Overview

Coordination and Planning of an Island-wide Habitat Conservation Plan on Kauai, Hawaii

Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife

The Project:

The Kaua'i Seabird Habitat Conservation Plan (KSHCP) Project was initiated in 2005 in order to foster outreach and implementation of island-wide measures aimed at avoiding and minimizing the harmful impacts of outdoor lighting, utilities and other sources of incidental take on endangered and threatened seabirds. The KSHCP will benefit participants by significantly minimizing the time and money that would be needed to obtain individual HCPs.

Objectives that have been accomplished to date include:

• Outreach to businesses and agencies about the causes of light attraction and  the protection afforded listed seabirds
• Monitoring of seabird take and problematic lights
• Providing seabird awareness training for employees and corporations
• Providing site-specific light assessments for business and agencies
• Review of new developments regarding seabirds and lighting
• Providing technical information on seabirds and seabird- friendly light styles

In 2007, the Hawai’i DLNR (DLNR) received funding to complete the needed analyses, outreach, planning, and writing of an agency draft Kauai Seabird HCP .

Need:  Why is the project being undertaken?

The Island of Kaua'i encompasses 549 square miles and over 350,000 acres on the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands, which together form the most isolated island archipelago in the world. The future existence of native Hawaiian seabirds, Newell’s shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli, ‘a’o, threatened), Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis, ua’u, endangered) and band-rumped storm petrel (Oceanodroma castro, ake’ake, a federal candidate for listing) on Kaua'i, is threatened by urbanization, and the lights and overhead utilities that accompany it.

Experts agree that both Newell’s shearwater and Hawaiian petrel are under threat of extinction if large-scale actions are not taken immediately to minimize, and mitigate for quantifiable, preventable, and foreseeable impacts of man-caused incidental take and habitat degradation due to non-native plants and animals (Ainley et al. 1995, Ainley et al. 2001, Day et al. 2003, NESH Working Group 2004, USFWS 1983).

The Problem: Light Attraction and Incidental Take of Seabirds

Annual Seabird “Fallout”:

The fallout phenomenon was first noticed in the 1960s with increased tourism development on Kaua´i.  From 1979-2006, more than 31,000 seabirds, mostly threatened Newell’s shearwaters, were recovered through voluntary public assistance in annual “fallout” rescue efforts known as “Save Our Shearwaters” (SOS – initiated and overseen by the DLNR). In addition to fallout mortality, some researchers calculate that as many as 690 adult, subadult, and fledgling seabirds are killed as a result of power line collisions on Kaua’i each year.  Kaua'i’s SOS Program has succeeded for decades thanks to the community which assists greatly each fall with the rescue of downed seabirds. Unfortunately, it is estimated that less than half of the impacted birds are found each year (Planning Solutions 2003). 

The impacts of losing large numbers of fledglings each fall due to human-caused light attraction would be predicted to have strongly negative effects on these seabird populations in large part because they breed at sites where they were hatched -so if young do not survive they cannot return to replace breeding adults at a particular site-and because they lay only one egg/year. There are other important factors affecting shearwater and petrel populations including predation by non-native mammals, and habitat degradation, however, lights represent one impact that can be classified as incidental take. Lights also can be managed and improved to minimize their effects.

“Incidental take” is injury, mortality, or alteration of normal behaviors of endangered and threatened species that occurs incidental (not intentional) to otherwise lawful activities. The proponents of those activities that result in seabird mortality are liable for take under Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act and Section 195D of the Hawai’i Revised Statutes. The attraction of seabirds to lights is an example of incidental take.  Each owner/operator of unshielded exterior light sources would be liable for take of listed species injured or killed as a result of light attraction. 

A primary need for the Kaua'i Seabird HCP is to address the unauthorized incidental take by developing enforceable, effective approaches to minimize incidental take to the maximum extent practicable. Improvement of overhead wires and utilities would also be addressed. There are a multitude of large, medium, and small facilities contributing individually and cumulatively to the light attraction problem on Kaua'i including, malls, resorts, schools, agricultural facilities, industrial facilities, harbors and airports, recreational facilities, and military facilities. The programmatic HCP approach enables DLNR-DOFAW to provide an HCP framework for multiple businesses and non-federal agencies to join so that they can obtain authorization for incidental seabird take caused by lights.

Kaua’i County does not yet have a lighting ordinance to regulate existing and new outdoor lights so that light attraction of listed seabirds and other indigenous species (i.e. green sea turtle and other seabird species) can be minimized. Based on existing conditions (i.e. sports complexes, hotels, harbors, commercial developments) and foreseeable changes (i.e. new sports parks and residential and commercial developments), levels of incidental take and habitat degradation are projected to increase.  Thus light attraction is a significant problem that has needs to be addressed and mitigated to help prevent continued decline and possible extinction of Kaua'i’s rare seabirds.

