Some of Hawaiʻiʻs endangered plant life will benefit from a new multi-million dollar federal program.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday that more than $5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act will go to help endangered and threatened species.
A projected 36 projects are planned to receive funding that could benefit more than 580 species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
That includes Hawaiian and Pacific Island plants, along with butterflies and moths, freshwater mussels and southwest desert fish.
The director of the Fish and Wildlife Service says the investments target species whose recovery efforts “have been historically underfunded.”
Stephanie Kurose of the Center for Biological Diversity called the move “a much-needed lifeline to these species that have slipped through the cracks.”
“It’s heartening to see our leaders acknowledge that more needs to be done to stem the wildlife extinction crisis and save life on Earth,” Kurose said in a press release.
The Center points out that Hawaiʻi has more than 400 plants on the endangered species list — making up a quarter of all species protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
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