Projects and Research

The recovery of listed species and the habitats upon which they depend is the ultimate purpose of the endangered species program and the guiding principle for all of our work. Recovery of imperiled species depends on strong partnerships between Federal, State, and private organizations, and individuals.

The ‘Alalā Project

The ʻAlāla Project is a partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, State of Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Our goal is working towards the conservation and recovery of ‘alalā so that it can return to the wild and fulfill their ecological and cultural roles in the forests of Hawai‘i.

Critical Habitat for 12 Hawaiʻi Island Species

Critical Habitat for 12 Hawaiʻi Island Species In March 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (Service) published a final rulemaking decision for 14 federally listed species on the island of Hawai‘i.  Critical habitat was designated for 12 of the species encompassing approximately 119,326 acres of…

Critical Habitat in the Mariana Islands

Critical habitat is a tool that supports the continued conservation of endangered or threatened species in areas supported by federal oversight. When a species is proposed for listing ESA, the Service identifies areas that share physical and biological features that are essential for the conservation of the species.

Draft RA Addendum & Supplement EA for Chevron Pipeline

At 1:30 a.m. on May 14, 1996, a Chevron Products Company pipeline ruptured at a thin spot caused by external erosion and began discharging No.6 bunker fuel oil adjacent to the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) Waiau Power Plant in Pearl City, Oʻahu. The Natural Resource Trustees for the Chevron Pipeline Oil Spill of 1996 are proposing to use approximately $850,000 for the construction of an 8.8 acre wetland project to enhance the Pouhala Marsh wildlife sanctuary for the benefit of endangered waterbirds breeding in Oʻahu, and to fund Trustee Council administration and oversight.

Green Sea Turtle Critical Habitat - Pacific Islands

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing to designate terrestrial critical habitat for five distinct population segments (DPS) of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) — three Pacific DPS's: Central North Pacific (Hawaiian Archipelago), Central South Pacific (American Samoa and…

ʻIʻiwi Critical Habitat

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing critical habitat for ʻiʻiwi (scarlet honeycreeper, Drepanis coccinea) on the Hawaiian Islands of Kauaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi. ʻIʻiwi is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and the designation of critical habitat will help focus federal, state, and local conservation efforts to manage and protect ʻiʻiwi.

ʻIo (Buteo solitarius)

In January 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a final rule removing the ‘io (Hawaiian hawk) from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The ‘io was listed in 1967. Since then, improved monitoring, partner-led landscape-level conservation efforts and the species’…

Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative Habitat Conservation Plan

Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative developed a Draft Habitat Conservation Plan to support its application for an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its request for an incidental take license from the Hawai’i Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Oʻahu Sugar Site Restoration in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor

Pesticides used by the Oʻahu Sugar Company, LLC, were mixed, loaded, and stored near Walker Bay on the Waipiʻo Peninsula between Pearl Harbor’s West and Middle Lochs. Sampling of the site showed hazardous substances present near the surrounding environment and caused injury to natural resources, including endangered waterbird habitat. A settlement was reached and approximately $2.5 million will be used to facilitate the restoration, rehabilitation, or replacement of those natural resources injured by hazardous substances.

Saving Hawaii's Forest Birds

The Extinction Crisis

Hawai‘i's endemic forest birds are facing an immediate extinction crisis. Avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive mosquitoes, is driving the extinction of Hawai‘i's forest birds and for some species a single bite from an infected mosquito can be deadly. Once,…

Saving Kauaʻi Forest Birds

Saving Kauaʻi Forest Birds - Final Environmental Assessment of Using Incompatible Insect Technique for Mosquito Suppression

Project Summary

Hawaiʻi’s native forest bird species have undergone precipitous declines and extinctions since the arrival of humans to the archipelago, particularly…

Sihek Conservation Introduction to Palmyra Atoll

Sihek (Guam kingfisher) have been extinct in the wild since 1988, after the accidental introduction of the injurious brown tree snake. Endemic to the island of Guam the sihek now only exist in captive care. However, the Sihek Recovery Program, a partnership of world-leading conservation experts from across the globe, hopes to establish a wild population of sihek on the remote Pacific Island of Palmyra Atoll. The ultimate goal is to one day return the sihek to forest of Guam once the threat from snakes is controlled.