Recovery expenditures for birds listed under the US Endangered Species Act: The disparity between mainland and Hawaiian taxa Original Research Article

Since the arrival of humans more than half of the Hawaiian archipelago’s known endemic bird taxa have been lost. Of the taxa that remain, 31 are federally listed under the US Endangered Species Act and 17 have populations of less than 1000 individuals. Previous studies have documented a geographic disparity in recovery expenditures on listed species, but none have specifically focused on Hawaiian birds. To draw attention to this disparity with the aim to improve Hawaiian bird conservation, I summarized recovery expenditures on listed birds from 1996 to 2004 comparing mainland and Hawaiian taxa in the context of their degree of endangerment. Federal and state spending on the 95 listed bird taxa over this nine year period totaled $752,779,924. Hawaiian birds comprise a third of the listed bird taxa (n = 31), yet dedicated recovery expenditures was only $30,592,692 or 4.1% of the total spent on all listed birds. Despite similar priority ranks assigned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, listed mainland birds received over 15 times the funding of Hawaiian birds. In general, the threats to island taxa are unlike those of mainland taxa (e.g., non-native predators), management actions are expensive, and in many cases they must be conducted in perpetuity. Because of the status of many Hawaiian birds and the threats facing them, current recovery expenditures are inadequate to prevent additional extinctions.