Town hall on mosquito birth control project set for Thursday

A virtual town hall meeting on plans to use mosquito birth control to save endangered Hawaiian honey-creepers will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Maui County Council Member Kelly Takaya King announced.

Members of the Birds, Not Mosquitoes partnership will give a short presentation, which will be followed by a public question-and-answer session.

Hawaiian honey-creepers, including Maui’s kiwikiu, also known as the Maui parrotbill, and the akohekohe, or crested honeycreeper, are found only in East Maui and nowhere else in the world. These native forest birds are being driven to extinction by exposure to avian malaria transmitted by nonnative mosquitoes, a problem which is worsening as climate change and global warming push mosquito populations into higher elevations.

One proposed solution to prevent the extinction of these endangered species involves the use of mosquito birth control. During the town hall on Thursday, Birds Not Mosquitoes panelists will offer updates on efforts to bring mosquito control to the high-elevation forests of East Maui. Panelists at the town hall will include:

● Jin Prugsawan Harlow, chief of interpretation, education and volunteers as well as public information officer for Haleakala National Park.

● Hanna Mounce, coordinator, Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project.

● Jonathan Likeke Scheuer, community engagement consultant, Kahalawai Consulting LLC.

“Hawaii is known as the endangered species capital of the world because despite our small land area, the islands are home to 25 percent of the endangered species in the United States, many of which are found only found here,” King said in a news release Friday. “Unfortunately, the reality is that human activity and the effects of climate change are causing a mass extinction event. Last year, nine Hawaiian species were declared extinct by the U.S. government, including three bird species native to the islands of Maui County.”

To join the town hall via Zoom, visit us06web.zoom .us/j/82652288236 or enter meeting ID 826 5228 8236 and enter passcode 769350. The event will also stream at facebook.com/CMKellyTKing and facebook.com/BirdsNotMosquitoes.