‘Know the Nene’

“They’re charismatic,” he said.

Though the state bird’s numbers are doing “much better” on Kauai, it’s still important to establish a connection between the nene population and the humans with whom they share the island, Vlautin said.

The way he’s doing that is by doing “Know your Nene,” like the one held at the Hanalei Neighborhood Center on Thursday evening.

Since July, Vlautin has been to Kapaa, Princeville, Hanapepe and now Hanalei, educating residents about the biology and natural history of the bird.

Usually, they go to established civic groups and clubs, but Thursday night’s talk was an open invite to anyone and about 25 people showed up.

“We prefer to already have audiences built in, but it was a very good turnout,” Vlautin said.

The talks involve a 25-minute presentation along with a time for questions.

“We’re not nene experts, but we provide the best information we can and we direct people to resources,” Vlautin said.

The talks are designed to be “really light on political aspirations” and more focused on “getting people more familiar with the nene as a species.”

Once present in large numbers, Hawaii’s nene population had dwindled to less than 30 individuals by the middle of the 20th century due to development and predation pressures, Vlautin said.

“Thanks to dedicated recovery and reintroduction efforts, the nene have rebounded and are increasing on Kauai,” he said.

Currently, nene are protected by federal and state laws.

For Vlautin, and the administrating Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the benefit of the presentations is talking story with residents.

“It’s a means of keeping the general populace in the conservation plan process,” he said. “An informed populace is a useful and helpful populace.”

The plan is to include talks in Lihue, in more towns on the West Side and in schools.

“We’re taking invitations from any groups — civic groups, community organizations, any venue that will have us,” Vlautin said.