OC submits comments on rat eradication

[Laura Bies]

The Ornithological Council has submitted comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to their announcement that they intend to prepare an environmental impact statement for a proposed project to eradicate nonnative rats from four uninhabited islands (Amchitka, Attu, Great Sitkin, and Kiska Islands) located in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Many islands within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge have had accidental and intentional introductions of nonendemic mammals (e.g., Arctic and red fox, ground squirrel, Norway rat, house mouse, caribou, reindeer, cattle, and Arctic and European hare). On many islands with established populations of introduced rats, the diversity and numbers of breeding birds are conspicuously low. The Refuge’s islands are important breeding habitat for seabirds. In 2008, the Refuge and partner organizations successfully eradicated Norway rats from Hawadax Island (formally called Rat Island). However, non-target mortality was higher than expected; in 2009, approximately 422 bird carcasses were discovered found on the island. In light of this, the USFWS and its partners commissioned The Ornithological Council to perform an external review of the project to determine if and how the project planning and or implementation were related to the non-target mortality, with a goal of future projects using this information to reduce the risk of non-target mortality.

The comments submitted this week to USFWS were based on the recommendations made that report. 

Read the OC's comment letter.

Read the OC's 2010 report on the Rat Island project.