MISC — Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC)

The Maui Invasive Species Committee is Hiring!

Posted on February 18, 2022 by MISC

February 14, 2022- MISC is hiring temporary field crew members to join the coqui crew this spring and summer. Positions can be part-time or full-time and will last for five months, with the potential to extend into a permanent position afterward based on funding. See below for more information and how to apply.

Apply now!

Employment type: Accepting resumes for part-time or full–time, temporary (no benefits) positions. Resumes must include a cover letter and three professional references.
Shifts: 10-hour shifts, Monday – Thursday (1:00 p.m. -11:30 p.m. during the summer, 12:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. during the winter) with occasional weekends and daytime shifts as operational needs dictate.
Salary: Starting salary is $14.89/hour.
Experience: Introductory level. Training will be provided, no experience is necessary.
Crew-specific responsibilities: Work involves mixing 50 lb. bags of citric acid into a 14% solution, hiking in rough terrain while carrying heavy fire hose to spray coqui frog infested areas, installing PVC pipelines, weed eating and mowing to remove coqui habitat, interacting with community members, and maintaining detailed records including GPS.
Location: Crew reports to MISC baseyard at Old Maui High School. Work is typically performed in gulches and other wildland areas around the Haʻikū are, but may also be done in residential areas as needed.
Basic Qualifications: Must have a current driver’s license, reliable personal transportation, and high school diploma or GED equivalent.
Application Requirements: 1) Cover Letter, 2) Resume, 3) Three professional supervisory references
Application Deadline: Ongoing recruitment.

For inquiries please contact Susan Frett, Acting Coqui Control Coordinator at (808) 633-6646 or skfrett@hawaii.edu

Click to learn more about a day in the life of the MISC coqui crew and apply today!

Press Release: Nominations Now Accepted to Honor Invasive Species Prevention Efforts Within Maui County

Posted on September 24, 2021 by MISC

PĀʻIA – Nominations are now being accepted to honor invasive species prevention efforts within Maui County. The Mālama i ka ʻĀina Award has been presented annually since 2003 to a landscaper, plant provider (retail and/or wholesale nurseries and garden shops), or commercial/agricultural property in recognition of their efforts to keep invasive species out of Maui County. The County of Maui, the Maui Association of Landscape Professionals, and the Maui Invasive Species Committee sponsor and present the award.

The winner will be announced at the Arbor Day Garden Expo and Hawaiian Tree Giveaway, a multi-day event from November 2-6 that includes tree and plant care lectures and webinars, a local nursery open house, and a giveaway of more than 1,000 Hawaiian trees. The winner will receive a plaque, a glass sculpture of a native species by artist Jupiter Nielsen, a one-year free membership with the Maui Association of Landscape Professionals, and local media recognition.

Nominators are requested to explain how the nominee’s activities or decisions have addressed the threat of pests on Maui through their industry. Past Mālama i ka ʻĀina Award recipients were recognized for meaningful efforts to prevent the spread of invasive species, including incorporating codes of conduct in business practices, educating the public and clients about invasive species, and encouraging the use of native species in landscape design.

The nomination form can be found at www.mauiinvasive.org/MIKA and is due by Friday, October 15, 2021. Self-nominations are welcome.

Questions about the award and nomination form may be directed to MISC Public Relations and Education Specialist, Serena Fukushima, at (808) 344-2756 or miscpr@hawaii.edu. For more information on the Arbor Day Garden Expo and Hawaiian Tree Giveaway, visit www.arbordayexpo.com

The Mālama i ka ʻĀina award is sponsored and presented by the County of Maui (Makaleʻa Ane -R), the Maui Invasive Species Committee (Adam Radford- 2nd left), and the Maui Association of Landscape Professionals (Allison Wright- L). Also pictured is the 2020 recipient, Mark Mark Blietz, being presented the award by Adam Radford during a small ceremony at his Haʻikū nursery. Photo: MISC

Mark Blietz, owner of Northshore Tropicals in Haiku, was the 2020 recipient of the Malama i ka Aina Award. Photo: MISC

The 2020 award featured a plaque and a glass sculpture of native Hawaiian sandalwood, or ʻiliahi, by glass artist Jupiter Nielsen. Photo: MISC

Date: September 24, 2021

Subject: Nominations Now Accepted to Honor Invasive Species Prevention Efforts
within Maui County

Contact: Serena Fukushima, Public Relations & Education Specialist
Maui Invasive Species Committee
PH: (808) 344-2756
Email: miscpr@hawaii.edu

Evolutionary oddities: giant flightless ducks roamed Maui, grazing like buffalo and spreading seeds

Posted on March 24, 2021 by MISC

As tall as a toddler, the flightless moa-nalo lived in Hawaiʻi for over 3 million years.

