Hawaiian land snails, known locally as kahuli, have experienced devastating levels of extinction duelargely to introduced predators and climate change

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $333,335 State Wildlife Grant (CFDA 15.634) to the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to support conservation of endangered Hawaiian land snails, known as Kahuli. The 4-year project will conduct thorough surveys to locate and collect rare and threatened snail species across remote areas of Oahu for immediate captive propagation. This effort aims to prevent the extinction of over 100 Kahuli species expected to be lost within the next decade due to invasive predators and climate change. DLNR will establish new predator-proof enclosures to house and breed the rescued snails, expanding an existing captive population of 40 species from 5 islands that the Snail Extinction Prevention Program currently maintains. The funding will enable DLNR to rapidly intervene and prevent the quiet extinction of previously undocumented snail populations across the Hawaiian archipelago.

Of the approximately 750 species that once occurredacross the islands, more than half has been lost to extinction, and within the next decade we expect to loseanother 100 species without swift conservation intervention. The snail extinction prevention program(sepp) is quickly ramping up captive propagation efforts and building predator-proof fence units acrossthe landscape to deal with this onslaught of decline. Sepp has a small team, and the majority of ourefforts are aimed at maintaining the 40 species from five islands already in captivity and building andmaintaining predator-proof fence units to accommodate them, a time-consuming endeavor. Unfortunately, the GUT-wrenching reality is there are extant populations out there, and even species thought to be extinct, that will quietly blink out without ever being known. For example, in 2015 on oahu, prior to seppinitiating captive rearing efforts, seven achatinella pupukaneoe were found in a single tree along a hikingtrail, after not being seen for over 80 years. In 2016, when sepp was able to initiate captive rearing, thesnails were gone, having likely been eaten by a RAT or rosy wolf snail. Contrast that to the last threeachatinella lila found on oahu in 2018, which were immediately collected and brought to the captiverearing facility. This population, having been saved from oblivion, now numbers around 100. As a lastcall to those species hanging on, we propose to conduct two years of thorough surveys for rare andendangered snails across remote portions of oahu. Captive rearing efforts would immediately beimplemented for target species discovered.