Listing actions

Endangered Species Bulletin, July-August, 2002

Newcomb's Snail (Erinna newcombi) We proposed on January 28 to designate segments of nine streams and tributaries on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i as critical habitat for the Newcomb's snail, a freshwater snail listed as a threatened species. The segments proposed for protection total 16.3 miles (26.3 km) in length and are located at mid-elevation valleys in relatively remote areas. The proposed critical habitat areas are found largely on state land already managed for conservation purposes.

Although biologists estimate that between 6,000 and 7,000 Newcomb's snails exist on Kaua'i, more than 90 percent of the snails are found in two populations in small areas along the Kalalau Stream and Lumahai River. This makes these animals very susceptible to catastrophic events such as hurricanes, landslides, and invasions of nonnative predators, including snails, flies, fish, and frogs. Habitat loss and degradation through water diversion and well drilling are suspected to have caused the historical decline of the snail.

O'ahu `Elepaio (Chasiempis sandwhichensis ibidis) On December 10, we designated approximately 65,880 acres (26,660 ha) of critical habitat on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu for the endangered O'ahu `elepaio, a forest bird once considered the most common native land bird on the island. The five designated areas are concentrated in the Wai'anae and Ko'olau mountains.

Today, an estimated 1,982 O'ahu `elepaios exist in scattered locations, with their current range less than 4 percent of their original range. The five critical habitat units include almost all of the currently occupied land and enough unoccupied historical habitat to support a self-sustaining population. The designated areas approximate the species' distribution in 1975, when extensive surveys showed that `elepaio populations were larger and less isolated.