The Coqui's are coming! WHAT to do?

[kimtavares]

For those of you in Eden Roc, there is a group of energetic persons in your neighborhood who are getting prepared to treat coqui sites, and the could use your help. Talk to Rachael Roditti, Bill Christi, Tom Brandt, or Sky Mullins, or Tim (with the red cinder driveway). I was there last night at the corner of Ohi`a and Nene (Rd 2?) answering questions and demonstrating locating and hand capture techniques.

About County Sprayers: The county purchased a bunch of drench rigs, and they are scattered around the island at different sites. They put them where people want them, where there are people willing to do the work. I recommended to the group last night that you folks put in your call to the mayor's office to get yourself a drench rig for Eden Roc. They are planning to buy 400 gallon tanks and assorted accessories, and I recommended to the Mayor's office already, that Eden Roc needs one.

I have been suppressing the spread of coqui in upper Puna for about 5 years now, along with the seasonal Hawaii Volcanoe's part time staff. I can tell you from experience that if you have just one frog or just a few, that you should really go and catch it immediately. There are already enough places in your neighborhood that need drenching, and if everyone catches isolated individual frogs where ever, when ever they are heard, that will save tons of time, money and future frustration .

Until the scientists find a biological solution to this problem, it will be ongoing and more challenging every year. You will notice though that they get a little quieter up here in the winter and during drought. (Some reprieve)

Good luck,
Kim

www.hismec.org

[mella l]

Thanks for the informative post Kim. When we relocate, we plan on clearing out the underbrush as loffelkopffl suggests, and will do our part and help out in neighborhood eradication efforts also.

mella l

[kimtavares]

Following up on Mella's response:

Coqui chemicals:

A year ago citric acid was the only legal & available chemical to treat coqui sites. The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved the use of hydrated lime, for a limited time (3 years). Lime is much cheaper than citric acid. The County money might go towards chemical supplies too, if people scream loud enough (to the Mayor).

Clearing underbrush:

This is not the best solution for many reasons. It works, sort of, but here's what it does: If you already have lots of coqui on you property (in the thick forested brush) then clearing the understory away will only force the frogs to move out to the perimeter of your property, and thus make the the population scatter farther and wider. An example of this was the big operation at Lava Tree Park a few years back. Another result you will get is that the newly opened space will quickly become a weed patch, because any open space is good open space for invasive plants. Be very selective about how and where you clear, because it will be a maintenance issue for ever after that.

Drenching the forest:

This is not impossible to do. It just takes a lot of work. So does clearing underbrush. So, my suggestion is that if someone has the time and energy to do something like "clear the understory from the forest" then I would strongly urge this person to take a different tactic, and rather than clearing everything, just start making trails through it. This will cause weeds to invade too, but in less area and more maintainable. Cutting straight trails about 30 feet apart, parallel to each other and say perpendicular to the road is what has to happen before drench operation anyway. So if you have a big coqui population, start making the trails. When the sprayers finally get here, then the site will be ready to treat. It's not impossible!

Kim

[mella l]

Thanks for the infornation Kim and the background of the Lava Tree Park. Found this post of another site. "Ducks seem to work against the coquis - at least my neighbors have them and they have not invaded since my duckies grew up. The ducks I got are Muscovy ducks, and are very quiet. Check the feed stores etc and watch the ads. I got mine at Pahoa Feed in February. When I was looking, Del's told me that ducks cannot be imported into Hawaii, so you have to go with the local supply".

"Now, if I could just train them to stay out of the carport and off the lanais - They seem to think they should be 'house ducks'".

Much quieter than chickens, but not sure if they are good for the BBQ, but when we get there we will try ducks to keep the coqui in check.

Has anyone else heard of this solution?



mella l

Edited by - Mella L on 08/04/2005 01:53:59