Biotech company gives grant to expand program to help critically endangered bird

LIHU‘E — The Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development and its work with endangered birds got support from DuPont Pioneer when it was presented with a grant for $7,050.

The grant will assist GIRCD with expanding a program to create suitable nest sites for the critically endangered puaiohi, a small bird found only on the Alakai Plateau, states a DuPont release.

GIRCD and Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project staff and volunteers will build and install about 60 rodent-proof nest boxes, in addition to what is existing, to increase reproductive success by reducing predation.

Currently, there are only 500 birds in the population and the nests will be monitored to document its effectiveness in increasing the population.

The Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project joined GIRCD in 2009. Organized in 2003, KFBRP’s specific mission is to promote knowledge, appreciation and conservation of Kaua‘i’s native forest birds which are spectacularly diverse and beautiful, but also terribly imperiled.

KFBRP seeks to understand the ecology of the birds of Kaua‘i, the impacts of the many threats they face, and the potential of different management strategies for recovering their populations.

Garden Island Resource Conservation and Development is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based organization incorporated in January 1991. Its mission is to carry out a plan for the orderly conservation, development, and prudent use of natural and human resources to improve economic, social and environmental opportunities for the County of Kaua‘i.