For millennia, before humans ever set foot on Hawaiʻi, birds ruled the islands. From mountain top to shoreline, the feathered filled the forests, grasslands, wetlands, and shorelines. As the predominant animal of islands that lacked the land-dwelling reptiles (only sea turtles) and mammals (only bats) found elsewhere, birds adapted to fill a range of ecological roles. They were pollinators, predators and scavengers, seed dispersers, fertilizers, and even the grazers on the landscape shaping the ecology and being shaped by geography and isolation.

Take the moa-nalo or “lost fowl,” named as they are only known from fossils found in caves and dunes. Moa-nalo are a group of flightless birds that lived in Hawaiʻi for over 3 million years until humans arrived. They had large massive turtle-like beaks, complete with teeth. Some species were as tall as a toddler and weighed up to 15 pounds. Forest dwellers, they were the grazers of the landscape, like the buffalo or deer of the mainland, they used their oversized beaks to tear at leaves and spent their lives munching the understory plants and ferns.

Moa-nalo wandered the islands of Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, and Maui Nui but are not known from Hawaiʻi Island. On Maui, there are two species known from fossils found in caves: the Maui-Nui moa-nalo, the largest species in the Islands, and the Stumbling moa-nalo, a species that lived in the mountains

The ancestors of the moa-nalo were dabbling ducks (ducks that feed on the surface of freshwater) that colonized the islands around 3.6 million years ago. At that time, the island of Oʻahu was the youngest in the chain, with Maui Nui and Hawaiʻi Island yet to be formed. As the Pacific Plate moved northwest, Maui Nui – first Molokai, then Lanaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, and then Maui began forming. Exactly when and how giant flightless ducks reached Maui Nui, or whether they evolved to be flightless after they arrived is unknown. At that time, sea level was lower and wetlands were prominent on the landscape of Maui Nui, attracting birds as they do today. Flightlessness could have been an advantage for the ancient birds, transferring energy reserves from powering wings to walking to take advantage of a plentiful plant resource, underutilized as there were no other grazing animals around.

Though most plants in Hawaiʻi do not have thorns, many species of *Cyanea* (hāhā) like this *Cyanea duvalliorum* from Makawao Forest Reserve bear formidable-looking defenses. Scientists suspect that the presence of moa-nalo influenced the evolution of these plants’ defenses. Birds have been a critical force in shaping the ecology of the Hawaiian Islands. Photo courtesy of Forest & Kim Starr

Many of the plants that are endemic to Hawaiʻi (found here and nowhere else) lack the chemicals and thorns that their ancestors may have had to deter grazing animals – take for example the ʻākala, the Hawaiian raspberry, with only hair-like thorns when compared to a related invasive blackberry. But giant grazing ducks may have spurred some plants to defend themselves. Thirteen of the 20 species of hāhā (Cyanea) native to the islands have prickly fern-like leaves, though only when the plants are young and within about four feet of the ground – the reach of the moa-nalo. As the plants grow taller and out of the reach of the grazers, the leaves are full and spineless.

Though plants may have evolved defenses from moa-nalo, these oversized flightless, ground-nesting birds were one of the first species to disappear when humans reached the islands – likely as meals for humans and the animals that came with them—rats, pigs, and dogs. The moa-nalo are among 77 species of Hawaiian birds that have become extinct in the last 700 years, thanks to invasive species, disease, and habitat loss.

There are still rare and unique bird species left in Hawaiʻi – forest birds, shorebirds, and seabirds that are both amazing in their own right and serve critical roles in ecosystem processes. Heroic efforts protect the remaining species. Here on Maui, many projects work to protect bird populations and nesting habitat through research and restoration. Among them are the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project, Maui Bird Conservation Center, Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge. If you would like to learn more about birds in Hawaiʻi and efforts to protect them, consider volunteering with one of these organizations.

