KAILUA-KONA — The organizers of the annual Hawaii Island Festival of Birds have announced the cancellation of this year’s event, citing difficulty accessing forest reserves around Maunakea.
The fourth annual edition of the festival, which was set for Oct. 24-28, will not take place due to “ongoing uncertainty of access into key native forest habitat and other mitigating factors,” a press release stated.
Rob Pacheco, co-founder of the festival, said the closure of Maunakea Access Road and nearby areas because of the ongoing protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope limited access to Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Any area to the refuge that could be accessed on foot is currently closed to nonessential personnel by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We had a lot of things with the festival that we could do, however, we have the people from the mainland coming over and attending all four days of the festival, and primarily, their main draw is to see the birds,” Pacheco said. “And the pinnacle of that is going into the forest and seeing the native Hawaiian forest birds. Hakalau is the pinnacle experience, and that’s the experience most people sign up for.”
Access to the wildlife refuge could open up by the end of October, but Pacheco said the festival committee decided it was best to avoid the financial risks that would come with canceling the festival closer to its start date.
The festival was founded to celebrate the diversity of Hawaii’s birds — including nene, Hawaii amakihi, the Hawaiian hawk and pueo — and to attract both local and visiting birdwatchers to learn about the birds and observe them.
Pacheco said last year the festival drew a crowd of about 800 people.
In place of the Hawaii Island Festival of Birds, three alternative birding tours have been announced from Oct. 25-27.
“We are offering three different tours because there are some people that may have booked already and were planning on coming,” Hawaii Forest and Trail marketing manager Susan Bredo said. “And it’s for people who still want to be here and enjoy and love birding on the island.”
More information on the cancelation and the alternative schedule of the Hawaii Island Festival of Birds can be found at birdfesthawaii.org.