They are: Keauhou Sanctuary- 1,2 7 8 ha on the 

 eastern flank of Mauna Loa; Keauhou 2 Sanctu- 

 ary-514 ha on southeastern slope of Haulalai in 

 North Kona; and Kahuku Sanctuary, on the 

 southern flank of Mauna Loa. A nene park has 

 been built in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on 

 the Island of Hawaii with Pohakuloa stock. All 

 released birds are marked with bright, color-coded 

 plastic leg bands that identify where and when 

 liberated (Hawaii Div. Fish and Game 1972). 

 Roughly half of the 100 geese released each year 

 survive their first year, and at least 25% survive at 

 least 7 years. Data are still too sparse to construct 

 complete life tables (D. Woodside in Zimmerman 

 1975). Older birds, when liberated, appear to 

 leave flocks of younger birds and range over a 

 wider area. Data are insufficient to determine if 

 age at the time of release affects adaptability or 

 survival. Some released birds disperse to unknown 

 areas, then reappear after 4 or 5 years (Hawaii 

 Div. Fish and Game 1972). 



A total of 391 birds have been released in 

 Haleakala Crater on Maui within National Park 

 boundaries, some every year from 1962 through 

 1970 except 1967. The first nests were found 

 there in 1968. A total of 38 nests have been 

 found and 1 1 young are known to have hatched. 

 Five dead goslings were attributed to heavy rains. 

 Mature young were found with parents in May 

 1971. In January 1972, nene produced the pre- 

 vious year were observed paired with Slimbridge- 

 reared birds. The tendency of Maui nene is to re- 

 turn to the same locality for nesting and some- 

 times, to the same site. An exceptional case of 

 dispersal was the one bird that flew back to 

 Hawaii and appeared at Pohokuloa (Hawaii Div. 

 of Fish and Game 1972). No thorough study of 

 the Maui population has ever been conducted 

 (Berger 1972). 



Predator control has involved the use of 

 poison, injected into chunks of meat scattered in 

 crevasses frequented by predators. This bait was 

 placed throughout the sanctuaries for control of 

 dogs, cats, pigs, and mongooses. Additional bait 

 was placed in the vicinity of nene nests. Poisoning 

 is believed to have been effective, at least against 

 rats and dogs. Bait was placed so as to prevent its 

 being eaten by Hawaiian hawks, which species 

 was observed to harass nene on two occasions, 

 but is not believed to be a serious predator because 

 of its small number. Since the inception of the 

 predator control program on sanctuaries, only 



two known incidents of predation have been ob- 

 served: a partly consumed carcass of a gosling, 

 presumed to have been the work of a rat, and 3 

 adult nene killed by dogs (Hawaii Div. Fish and 

 Game 1972). 



Among measures proposed for the manage- 

 ment of nene are: preservation of the natural en- 

 vironment, including the establishment of perman- 

 ent refuges; control of predators and feral grazing 

 and browsing animals in breeding areas; continua- 

 tion of the captive and "nene park" propagation 

 program, if necessary to reinforce propagation or 

 extend the population to new range; conduct of 

 field studies to follow up on the fate of released 

 captive-reared birds and appraise total popula- 

 tions (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1973; King 

 in press); expansion of education program. More 

 specific recommendations of the Hawaii Dept. of 

 Land and Natural Resources (1976) were to con- 

 tinue the propagation project in 1976 to furnish 

 nene for release in South Kona; reduce propaga- 

 tion effort to 24 breeders and produce only 1 

 brood per pair; continue use of same propagation 

 methods; discontinue plucking primaries because 

 deformed primaries can result when this is done; 

 expand the information and education program. 

 At least five nene have been illegally killed within 

 the last 2 yeais. In only one instance was the kill- 

 ing believed to be malicous; the remainder ap- 

 peared to have been through ignorance. 



In addition to 3 nene sanctuaries cooperatively 

 managed on private lands, the Division of Fish 

 and Game announced the establishment of a State 

 sanctucuy, Kipuka Ainahou Nene Sanctuary con- 

 sisting of 15,540 ha on the northeast slope of 

 Mauna Loa between the Mauna Loa access road 

 and Saddle Road, approved 13 March 1974. 



AUTHORITIES 



David H. Woodside 

 Hawaii Division of Fish and Game 

 1151 Punchbowl Street 

 Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 



Eugene Kridler 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 835 Akumu Street 

 Kailua, Hawaii 96734 



Paul H. Baldwin 

 Department of Zoology 

 Colorado State University 

 Fort Collins, Colorado 80521 



