 |
 |
|
|
|
Huleia National Wildlife Refuge |
 |
||
| State Hwy 56 and Lighthouse Rd Kilauea, HI 96754 - 1128 E-mail: Michael_Mitchell@fws.gov Phone Number: 808-828-1413 |
|||
| Visit the Refuge's Web Site: http://www.fws.gov/huleia |
|||
 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
Huleia National Wildlife Refuge |
|
||
| State Hwy 56 and Lighthouse Rd Kilauea, HI 96754 - 1128 E-mail: Michael_Mitchell@fws.gov Phone Number: 808-828-1413 |
|||
| Visit the Refuge's Web Site: http://www.fws.gov/huleia |
|||
|
|||
|
||||||
Huleia National Wildlife Refuge Hule'ia National Wildlife Refuge is located on the southeast side of Kaua'i, adjacent to the famous Menehune Fish Pond, a registered National Historic Landmark. The Hule'ia Refuge is approximately 238 acres of bottomlands and wooded slopes along the Hule'ia River. It was established in 1973 to provide open, productive wetlands as nesting and feeding habitat for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds, including the Hawaiian stilt (ae'o), coot ('alae ke'oke'o), moorhen ('alae`ula), and duck (koloa maoli) can be found here. To protect and minimize disturbance to the sensitive endangered species that live there, the reufge is closed to all public access. Getting There . . . To find the refuge office, turn left just after crossing the Hanalei River Bridge onto Ohiki Road and continuing past the Haraguchi Rice Mill to the last buildings on the right.
 Hule'ia Refuge includes approximately 240 acres of steep wooded slopes and relatively flat bottomlands along the Hule'ia River. The hillsides are wooded in exotic trees and shrubs, while most of the wetlands were formerly used for taro and rice production. Learn More>> |
 The refuge is closed to the public.
Without significant management efforts such as impoundment construction and maintenance, prescribed burning, discing, tilling, herbicide application, taro farming, and cattle grazing, invasive exotic vegetation rapidly degrades water bird habitat quality. Current programs include cooperative taro farming to provide habitat for four endangered Hawaiian water birds; constructing and managing wetland impoundments to provide secure nesting, feeding, and loafing areas; and a native plant reintroduction program in the uplands. Farming practices beneficial to wildlife are carried out, such as leaving un-harvested buffer zones around nests. Leaving patches fallow for a month after harvest allows birds to feast on invertebrates that build up on decaying vegetation. With the year round growing season, refuge impoundments require intensive management efforts including mowing, discing, and water manipulation to provide the needed habitat for water birds. Introduced animals such as dogs, cats, rats, barn owls, cattle egrets, and bullfrogs are predatory threats to endangered water birds, and are controlled on the refuge to reduce their impact on the endagered birds. |
|||||
