Scientist Coral Wolf walks along Hawadax Island, Alaska, in this June 2013 photo provided by Island Conservation. Five years after an effort to eradicate rats from the remote Alaskan island, conservationists and federal wildlife officials are reporting success.JUNEAU, Alaska – Conservationists and federal wildlife officials are reporting success, five years after undertaking an effort to eradicate rats from a remote Alaska island.
Officials with Island Conservation, The Nature Conservancy and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that the island — once known as Rat Island because of its infestation of invasive Norway rats — is now teeming with birds, whose songs and noises have replaced the silence that had been reported there when the rats ran rampant.
They said for the first time, breeding tufted puffins have been documented on the island, which is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and near the far end of the Aleutian Island chain that stretches out into the Bering Sea. They also reported an increase in ground-nesting and shorebird numbers compared to prior surveys and documented song sparrows, which were not recorded during prior visits, said biologist Stacey Buckelew, who worked as a contractor for Island Conservation earlier this year when the latest survey was conducted.
The makeover of the island includes a name change: Rat Island officially became Hawadax Island, a nod to the original Aleut name, in 2012.
Randy Hagenstein, Alaska state director for The Nature Conservancy, called the transformation “one of the successes for conserving island ecosystems around the world.”