Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 1988 — Vanishing Wetlands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Vanishing Wetlands

^TaturaUy Ilawaiian By Patrick Ching Artist/ Environmentalist

"The sun's first rays creep over the east side ridge warming the earth and causing a glowing mist to rise above the placid pond. The still morning air rings with the songs of crickets and native birds. The glasslike surface of the pond is rippled in places by ducks and coots whieh cut through the water like tiny boats, often with a new brood of chicks in tow. . ." Scenes such as this are becoming increasingly uneommon as are many Hawaiian scenes that we appreciate so mueh. To many, the importance of preserving Hawaii's wetlands seems insignificant with the increasing pressure to develop what some refer to as "wasted, useless" areas of land. In reality, wetland areas are very important to Hawaii not only for ecological reasons but for practical reasons as well.

In the 1970's a number of remaining wetland areas were set aside as national wildlife refuges. In Hanalei valley on the island of Kauai, native waterbirds nest among the kalo in the shallow, flowing waters of the wetland lo'i. Here one ean see five of the six native waterbird species that live in Hawaii: the koloa (duck) whieh resembles a female mallard; the 'alae ke'oke'o (coot) whieh is black with a white bill; the 'alae 'ula (gallinule) whieh is

black with yellow legs and a red bill; the ae'o (stilt) whieh is black and white with long, pink legs; and the 'auku'u (black crowned heron) whieh is the largest of Hawaii's waterbirds. Of these species the most recent arrival to the islands is probably the 'auku'u as it appears to have evolved the least from its ancestral stock. One native waterbird that most residents may not get to see is the Laysan teal. This small duck, like the koloa, is a descendant of the mallard duck. The only plaee this bird ean be found in the wild is on the remote island of Laysan in the northwest Hawaiian ehain where it numbers less than 500 and is on the federal list of endangered species.