Lissa Strohecker is the public relations and education specialist for the Maui Invasive Species Committee. She holds a biological sciences degree from Montana State University. Kia’i Moku, “Guarding the Island,” is prepared by the Maui Invasive Species Committee to provide information on protecting the island from invasive plants and animals that can threaten the island’s environment, economy, and quality of life.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on January 11, 2020 as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

Coqui Crew – September 2020

Posted on September 23, 2020 by MISC

From July through September, the coqui crew worked throughout Haʻikū on populations of frogs near the Kauhikoa Reservoir, the Five Corners area, Kaluanui, Kauhikoa Gulch, and West Kuiaha resulting in a dramatic reduction in coqui in these areas. Interns from American Conservation Experience helped tackle an outlying population near Pe‘ahi in Haʻikū. The crew followed up on reports and removed frogs in Makawao and Huelo as well. Community reports help us to find these new frog populations. Please keep reporting! mauiinvasive.org/coqui-frog/got-coqui/

Aja Early, formerly a coqui crew leader and currently part of the MISC miconia crew, captured a single calling frog in a kalo loʻi in Wailuaui near Keʻanae, protecting east Maui from coqui. Citric acid pipeline infrastructure improvements, habitat modification, and citric acid sprays are ongoing with dedicated and integrated training time to inform decisions made in the field by our newer members on the team.

MISC’s coqui crew welcomed five new crew members in August bringing the coqui field crew to 14. In September, three more crew members started work bringing the crew to 17. The experienced staff, especially Darrell Aquino and Scott Winter, have done an excellent job of sharing their knowledge, experience, and perspectives with everyone on the team. In September, the MISC field crew was supplemented with 11 experienced field interns from A.C.E., American Conservation Experience. MISC is still looking for people who feel drawn to this type of work and we are currently accepting applications for field crew. Follow MISC on Facebook or Instagram for updates on these positions.

A system of PVC pipeline delivers citric throughout a gulch. Crew work along stations, plugging in fire hose and spraying the walls of the gulch.

Updates on other species here:

Plant Crew – September 2020

Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death response: In response to community reports, Mike Ade collected two samples for possible Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death: one ...
Read More

Molokai/Maui Invasive Species Committee -September 2020

Removing upside-down jellyfish from Kaunakakai harbor sometimes takes partners, as when DLNR divers helped out several years ago. The Molokai ...
Read More

Coqui Crew – September 2020

From July through September, the coqui crew worked throughout Haʻikū on populations of frogs near the Kauhikoa Reservoir, the Five ...
Read More

Community Coqui Control Progam – September 2020

All four of the Haʻikū neighborhoods involved in the MISC Community Coqui Control Program held work weeks during August. One ...
Read More

Early Detection, Outreach, and Education – September 2020

Early Detection:No news is good news, at least from the early detection team. Forest and Kim Starr surveyed the Kahului ...
Read More

Little Fire Ant Crew – September 2020

Little fire ants can climb and so can our crew. Paul Moneymaker scales a steep hillside while surveying for little ...
Read More

All Updates

Community Coqui Control Progam – September 2020

Posted on September 23, 2020 by MISC

All four of the Haʻikū neighborhoods involved in the MISC Community Coqui Control Program held work weeks during August. One of the communities, Haʻikū Mauka, had record participation: the community worked together to treat half the properties in the neighborhood and collectively contributed 24 hours of effort helping each other remove coqui frogs.

In the Lower Kokomo neighborhood, more residents learned how to operate the citric acid pipeline that is installed in their neighborhood gulch, further empowering them to keep the coqui frogs out of their backyards!

Haʻikū residents work together to bring back quiet nights to their neighborhoods.

The MISC Community Coqui Control team held the first Virtual Block Party with the Lower Kokomo neighborhood. MISC staff presented results of their neighborhood effort over the first year and discussed future plans for the program. The highlight was that the community reported hearing fewer coqui frogs in the neighborhood since the program began! MISC plans to hold Virtual Block Parties with each of the neighborhoods we currently work in before the end of the year.

MISC will continue community spray weeks on a 6-week rotation through the fall. To further empower local residents to control coqui frogs in their own yards MISC is offering small, in-person training sessions to learn how to use the equipment available from our community loan program. Community members with coqui frogs in their yards are encouraged to recruit a few neighbors and contact Susan (skfrett@hawaii.edu or 808-633-6646) to sign up for this training opportunity. Participants will learn how to use different sized sprayers, mix the correct percentage of citric acid solution, safely treat their yards and clean the equipment. Any efforts that community members can take to control coqui frogs in their own yards frees up the MISC coqui crew to work in the gulches and other challenging locations.

September Updates on other species here: