforts to recover the species in the 1970s through a captive breeding and reintroduction program. As of 2021, nearly 3,500 nene existed statewide, according the U.S. National Park Service.
The goose was downlisted in January 2020 from “endangered” to “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Per the act, “endangered” means a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range while “threatened” means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future.