Money to silence frogs 'not adequate'

The Honolulu Advertiser
Saturday, April 30, 2005

By Ron Staton
Associated Press

Senate and House conferees agreed to appropriate $300,000 to the counties to try to eradicate the invasive, noisy coqui frog, but an official from the most heavily infested island says it's not enough.

Under the compromise agreement reached yesterday, the Big Island and Maui each will get $100,000, and O'ahu and Kaua'i each will get $50,000. The largest concentrations of the frog are on the Big Island and Maui.

"That's not adequate," said Andy Levin, executive director for Hawai'i County Mayor Harry Kim. "But I appreciate the bind the Legislature is in and that they were able to come up with that amount."

The county had been hoping for up to $2 million, said Levin, a former state senator.

The county could get help through the federal Workforce Investment Act, which would provide money to hire people to do the eradication, he said.

The state's budget for the next two fiscal years includes $1 million each year for fighting invasive species. Some of that might be used to combat coqui frogs, said Rep. Clifton Tsuji, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View).

The state appropriation is seen as a "positive step," by Rob Parsons, environmental coordinator for Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa. The mayor has put money for fighting invasive species near the top of his legislative priorities, Parsons said.

The county has estimated that it would take $500,000 to eradicate the coqui on Maui, he said.

"In combination with other efforts, it (the appropriation) will make a difference," said Sen. J. Kalani English, D-6th (E. Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i), chairman of the Senate conferees. "I wish it could have been more but considering this is one of the few environmental bills that got funded, it shows the commitment of the Legislature."

Maui has identified more than 100 infestation sites, Parsons said. However, the coqui has not been found in native ecosystems, he said.

That is a concern for Tsuji.

"The coqui frog is fast approaching natural areas and forest reserves and is about to penetrate very pristine areas," he said. "It is rapidly spreading in uncontrollable fashion."

The original House bill appropriated the money to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for the eradication effort. But the Senate amended the bill to give the money directly to the counties.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently rejected an application for nearly $9 million in federal money to fight the frogs, which the state had hoped would pay for most of the effort.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the state's request for an emergency exemption to allow the use of a chemical commonly known as hydrated lime to control the coqui infestations.

Agriculture Director Sandra Lee Kunimoto said hydrated lime is much cheaper than citric acid, which already is on the exempted list, and is readily available.

The sound of the frogs' chirping is welcome in their native Puerto Rico, but their loud call is seen as a nuisance in Hawai'i.

The frogs have been detected in one location on Kaua'i, and a population in Wahiawa is under control, according to officials.

© COPYRIGHT 2005 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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