Tom's Turn: Notes from our Senior Editor

Hawaiian habitats need help

February 15, 2003

One of the great attractions of the tropical areas that are discussed elsewhere in this digital missive is wildlife: flashy birds, gaudy fish, exotic plants, garish snails. Warm weather seems to mean color. It also, more somberly, means vulnerability. In Hawai'i, for example, there are only two native land mammals: the Hawaiian monk seal and the Hawaiian hoary bat. When European settlers unleashed pigs, goats, deer, and other creatures on the islands, the impact on native creatures -- especially plants, but also birds and other species -- was swift and devastating. Nearly half of Hawai'i's native bird species are gone. Nearly 300 other species of plants and animals are barely holding on, protected as endangered and threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

At least they're supposed to be protected. But, with a few exceptions, one vital step in that protection has yet to be taken, the designation of "critical habitat."

Critical habitat, as the phrase implies, includes areas that must be protected for the species in question to survive and recover. For better or for worse, its designation has legal teeth only on federal lands, or on state, county, and private lands where federally funded or approved projects would alter the habitat. Critical habitat, by law, must generally be designated when a species is granted ESA protection -- in practice, however, that rarely happens. The overwhelming majority of critical habitat designations have come only after citizens have filed suit against the government.

In Hawai'i at present, a major controversy is raging over pending critical habitat designations for 255 species of plants. Or maybe many fewer.

On Lana`i, for example, the Fish and Wildlife Service recently reduced by 90 percent the number of plants for which it will propose critical habitat, arguing that an agreement it has reached with the biggest landowner on the island will do a better job of preservation and restoration. Earthjustice lawyers are studying the agreement to determine whether it is adequate to do the job. Critical habitat proposals for plants on the other Hawaiian Islands will be rolling out throughout this spring, and will be scrutinized carefully.

Elsewhere in Paradise, critical habitat designations are due soon for several species of birds and bats on Guam, though the comment process has been slowed by a terrible typhoon. The situation is muddy there because both the Guamanian government and the Navy oppose any critical habitat designation. Stay tuned.

Tom Turner, Senior Editor
yourturn@earthjustice.org