Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge is located in Maui Hawaii between the towns of Kihei and Ma‘alaea and it covers 691 acres of wetland. This wildlife refuge is home to two endangered Hawaiian birds, the Hawaiian stilt (ae‘o) and Hawaiian coot (‘alae keoke‘o). The Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge was selected as a wildlife refuge in 1953, initially protecting 300 acres of land. But in 1992 the refuge joined the National Wildlife Refuge System, making it an official habitat for endangered species like the Hawaiian stilt (ae‘o) and Hawaiian coot (‘alae keoke‘o).
The Hawaiian Stilt is a bird native to the Hawaiian Islands. It resides in wetlands and can be recognized by it's black and white slender physique and long pink legs. It resides on all of the Hawaiian Islands except Kaho'olawe.
The Hawaiian Coot is also native to the Islands of Hawaii. It can be found on all islands except Lani and within the islands it resides in wetlands and marshes. It is easliy identified by its dark black body and white beak. There are currently only 3000 of these native birds left.
This study is extremely important towards helping native nesting birds regain their habitat. Without further knowledge as to how to eradicate the California bulrush, entire species of native birds could disappear. Our research will help future scientists to understand the peril many native animals face when their habitat is taken over by an invasive species.
We put alot of time and effort into our study. The first thing our class did was split up into four groups. One group was our control group, the second was our cut group, the thrid group was our cut and spray group, and the fourth group was our spray group. Each group had its own role to play in our study.The cut group's job was to cut the California Bulrush's stems below the water line in thier area. The spray groups' job was to spray the California Bulrush's tassels with a chemical spray in thier area. And the cut and spray group's job was to cut the California Bulrush's stems thigh height, then spray it with chemicals. The control group didn't do anything to the California Bulrush because we needed something to compare our other methods to. After two weeks we came back to our different study areas and compared our results. We then came to a conclusion about the best method.
These are graphs representing our data
Our results showed us that the best method to eliminate the Claifornia Bulrush from our native bids' nesting grounds was the spray method. This is beacuse the tassels located at the top of the California Bulrush plant were more susceptible to the poison and were able to absorb the poison better than the California Bulrush plants that we cut and sprayed. In conclusion we have decided to use the spray method to eliminate the California Bulrush from our Hawaiian Islands.
