In the increasingly virtual world of meetings and presentations, the Maui Mauka Conservation Awareness Training went online. This collaborative environmental education training from the East Maui Watershed Partnership, the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, and Maui Invasive Species Committee was first offered online to 80 Maui conservation field crew. Additionally, the MMCAT team offered a training tailored for high school students and a standard tour guide training featuring Maggie Pulver from the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC). The next online Maui Mauka Conservation Awareness Training is on May 21, and will feature guest speaker Melissa Price talking about the pueo, or Hawaiian short-eared owl (Asio flammeus sandwichensis).
Some community events went online and MISC outreach staff participated in the first-ever virtual Maui Earth Day Event on 4/26. The monthly MISC column in the Maui News featured an article about activities island residents can do from their backyards to protect Maui and the May submission discussed host-specificity as it applies to biological control.
MISC was featured in the New York University Scienceline editorial called Fighting for an Island based on the work done by the program to control little fire ants on Maui both from the ground and air by helicopter. Litte fire ant control efforts were also featured in a story by Vice News that came out in late May:
Fire Ants Are Invading Hawaii, so Helicopters Are Blasting Them With Birth Control.
