The National Audubon Society has asked state transportation officials to include a biological review of the Hawaiian short-eared owl (pueo) as part of planning for a Lahaina Bypass connector road near Wahikuli Gulch. The group supports the bypass project but wants wildlife considerations built into the design and construction schedule.
- A proposed connector road between the Lahaina Bypass and Hanakao’o Beach Park would pass through Wahikuli Gulch, where pueo have been regularly observed.
- The Audubon Society is not opposing the bypass — it supports the project as critical to West Maui’s wildfire evacuation plan.
- The group requests construction be avoided from March through August to protect the pueo’s breeding season if the gulch corridor is chosen.
- Design recommendations include raptor-safe guardrails, downward-directed lighting, and no rodenticides in roadway landscaping.
- An alternative alignment farther south near the Lahaina Fire Station was suggested as a way to minimize habitat impact.
Source: Maui News
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