U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces $269,000 Grant to Conserve Coastal Wetlands in American Samoa January 29, 2013
	Leone Bay American Samoa - Credit American Samoa DMWR

News Release

The announcement marks the first time in the program’s history that American Samoa has received a National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant. The $269,000 grant will be used by the American Samoa Department of Commerce and its partners to restore 18.3 acres of coastal wetland habitat in Leone Village. Partners will provide $93,850 in matching funds to restore the wetland and address the degradation and loss of coastal wetland and coral reef habitat in Leone Village, including damage from a devastating 2009 tsunami event.

The Leone wetland area consists of one of the largest and most important mangrove swamps in American Samoa, which was designated as a Special Management Area in 1990. The four main project activities being proposed are community management, tsunami debris removal, coral reef restoration, and mangrove restoration. Community members will participate in all phases of restoration. Enhancing and improving the wetland habitats will benefit the marine, freshwater and terrestrial wildlife associated with mangroves and coral reefs, as well as increase the resiliency of the ecosystem to future impacts from natural disasters and climate change.

15 Big Island Plants and Animals Receive Endangered Species Act Protection October 17, 2012 Current evidence suggests that 15 species on the island of Hawai'i are in danger of becoming extinct in the foreseeable future, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today. As a result, the Service has proposed to protect 15 species on the island of Hawai‘i under the Endangered Species Act, and is seeking new information from the public and the scientific community that will assist the agency in making a final determination.

Kō‘oko‘olau - Photo: Carrie Harrington

News Release - Service Proposes to Protect 15 Species under the Endangered Species Act

Federal Register Notice

To view a Google Earth map of the proposed critical habitat, click here. Click within the blue outlines to view unit information.

UTM Coordinates for Big Island Critical Habitat

	23 O‘ahu Species Receive Endangered Species Act Protection September 18, 2012 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that 20 plant species and three Hawaiian damselfly species found on the Hawaiian island of O‘ahu will receive protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Female Oceanic Hawaiian Damselfly - Photo: Dan Polhemus

News Release

Federal Register Notice

To view a Google Earth map of the proposed critical habitat, click here.

UTM Coordinates for Oahu Critical Habitat

Images can be downloaded from the following Flickr Site

September 4, 2012

The second phase of an ambitious and historic effort to save one of the United States’ rarest bird species from extinction reached another milestone as a group of 26 Millerbirds captured on Nihoa Island was released by biologists on the northwestern Hawaiian island of Laysan, some 650 miles away.

News Release - Expedition Captures 26 Rare Millerbirds, Releases Them Safely at New Home on Remote Hawaiian Island

Images can be viewed at the following Flickr site

Proposal to Protect 40 Species on Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, and Maui as Endangered and the Designation of Critical Habitat for 135 Species

June 11, 2012

News Release

Federal Register Notice

To view a Google Earth map of the proposed Maui Nui Ecosystem critical habitat, click here.

Images can be downloaded from the following Flickr Site