The alal, or hawaiian crow (corvus hawaiiensis) has received state protection since 1931 and was federallylisted as an endangered species in 1967

By 2002, the alal was extinct in the wild today there is a captivepopulation of over 110 individuals housed in two conservation breeding centers in hawaii. The species isidentified as a species of greatest conservation need (sgcn) in the hawaii state wildlife action plan (swap).conservation actions for alal are decided upon by the hawaii department of land and natural resourcesdivision of forestry and wildlife (dlnr) and the united states fish and wildlife service (USFWS) with criticalexpertise provided by the alal working group, which is a multi-agency team including representatives from sandiego ZOO wildlife alliance and various land management organizations.there is a critical need to develop a successful alal reintroduction program to establish an appropriatelydistributed and secured wild population to reduce the probability of species extinction. A secondary benefit ofthe proposed reintroduction program is the alleviation of space constraints in the conservation breedingfacilities, which is important for the maintenance of a demographically viable captive population. Previousefforts to reintroduce alal to the wild were ultimately unsuccessful, however some individuals did survive forapproximately three years suggesting there is the potential for future success. The primary source of mortalityfor released alal was predation by native IO (hawaiian hawk, buteo solitarius), however deaths occurred frommultiple causes. A previous competitive state wildlife grant (F20AP00297) provided data on IO spatial behaviorand identified KA forest reserve (FR) on hawaii island as a reintroduction site with the potential tominimize IO-alal interactions. The proposed project will conduct the following activities at KA FR tosupport the proposed alal reintroduction program: predator control and restoration of alal habitat, installation of necessary infrastructure for releases, monitoring of released alal, and public outreach toincrease support for the project.