The Endangered Nēnē Goose and its Potential Threat to Human Air-Traffic in Hawai’i
Instructor: Aaron Shiels
Institution: University of Hawaii, Hilo
Department: Biology
This lesson is appropriate for use with: University-level courses such as Conservation Ethnobiology, Humans and the Environment, Advanced Ethnobiology, Conservation Biology, Hawaiian Natural History and Conservation, Environmental Studies, and others.
Note: Teachers should develop and distribute a clear grading rubric to their students when assigning this project.
Purpose & Background: This exercise is built on a current human-environmental issue that involves an endangered species (the Nēnē goose), airport personnel and airplane passengers, local environmental groups, a local Hawaiian cultural group, a private golf course, US Fish and Wildlife biologists, and a federal wildlife service agency. The problem is that large birds, like geese (Branta spp.) are formidable threats to humans in airplanes because the geese can cause crashes when they hit the airplane and are sucked into the engines. Nearly 500 planes have been damaged by collisions with birds since 2000, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Some 166 of those planes had to make emergency landings (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/birds-plane-crashes-article-1.361189). Many feel that it is only a matter of time before a fatal accident occurs from an air-traffic collision with geese. Many people, including kids and adults, care greatly for geese and celebrate their interactions with them. Additionally, geese are native species to these habitats near airports.
Geese commonly rest and graze adjacent to airports, especially within golf courses where they have solitude, waterways, and especially copious amounts of grass (their staple food). On Kauai, there is a golf course immediately adjacent to the runway of the international airport, and the golf course is indeed inhabited by a large flock of endangered Nēnē geese (Branta sandwicensis). Although this is an endangered species, the population by the airport is among the fastest growing Nēnē populations in the Hawaiian Islands and some biologists believe that the great growth of this population is a result of the golf-course habitat.
Active-learning Exercise: The class of students will ‘role play’ the interests groups, and they are charged to come up with a solution that is beneficial for the Nēnē while removing the threat of the Nēnē to potential airplane crashes near the Kauai airport. Students must take-on the mindset of their assigned interest group.
After sharing the above information with the class, the interest groups will be assigned to students. They will be given 10 minutes to discuss their viewpoint within their group. They will be encouraged to make strong points that would realistically be made by their assigned interest group.
Next, each group will express their solution to the problem (again, expressing the viewpoint of their interest group). For example, the local environmental group will uphold their viewpoint of animal rights, the Endangered Species Act, and that the habitat is favorable for the geese. The geese should not be scared or trapped. The local Hawaiian community feels the Nēnē has sacred value and the birds should not be moved around or altered from their natural status. The private golf course pushes for a solution that will rid the golf course of the geese as quickly as possible because they do not want any affiliation with a potential airplane crash (or their golfers pestered by the geese). The USFWS biologists state that the golf course is a very suitable habitat for the geese, and even if the birds are moved they will likely return to the golf course. The airport personnel want the birds removed. If they could, they would shoot them. They see this as a situation of risking human lives over a few birds that can be found elsewhere on Kauai or on other islands. The wildlife service group is a federal group that manages wildlife; they are employed by the airport. They must abide by species protection laws and they have been paid to scare birds off runways before the planes leave or enter the runway in order to limit bird contact in flight. They are capable of capturing the birds and moving them somewhere else.
After each group has expressed their opinion to all the other groups, the discussion turns to an open debate, but the students must continue to express the viewpoint of their assigned interest group.
For the final 10 minutes of class, the exercise is stopped. The instructor will share the solution that is currently taken (i.e., translocate the geese from the Kauai airport to the island of Maui), and the student will reflect upon this and see how their debate compares to that which occurred in Kauai. Students are then encouraged to examine the local newspaper article that describes the issue, the current solution, and effectiveness of the solution:
Students should gain a better understanding of the complexity of such human-environmental issues. These issues involve far more than simple biology—there are many perspectives involved and many interest groups at stake, including local Hawaiian traditional beliefs. Often there is not a clear solution to such problems, especially one that appeases all interest groups.
Optional follow-up to this activity: As groups, have students research different viewpoints about another human-environmental conflict and submit a 10-page literature review which cites primary literature, media (newspapers, television news segments, documentaries, internet resources, etc.), and primary interviews which they have conducted themselves with at least two different stake-holders with opposing viewpoints. Students should then suggest a creative solution to the problem and report it to the class in a 10-minute presentation. Students should peer review the other members of their group with a supplied form. Students should also critique the presentations of the other groups with a supplied form.