Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

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Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge is a coastal salt marsh along the south-central coast of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The refuge is located between the towns of Kihei and Ma'alaea, on both sides of North Kihei Road, Route 31. The wetland is also a 691-acre (2.80 km²) bird sanctuary, home to 30 species of waterfowl, shorebirds, and migratory ducks, including the endangered Hawaiian Stilt (ae'o), Hawaiian Coot (alae ke'oke'o), and Black-crowned Night Herons ('auku'u).^[1]^[2] Kealia Pond was selected as a wildlife refuge in 1953, protecting an initial 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land.^[2] The refuge joined the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1992.^[1]

In the rainy winter season, high water levels enlarge the freshwater pond to more than 400 acres (1.6 km²).^[3]^[4] By spring, water levels begin dropping^[5] and by summer, the pond shrinks to half its winter size, leaving a salty residue behind: this accounts for its name, "Kealia", meaning "salt encrusted place";^[3] Coastal salt pans once produced the mineral from sea water.^[1] The low water levels cause a 98% dieback in the tilapia population which can produce a foul stench in the area.^[5]

Kealia was once an ancient fishpond supplied with water from the Waikapu Stream in the West Maui Mountains and Kolaloa Gulch originating from Haleakala. Native Hawaiians may have raised milkfish (awa) and mullet ('ama'ama) using a system of ditches and sluice gates to let nearby fish from Ma'alaea Beach into the pond.^[1]

Towards the west, the area between Kealia and the town of Ma'alaea contains another shallow pond and mudflats that are also used by the birds during the winter and spring flooding. When the mudflats dry out during the summer, the birds move to Kealia Pond. This area was once a runway serving one of Maui's first airports, Ma'alaea Airport.^[2] Kealia Pond was used for training the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions during World War II.^[1]

1 Notes
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e James 2001, pp. 71-72
^ ^a ^b ^c Clark 1989, pp. 50-51
^ ^a ^b Bendure 2005, p. 336.
^ Kepler 2007, p. 54.
^ ^a ^b Nakai 2002.

[edit] References

Bendure, Glenda (2005). Hawaii. Lonely Planet. ISBN 1740598717.
Berg, Martin B.; Arsahd Ali, Richard W. Merritt (Aug. 12-14, 2003). "XV International Symposium on Chironomidae". Control of pestiferous emergences of Chironomidae: A case study of Polypedilum nubifer. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
Clark, John R. K. (1989). The Beaches of Maui County. University of Hawaii Press, 50-51. ISBN 0824812468.
Howarth, F.G. (1998). "Preliminary assessment of the midge, Polypedilum nubiferum (skuse), problem at Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge (Diptera: Chironomidae)". [Unpublished report] submitted to Ducks Unlimited, Rancho Cordova, California.
James, Van (2001). Ancient Sites of Maui, Molokai'i and Lana'i. Honolulu, HI: Mutual Publishing, 71-72. ISBN 1566475295.
Kepler, Angela Kay (2007), West Maui: A Natural History Guide (1st ed.), Mutual Publishing, ISBN 1566478235 .
Nakai, Glynnis (2002-10-31 - 2002-11-01), “Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, Maui, Hawaii”, Wetland Management in the Hawaiian Islands Workshop Proceedings, The Wildlife Society, <http://www.tws-west.org/2002ha_wetland_proceedings.pdf> .