''Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources'' was an ecological court case pertaining to the Palila and the Māmane- Naio ecosystem of

Mauna Kea Mauna Kea ( or ; ; abbreviation for ''Mauna a Wākea''); is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is ...

. The case stems from the introduction of

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

onto

Hawaii island Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii ) is the largest island in the United States, located in the state of Hawaii. It is the southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of , it has 63% of t ...

in the late 18th century, which became feral and damaged the local ecosystem. Before the 1920s elimination program was completed, it was replaced with a game control plan that caused controversy between hunters and conservationists. Claiming that the state of Hawaii was violating the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

, a suit was filed to the Ninth District Court; as a result, the state was ordered to eradicate all feral animals on the island within two years. A public hunting program was put in place, and has been largely effective; the Palila has begun to recover, and the case demonstrated federal power to protect endangered species.

Roots

The roots of the case go as far back as the late 18th century, when

s (''Capra hircus'') and

(''Ovis aries'') were released on the island and became feral. They were highly damaging to the

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

ecosystem (especially Palila (''Loxioides bailleui''), which became critically endangered), and competed with commercial

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

for resources. A government program for their elimination was put in place in the late 1920s. The numbers were reduced from an estimated 40,000 to 200 in 1950. However, they were not fully eradicated; an increase in leisure time and greater ease of access to the mountains drove an influx of

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

s who saw the remaining feral species as

game animal Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, thou ...

s. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources conceded, and in place of the eradication program a sustained-control program was introduced. This was followed by introducing feral mouflon (''Ovis aries orientalis'') onto the island for hunters. In addition to mouflon, axis deer (''Axis axis'') were proposed for introduction. This was met with protests against their introduction by

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s and ranchers, who saw them as a threat to food resources and a vehicle for bovine disease. The hunting industry fought back, and the back-and-forth between the ranching industry and hunters eventually gave way to a rise in public environmental concern; reports were published that showed that there was no environmentally sustainable way the deer could be introduced onto the island, and the issue was finally laid to rest. With conservationists demanding protection of

's ecosystem, plans were made to fence off 25% of the forests from foreign influence, and leave the remaining 75% under the same regulations. This plan was met by extreme opposition from conservationists, who questioned the effectiveness of such a plan as well as where the money for the fence, an expensive project, would be found. While the land was partitioned as planned, no money was allocated for the building of the fence. During these wranglings, the federal

was passed. The

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

and

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund Earthjustice (originally Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund) is a nonprofit public interest organization based in the United States dedicated to litigating environmental issues. Headquartered in San Francisco, it has 14 regional offices across the Un ...

filed a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

against the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, claiming that they were violating federal laws of conservation.

Hearings

Basis

The arguments of ''Palila et al.'' were based on wording in the Endangered Species Act that extended protection to "critical habitats...the loss of which would appreciably decrease the likelihood of the survival and recovery of the listed species." These arguments were centered on the Palila, an endemic species of finch-billed

Hawaiian honeycreeper Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus ''Carpodacus'', but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great ...

. Because of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, the Palila, which used to range on

, Mauna Loa, and

Hualālai Hualālai (pronounced in Hawaiian) is an active volcano on the island of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. It is the westernmost, third-youngest and the third-most active of the five volcanoes that form the island of Hawaii, following Kīlauea a ...

, had its range cut to limited areas of Mauna Kea representing just 10% of its former range. A mass of records, reports, and studies had been amassed, all pointing to the feral game animals as the main perpetrator of the species' endangerment, and all recommending their total removal from the mountainside. In 1977 the species was included by the

US Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

in a list of 10 extremely endangered animals. The defense argued that the game animals were no threat to the species, and that the

Tenth Amendment The Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution, a part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791. It expresses the principle of federalism, also known as states' rights, by stating that the federal governmen ...

gives states the power to control non- migratory birds within their own borders.

Results

The district court found the state violated the ESA, and ordered it to initiate steps towards the removal of feral sheep from the island within two years. Plans were approved for the eradication of the feral animals through a public hunting campaign. A request for

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

by the state was denied.

Outcome

There were several important outcomes from the legal debate: # It established the right to protection of endangered animals to human conventions that damage the ecosystems which they live on. # It showed that the federal government has over-reaching power in what was prior an internal state matter. # The ability of endangered species to have standing to sue as plaintiffs in their own right was not questioned. (The trial court's opinion began, "The Palila (Psittirostra bailleui) seeks the protection of this Court . . . ."''Palila v. Hawaii Dep't of Land & Nat. Resources'', 471 F. Supp. 985, 987 (D. Hawaii 1979). The appellate court did not object.) While the Palila has been rescued from extinction hundreds of Hawaiian ecosystems and organisms remain in danger, and it is likely there will be a similar debates on similar topics in the future.

References