Climate

Warming temperatures brought on by climate change are allowing mosquitoes to move up in elevation into formerly safe havens, where they are spreading avian malaria to birds that are already on the brink of extinction. Just one bite can kill these birds.

Scientists agree that our best hope—one that can meet the scale and the pace of the threat—is reducing mosquito populations as quickly as possible. TNC is working with partners to deploy an innovative technology called Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT), where non-biting male mosquitoes are bred in a lab with a naturally occurring bacteria that renders them sterile so that when they are released in our preserves and mate with females, the eggs will not hatch, causing the populations to crash.

We are in the first year of implementing this method on Maui and in trials on Kauaʻi.

What makes reefs healthy in a changing climate? TNC worked with partners to develop a tool to help answer that question: the "digital twin” is a four-dimensional virtual replica of a reef that allows scientists to virtually test potential restoration actions.

The team developed the first digital twin using Palmyra’s coral reefs. Palmyra was selected as the ideal location to start this work due to the abundance of existing scientific data and the variety of reef conditions from near-pristine areas to sites extremely degraded from WWII.

The tool allows users to try things out within the model, such as planting corals to see where currents spread their larvae, and then selecting the best locations based on optimal dispersal. This knowledge can then inform the methods that will yield the best results for restoring reefs.

This kind of knowledge and technology developed by TNC and our partners will assist and empower coastal communities worldwide to safeguard their reefs and the lives and livelihoods that depend upon them.

In 2007 a wildfire swept through nearly 2,300 acres of the Kula Forest Reserve on Maui, fueled by non-native pines planted in the early 1900s. The fire’s strong updrafts carried pine seeds across the summit of Haleakalā. Soon after, conservationists began finding invasive pine seedlings sprouting in sensitive subalpine and alpine areas—habitats that native plants and endangered seabirds depend on.

Since then, TNC and partners have been working to control these invasive pines, which alter soil chemistry, create fire-prone landscapes and threaten the health of East Maui’s watershed. Now, TNC and our partners are taking an innovative approach that turns this invasive tree into a tool for healing.

After the devastating fires in 2023, TNC launched the Waikamoi Biochar Project, a bold effort to reduce wildfire risk by removing highly flammable invasive pine trees and converting them into biochar. TNC crews and volunteers are cutting smaller pines along the preserve’s roadways, curing the wood and processing it in a kiln operated by Haleakalā Biochar. The result is a powerful type of charcoal called biochar that acts as a soil amendment with multiple benefits. Biochar can retain water and nutrients, provide habitat for beneficial soil microbes, filter water and add nutrients to farmland. One ton of biochar can sequester three tons of carbon. TNC is donating this biochar to Maui communities to help them restore fire-scarred lands.

Collaboration is at the heart of this effort. TNC has joined forces with watershed partners, Haleakalā Ranch, and community volunteers to reduce fuels and replant native trees in Waikamoi Preserve. Together, TNC and our partners are building a landscape-wide strategy that protects our native forests and restores habitat for endangered birds while helping Maui communities heal from wildfire damage. By transforming invasive pine trees into a resource for renewal, this work strengthens the connections between people, place and nature.