Nonprofit sues Trump administration over endangered species on Hawaii island

An environmental advocacy group has accused the Trump administration of failing to protect critical habitat for 14 endangered Hawaiian species on Hawaii island.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Hawaii last week, the Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit, says the failure to designate critical habitat for the 14 plants and animals in a timely manner is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. David Bernhardt, secretary of the interior, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are named as defendants.

“These special species are found nowhere else besides Hawaii island, so if they disappear from here they’ll be lost forever,” Maxx Phillips, the Center’s Hawaii director, said in a news release. “Anchialine pool shrimp and the rest of this group needed habitat protection years ago, but they’re not getting it from the anti-wildlife Trump administration.”

On Oct. 29, 2013, the Fish and Wildlife Service listed 15 plant and animal species in Hawaii as endangered, according to the suit. At the time, the agency was required under the act to designate critical habitat, which it has done for only one of the the protected species.

The remaining 14 species face threats from agriculture, urbanization, invasive species, wildfire, erosion, natural disasters and climate change, the suit said. The delay deprives the 12 endangered plants and two endangered animals of protection to which they’re legally entitled, leaving them at increased risk of extinction, according to the lawsuit.

One of the species, the picture-wing fly, which has translucent wings, is dependent on certain coastal plants endemic to Hawaii island to reproduce, according to Phillips. Historically, there were five known sites where the fly was located, she said, but only two remained when the species was listed in 2013.

The native anchialine shrimp’s habitat in underground bodies of water is under threat from grazing and erosion caused by ungulates, or hoofed animals.

These shrimp have no eyes, can only swim forward, and only five individuals of the rare species has ever been seen, according to Phillips. They can be found only at Manuka Natural Area Reserve or a submerged lava tube at South Point.

Of the 12 plant species, six have fewer than 50 individuals left in the wild, Phillips said. They are Bidens hillebrandiana (kookoolau); Cyanea marksii (haha); Cyrtandra wagneri (haiwale); Platydesma remyi; Schiedea diffusa, subspecies macraei; and Schiedea hawaiiensis.

The kookoolau and haha are vulnerable due to their small population size, and desperately are in need of protected habitat, the suit says.

All are endemic to Hawaii island, meaning found nowhere else.

Listing a species as endangered is the first step in ensuring its survival, said Phillips, but critical habitat protections are the next step. They would prohibit the destruction of the habitat, helping to protect what remains of the species’ limited range.

The suit asks the court to order the finalization of critical habitat rules for the 14 species by specified dates, and that the federal agencies pay attorney and litigation fees. Otherwise, no monetary damages are sought.

“There’s no price for our biodiversity here in our islands,” said Phillips. “We are the endangered species capital of the world. With that comes this kuleana, or responsibility, that we take care of these species to make sure our generations to come can see them.”

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The 14 endemic, endangered species named in suit:

>> Anchialine pool shrimp

>> Picture-wing fly

>> 12 species of plants, including Bidens hillebrandiana (kookoolau); Cyanea marksii (haha); Cyrtandra wagneri (haiwale); Platydesma remyi; Schiedea diffusa, subspecies Macraei; and Schiedea hawaiiensis.