Hawaiʻi County Mayor Mitch Roth signs proclamation (courtesy photo)

(BIVN) – Hawaiʻi County Mayor Mitch Roth has signed a proclamation recognizing 2024 as Ka Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele, The Year of The Forest Birds in Hawaiʻi County.

The signing follows Governor Josh Green’s state-wide proclamation in January 2024. 

From a news release detailing the County proclamation:

For millions of years prior to human contact, Hawaiʻi’s forests were the dominion of our native nā manu nahele (forest birds), comprising at least 84 species including honeycreepers, honeyeaters, flycatchers, thrushes, warblers, hawks, owls, and crows. Nā manu nahele have critical ecological roles in Hawaiʻi as pollinators, seed dispersers, and insect managers in our Hawaiian forests, sometimes so closely co-evolved with plant species that native plants cannot reproduce without them.

The threats to the remaining manu species, particularly honeycreepers, include habitat loss; habitat degradation by invasive plants, insects, and diseases; predation by invasive rats, cats, and mongoose; and deadly diseases spread by mosquitoes, particularly avian malaria.

Nā manu nahele are an inextricable part of Native Hawaiian culture in their roles as ʻaumakua (family deities) and messengers between akua (gods) and kānaka (people). Nā manu nahele are celebrated in mele (songs) moʻolelo (stories), ʻōlelo noʻeau (proverbs), kaʻao (legends), and in the creation of feather adornments.

Hawai‘i is experiencing a bird extinction crisis, with roughly two-thirds of its known native manu nahele species having become extinct. Nearly all of the remaining 26 species are facing critical threats.

“Protecting our natural and cultural resources is at the core of our vision for a sustainable Hawaiʻi Island where our keiki can raise their keiki for generations to come,” said Mayor Mitch Roth. “We are proud to declare this year the year of the forest birds, honoring all those who dedicate their careers to the restoration and conservation of our native forests so that the many creatures, including our endemic birds, can thrive and continue calling Hawaiʻi Island home.”

On Hawai‘i Island the first statewide Hawai‘i Forest Bird Surveys, that started in 1976, confirmed what the pre-contact Native Hawaiians already knew when they named an area on the slopes of Mauna Kea “Hakalau” (that translates to “many perches”); there is a high density of forest birds within and around this area.

In 1985, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, with the active involvement and support of The Nature Conservancy, purchased these lands and established the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge to protect and manage endangered Hawaiian forest birds and their habitat. Located on high on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea, the Hakalau Forest unit consists of 32,830 acres of some of the finest remaining stands of native montane rain forest in Hawai`i and habitat for 29 critically endangered species including seven birds, one insect, one mammal and 20 plants found nowhere else in the world.

Success within the Hakalau Forest has demonstrated the effectiveness of the resource restoration/protection philosophy “management matters” (doing something is better than doing nothing), as it is a protected forest area on the Island where the native forest birds have populations that are either stable or increasing, all due to the restoration and reforestation efforts of many partners, including thousands of volunteers over the past nearly 40 years.

Many active partners continue to work together to protect and enhance Hawai‘i Island’s forest birds and their habitats including Friends of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai‘i Wildlife Center, Keauhou Bird Conservation Center, The Nature Conservancy, ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance, Three Mountain Alliance, Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership, DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, and many others.

Continued community awareness and active support for native forest stewardship are essential to mālama native nā manu nahele as part of the Hawaiʻi ʻohana.