Solutions to the Problem:

Approaches to avoiding and minimizing light attraction include: eliminating problematic lighting, modifying existing lighting, managing light use, and incorporating architectural design elements that decrease the light and glow emitted by buildings. In some cases, modification of lights may still cause incidental take of seabirds. Training staff to search for and rescue downed seabirds is another component of ensuring consistent control of light sources and improving rescue of downed seabirds.  Outreach and education are also positive steps forward in increasing awareness of the light attraction problem.

In June 2005 the Hawai’i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) began outreach to the County of Kaua'i and numerous businesses and agencies regarding the causes of incidental take of listed seabirds, habitat conservation plans. DLNR began seeking voluntary approaches from businesses and agencies to proactively address the longstanding seabird-light attraction problem.

The DLNR and USFWS (Enforcement Office and Ecological Services) evaluated the need for an HCP and determined that a regional approach would be most appropriate and effective based on the scale and types of incidental take that are occurring.  

Since 2005 the HCP Coordinator has met with numerous businesses and agencies, over 70 percent of which have voluntarily changed lighting management or made permanent lighting improvements in order to minimize incidental take of listed seabirds; outreach has also been provided to private, professional, and non-profit organizations on the Island.

Habitat Restoration and Population Enhancement:

The KSHCP will include habitat mitigation as part of the conservation program. The programmatic HCP will facilitate effective habitat protection and habitat restoration that would directly target seabird nesting colonies and also benefit many endemic and indigenous plants and animals.

The Island of Kaua'i is the last stronghold for many endemic ground nesting birds and forest birds predominantly because it is the only main island where the mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) has yet not become established.  Approximately 80 percent of the world’s remaining Newell’s shearwater population breeds only on Kaua’i. Hawaiian petrel is less common but also nests on Kaua´i and other main islands. Band-rumped storm-petrel is a candidate species that nests on Kaua'i but population status is not known.  

Newell’s shearwater, Hawaiian petrel, and band-rumped storm petrel nest in the soils of mountain forests and cliffs. The presence of nesting colonies and the guano deposited on island soils contribute key and otherwise limited nutrients that support the diversity of plant communities (Anderson and Polis 1999; Markwell and Daugherty 2003). Interior and high altitude forests and isolated cliff slopes provide irreplaceable, pristine, and yet, imperiled habitats for numerous and some possibly extinct, endemic forest birds and Hawaiian hoary bat. The seabird colonies have predominantly been found in native vegetation and in watersheds that would also provide habitats supporting listed plants and invertebrates. Feral cats, rats, pigs, deer, and goats, as well as mosquitoes and introduced diseases, have caused direct and indirect damage to native communities. The continued presence and expansion of invasive and introduced species pose severe risks to Kauai’s native plant and animal communities. Other types of mitigation may also be evaluated.

References:

Anderson, W.B. and G.A. Polis. 1999. Nutrient fluxes from water to land: seabirds affect plant nutrient status on Gulf of California Islands. Oecologia 118: 324-332.
Ainley, D.G., R. Podolsky, L. DeForest, G. Spencer, and N. Nur. 1995. The ecology of Newell’s shearwater and dark-rumped petrel on the island of Kauai. Report Task 2, Volumes 1 and 2. Seabird ecology study. Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California.
Ainley, D.G., R. Podolsky, L. DeForest, G. Spencer, and N. Nur. 2001. The status and population trends of the Newell’s shearwater on Kaua`i: insights from modeling.  Studies in Avian Biology No. 22: 108-123.
Day, R.H., B.A. Cooper, and T.C. Telfer. 2003. Decline of Townsend’s (Newell’s) shearwaters (Puffinus auricularis newelli) on Kauai, Hawaii. Auk 120: 669-679.
Markwell, T.J. and  Daugherty, C.H. 2003. Variability of Nitrogen15, Carbon13 and Kjeldahl nitrogen of soils from Islands with and without seabirds in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology 27(1): 25-30.
NESH Working Group (Newell’s Shearwater Working Group). 2004. Newell’s Shearwater Five-year Workplan. December 2004.
Planning Solutions. 2003. Habitat Conservation Plan: Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative: Working Paper No. 2 Data Analysis: Interpreting the Save Our Shearwaters Bird Recovery Database (1979-2002) for Habitat Conservation Planning. Prepared for: Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1983. Hawaiian Dark-rumped petrel and Newell’s Manx Shearwater recovery plan. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon.