Federal Court Gives Green Light to Palila Protection

Removal of grazing mammals that destroy endangered bird habitat to resume

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Environment

2013-04-10

phylla) tree, whose seeds comprise about 90 percent of the palila’s diet. Due mainly to habitat destruction by grazing mammals, the range of the palila has contracted to only about 5 percent of its historical size.

Fewer than 2,200 palila are left.

“We reached a court-ordered agreement with DLNR in 1998 that a minimum of two aerial hunts per year were needed if we were to have any chance of removing sheep and goats from Mauna Kea,” explained Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. “DLNR should not have suspended those hunts without talking to us and the Court first. That decision really set back efforts to save the palila, but hopefully we can get back on track.”

Earthjustice did not learn until February 2013 that DLNR had unilaterally suspended the aerial hunts the prior year. Earthjustice then contacted DLNR and prodded it to return to Court to resolve concerns that state employees and contractors conducting the hunts might be subject to County prosecution. DLNR and Earthjustice, representing the conservation groups, jointly asked the Court to rule that the County ordinance did not prohibit the court-ordered efforts to protect palila. With the Court’s ruling that federal law preempts application of the County ordinance, DLNR intends to resume aerial hunts by the end of April 2013.

“In the past, removal efforts were hampered because there was no way to keep sheep and goats from migrating back into the palila’s critical habitat once the helicopters left,” said Robert Harris, Director of the Hawaiʻi Chapter of the Sierra Club. “We went back to court in 2009 to get DLNR to live up to its promise to build a mouflon-proof fence to protect palila critical habitat and now there are nearly 24 miles of fencing, cutting off the main migration routes. Thus, after more than three decades of effort, with the resumption of aerial hunts, DLNR can finally comply with the court orders to remove the sheep and goats that have been threatening the palila’s survival.”

Source: Earthjustice