Our 2024 Impact Report is live!
Island Conservation
Conservationists are hopeful for an invasive-free future for Midway Atoll as the public comment period for the draft environmental assessment opens. Mice are attacking nesting albatross on Midway Atoll – the largest albatross colony in the world and the most important and successful breeding ground for Black-footed Albatross and Laysan Albatross. In just a few […]
In 2011, Island Conservation, USFWS, and TNC removed invasive rats from Palmyra Atoll to protect native species. Now researchers have found that disease-carrying mosquitoes have disappeared. By: Rob Margetta Palmyra Atoll is a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean, roughly 1,000 miles south of Hawai’i and less than 3 square miles in area. Its only […]
Invasive species are a primary driver of extinction on islands, but proven methods are available to address this problem. Island Conservation is an international non-profit whose mission is to prevent extinctions by removing invasive species from islands. To date, we have successfully restored 63 islands worldwide, benefiting 1173 populations of 468 species and subspecies. How […]
Wisdom, known the world around as the oldest wild bird sill producing offspring, returned to Midway Atoll in early 2018 and has now successful hatched another chick. At 67, Wisdom, the world’s oldest known breeding bird in the wild, is a mother once more! On February 6th, approximately two months after Wisdom began incubating her […]
A project to remove invasive rats from Midway Atoll in 1995 left the island to flourish, but invasive mice continue to threaten native seabirds. By: Aaron Ochoa Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial is a place of immense ongoing conservation and restoration work. Millions of seabirds depend on the atoll as […]
Efforts to restore wild ‘Alalā (Hawaiian Crow) populations in Hawai’i seem to be working—eleven individuals released in Fall 2017 are thriving. Last fall conservationists held their breath as they released eleven Hawaiian Crows (‘Alalā) into Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve as part of the ‘Alalā Project. Today you can still hear their synchronized caws; these […]
Holly Richards, Public Affairs Officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shares the story of how removal of invasive species from Palmyra Atoll has led to a thriving ecosystem. By: Holly Richards With its lush rainforest and deep turquoise waters surrounded by some of the most intact coral reef ecosystems in the world, Palmyra […]
Albatross return to Midway Atoll to begin the breeding season. Conservationists are hopeful these threatened seabirds can be saved from predatory invasive species. Albatross are philopatric seabirds, which means they return to their natal breeding colony every year to nest and raise new chicks. Midway Atoll is home to the largest Albatross breeding colony in the […]
Invasive rats appear to be gone from Lehua Island after officials conducted a restoration project to protect threatened seabirds. By: Jan TenBruggencate The `iwa or Great Frigatebird swept low over a cluster of trucks, stacks of equipment and a Jet Ranger helicopter on the northern end of Niihau. As I followed its black-winged form with […]
Hawai’i’s ‘I’iwi, also known as the Scarlet Honeycreeper, has received official listing under the Endangered Species Act. Hawai’i’s Scarlet Honeycreeper, also known as the ‘I’iwi was once one of the most common species found throughout native ʻŌhiʻa forests, but converging threats have led to dramatic declines in its population. After years of research, the ‘I’iwi has officially […]