MAUI NEWS (Wailuku, Hawaii) 02 December 07 MISC project: Destroy coqui (Chris Hamilton)
Haiku: Bob Flint is about to get some big guns in his almost decade-long war with the tiny but extremely annoying coqui frog.
The coqui are not native to Hawaii and have inundated about 80 acres of the Maliko Gulch between Haiku and Makawao, near Flint’s home. The frogs’ calls are as loud as a lawn mower and have forced Flint’s wife, Sunny Jordan, to wear earplugs to bed for the past five years.
At one point, the couple were spending $250 a month to spray citric acid on vegetation to kill the pests. Flint even helped spawn his own volunteer anti-coqui program called the Kokomo Street Frog Squad.
But now the Maui Invasive Species Committee is readying a unique project of its own design intended to destroy what MISC is calling the last stronghold of the coqui on Maui. In some sections of the gulch, MISC vertebrates head Adam Radford estimates there could be up to 20,000 coqui per acre.
If MISC crews are successful, they will have gotten under control on Maui one of the most loathed invasive species in all of Hawaii.
Radford and his five-person crew developed a plan to install a portable sprinkler system that can spray a concentration of citric acid and water in a radius of up to 550 feet. The pipes, tanks, pumps and generators will be put to use in 10 locations in the gulch early next year, Radford said.
The sprinklers, which are similar to what farmers use to water their crops, can pump out 1,000 gallons a week of the nontoxic, biodegradable citric acid concentration.
“It’s nice not to be alone in this fight,” Flint said. “They are a really exceptional group, who will work in the rain and at night with headlamps . . . They’ve literally given me back some of my life.”
Typically, Radford and his crew work with a wheeled pump and fire hoses. However, the gulch has 100-foot walls, making it too difficult to navigate, he said. The crews still plan to spray by hand around the perimeter of the gulch, Radford said.
There are 14 identified sites on Maui now where the coqui have been established. But most of those pockets host 20 or fewer frogs, Radford said. In those areas, MISC crews hand capture them.
An area is considered cleared when no coqui has been heard there for a year.
“Our hope is that the sprinkler heads could contain them,” Radford said. “Essentially, (Maliko Gulch) that’s the last really thriving population on Maui. It’s a substantial undertaking for us.”
MISC had even considered using helicopters to spray, but decided it would be too disruptive to the peaceful Upcountry neighborhoods, Radford said.
What is not peaceful is the coqui.
The brown frog has a round body, no more than an inch or two long. Males grow to only the size of a quarter. The silent females can be up to 2 inches long.
It’s the male that emits the two-note whistle – similar to a birdcall – to mark territory or attract a mate. The call can be heard only at night and is meassured up to 90 decibels, a noise level comparable to having a child screaming nearby or a motorcycle with open pipes passing on the street.
The coqui frog is one of more than 1,000 alien plants, animals and insects that have been accidentally or intentionally introduced to Hawaii over 65 years. The coqui is native to Puerto Rico and is believed to have been brought to Hawaii in 1988 in ornamental plants shipped in by plant nurseries. In Puerto Rico, snakes are its natural enemy – which makes Hawaii paradise for the frog.
With no snakes in Hawaii, the frog populations have overwhelmed some areas, especially the wet Puna area on the Big Island, according to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The presence of coqui can drive down property values, since sellers are required by law to report the frog infestations to potential buyers.
“I think MISC has done a fantastic job of keeping the coqui populations at bay and responding very quickly to any reports of them,” said Maui County Environmental Coordinator Kuhea Paracuelles, who lived on the Big Island and has seen and heard the coqui problem firsthand.
“It is incredible we are not at that point here, and testament to how successful MISC has been, especially with such a small staff,” Paracuelles said.
MISC is a program of the University of Hawaii Manoa. The crews work to prevent invasive species from becoming established anywhere on Maui County. MISC also educates people about invasive species and tells them what they can do to help.
For more information or to report an invasive species, go on the Web to www.hear.org, www. misc.org or call 573-MISC.
MISC project: Destroy coqui