PRINCEVILLE — Unable to reach an agreement after threatening legal action in March, conservationists and cultural practitioners are suing the St. Regis Princeville Resort for the hotel’s alleged failure to mitigate deaths and injuries of rare Hawaiian seabirds, according to
PRINCEVILLE — Unable to reach an agreement after threatening legal action in March, conservationists and cultural practitioners are suing the St. Regis Princeville Resort for the hotel’s alleged failure to mitigate deaths and injuries of rare Hawaiian seabirds, according to a Thursday press release.
“It is disappointing to learn that the interest of Earthjustice lies in litigation, not collaboration,” wrote Lisa Woods Munger of Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, the law firm representing the resort. “The St. Regis Princeville would much prefer to spend their valuable time and resources to protect Kaua‘i’s precious seabirds.”
After years of apparently violating the federal Endangered Species Act, the Starwood-owned luxury resort was reportedly responsible for harming more than 60 seabirds during the 2009 fledgling season, said Earthjustice staff attorney David Henkin who is representing the four citizen groups filing suit — Hui Ho‘omalu i Ka ‘Aina, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, the Center for Biological Diversity, and American Bird Conservancy.
Bright lights on the island distract and disorient young endangered seabirds, oftentimes on their maiden voyages from land to sea, causing them to crash into objects and be injured or killed.
Many of the seabirds, including the Newell’s shearwater, are born on land but live most of their lives at sea.
The 2009 number of 60 seabirds is similar to previous years when the resort was accountable for more than a quarter of all light-related seabird recoveries, according to Save Our Shearwaters data.
The resort underwent a $100-million renovation in 2008.
“The decision to operate a resort in this location comes with a set of challenges and responsibilities,” Henkin said regarding the hotel located in “a major flyway for these critically-imperiled seabirds.”
Rather than being naturally guided to the sea by the glow of the moon, threatened Newell’s shearwater (‘a‘o) — whose population declined 75 percent from 1993 to 2008 — and endangered Hawaiian petrel (‘ua‘u) are distracted by the hotel’s bright lights.
Because the St. Regis is situated in an otherwise dark quadrant of the North Shore, the birds are “trapped by the light’s glare” and “circle repeatedly until they fall to the ground from exhaustion or strike the resort’s buildings,” according to the release.
Once grounded, the birds are “highly subject to predation by dogs, cats and other mammals, as well as to injury and death by vehicles, other human activity,” or they perish from “dehydration or starvation,” says the release.
“The renovations may have made the resort more posh, but they haven’t stopped birds from getting killed and injured,” said George Wallace of American Bird Conservancy in the release.
Representatives at the hotel “claimed the resort had adopted several measures to protect the birds, including dimming interior lights and lowering polarizing window shades to minimize light visible from the exterior, and keeping pool lights off,” says the release.
However, a week after the “assurances were made, a site inspection on the night of October’s new moon, when fledging seabirds are particularly vulnerable to the attraction of artificial lights, revealed that none of these measures was being implemented.”
Munger said the resort “has worked hard to train its employees and educate hotel guests and to implement seabird-protective measures.”
The resort also “put into action a seabird-protection program several years ago and is committed to the safe passage of seabirds to and from their ocean environment,” she said.
But, a St. Regis employee had told Maka‘ala Ka‘aumoana of the Kaua‘i-based Hui Ho‘omalu i Ka ‘Aina “they were under orders to keep the lights on and the shades up … to improve the guest experience,” she said in the press release. “It’s shocking that the St. Regis is putting its profits ahead of fulfilling its kuleana (duty) to stop killing our native seabirds.”
“Common-sense measures” such as motion sensors and light timers would “not affect the guest’s experience,” and would provide benefits such as cutting down on electrical costs and allowing guests to enjoy the “starry nights,” Henkin said.
“In the middle of the night, there is really no reason to have much light on when everyone’s in bed and the birds are active,” he said. “Do they really need the lights on at 4 a.m.?”
Efforts like “reduced exterior lighting to the extent possible, consistent with guest and employee safety,” and “low-wattage, fully-shielded LED lighting in exterior areas of the resort,” are part of what bird biologist Reginald David is currently working with the resort to develop and implement, a press release from the St. Regis Princeville Resort said.
The hotel has also been actively “working with governmental wildlife-regulatory agencies” and is “participating in the Kaua’i Seabird Habitat Conservation Plan process,” Munger said. In addition, a partnership with Save Our Shearwaters to “accept downed birds from the greater Princeville area” was formed.
Over the past 30 years, Save Our Shearwaters banded and released more than 30,000 birds, most of which were first-year fledglings, but only around 30 were ever seen again, Henkin said.
There is “no scientific evidence that the birds are OK,” he said.
“You would expect to come across these birds again in one way or another … this coincides with a high likelihood most of the birds just aren’t making it,” he said.
The “no-harm, no-foul approach” and profiting from Kaua‘i’s environment while damaging it at the same time is not fair to the community, Henkin said.
“This is an ideal opportunity for the resort to step up to plate and be a responsible part of the community and contribute to” activities such as rehabilitation for colonies on the North Shore in attempts “to offset harm,” Henkin said.
“If we lose this population, we lose this bird all together,” he said regarding Newell’s shearwater.
Losing native seabirds would “create a significant gap in Native Hawaiian culture,” said Jeff Chandler of Hui Ho‘omalu i Ka ‘Aina in the press release.
“Since the ‘a‘o nest in the mountains and live at sea, they remind us that everything is connected,” said the Kaua‘i fisherman. “We look to those birds to help us find fish, something we’ve been doing since ancient times.”
“We doubt the resort’s high-end clientele would be happy to learn Kaua‘i’s seabirds are paying with their lives for the St. Regis experience,” said Peter Galvin of the Center for Biological Diversity. “The resort is part of a multi-billion-dollar hotel operation; it has no excuse for refusing to make the investments needed to save Kaua‘i’s seabirds.”
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.
