Mosquito release plan aims to save forest birds on Maui

State and federal officials are moving forward with a plan to release millions of incompatible male mosquitoes into the East Maui wilderness in an effort to save the region’s threatened and endangered forest birds.

The National Park Service announced Thursday that it signed off on a Finding of No Significant Impact document following the approval of the project’s environmental assessment, while today the Board of Land and Natural Resources is poised to approve a final EA for state and private lands and authorize the chair to issue a similar no-impact finding.

If the BLNR approves the EA today, a coalition of state and federal agencies and private conservation orga­nizations will mobilize a campaign that has been described as the last best effort to save at least a couple of species on the brink of extinction and prevent most other Hawaiian honeycreepers from eventually suffering the same fate.

Chris Farmer, Hawaii program director of the American Bird Conservancy, part of the coalition known as Birds, Not Mosquitoes, said Hawaii’s native honeycreepers are being ravaged by invasive mosquitoes spreading deadly avian malaria and will hopefully benefit from scientific technology originally designed to help people.

“Building upon extensive research for human health, there is now hope to break this cycle and save our priceless, wonderful birds found nowhere else in the world,” Farmer said.

Populations of endangered Hawaiian honeycreepers have decreased substantially over the past 20 years, even as these birds have found refuge from the disease- carrying mosquitoes at cool higher elevations.

But warmer temperatures tied to climate change have allowed the insects to move higher up the mountain, leaving the birds running out of mosquito-free space.

Scientists are predicting at least two species, the kiwikiu and akohekohe, could be extinct in as soon as two years if avian malaria is left unchecked.

The state in 2022 announced a $14 million influx of federal funds primarily earmarked for development of the mosquito control effort.

The proposal has generated some controversy, with some worried about unintended consequences and health impacts on humans. Some are concerned the introduced mosquitoes would be genetically modified or bio-engineered.

Officials insist the technique is safe in using a non-GMO approach and a species of mosquito and strain of bacteria already found in Hawaii.

State entomologist Cynthia King of the Division of Forestry and Wildlife said the incompatible insect technique, as it is called, was developed 50 years ago and used for mosquito control in 15 countries, including the United States in California, Florida, Kentucky and New York, with no reported health or environmental impacts.

“The use of this tool in Hawaii, though, would be its first application for conservation purposes,” King told the Land Board earlier in the month.

The mosquito suppression campaign, as outlined in environmental documents, consists of repeatedly releasing into the wild incompatible male mosquitoes in an effort to reduce the reproductive potential of wild mosquitoes.

Only laboratory-raised male mosquitoes, which do not bite birds or people and therefore do not transmit diseases, would be released, according to the plan. The males would mate with wild female mosquitoes, whose eggs would not hatch.

Officials said releases of millions of incompatible mosquitoes over time are expected to suppress the wild mosquito population by as much as 90%.

The plan calls for drones and to a lesser extent helicopters and ground methods to release the male mosquitoes into a project area that encompasses nearly 65,000 acres of National Park Service land, state land and private lands managed for conservation, with nearly 1,400 proposed release locations.

Between 50 and 6,000 incompatible mosquitoes would be released per acre per treatment, which would occur up to twice per week, with most releases occurring in the summer and fall months when mosquito populations in Hawaii peak, according to the plan.

Haleakala National Park spokesperson Jin Prugsawan Harlow said trial mosquito releases could begin in the next few months.