And we'll see you up here then.

Morning everyone, welcome to today's county council meeting.

Today's August 26th.

Before we get started with the official um agenda, we have a certificate presentation for a certificate sponsored by Council members Holland and Kuali.

Mr.

Kuli is in route.

We've got some traffic issues.

So with that, uh Ms.

Wallin.

Thank you so much, Chair.

I am presenting the certificate along with our mayor's team, so we'll invite uh Melania.

And Nelani, you can open the certificate.

Proclamation.

Aloha, Nalani Ka'oairoon from the Office of Economic Development on behalf of Mayor Kawakami and the administration.

And today I'm um here to get out our Clex boxes and uh present a proclamation honoring Pakele, the last known wild Akikiki here on Kauai.

So I'm just going to read through this so you can hear the history of this and understand what it's all about.

Whereas the Akikiki is a small endemic honey creeper found only on the island of Kauai, and its survival is deeply connected to the health and vitality of Kauai's native mountain forests, and whereas Paikele, believed to have hatched in 2019, became a remarkable member of her species, and was first documented by conservation biologists in 2020 while attending to a nest, beginning a lifetime of extraordinary reproductive efforts.

And whereas throughout her life, Wakele demonstrated an exceptional instinct to sustain her species with 13 documented nesting attempts and six young successfully fledged from three nests in a single year, making her an important contributor to the future of the Aki Kiki.

And whereas, as avian malaria and other threats contributed to the devastating decline of the Akikiki population, Wakele endured in the forests of Kauai long after other wild birds of her kind had disappeared.

And her last known sighting on August 29th, 2025, marked the end of an extraordinary chapter in the story of the wild akikiki.

And whereas Kukele's legacy continues through uh through her offspring, who are part of a conservation breeding program that offers hope for the eventual return of the Akikiki to Kauai's native forests.

And the County of Kauai recognizes the dedication of the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Project, Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife, U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, the Nature Conservancy, American Bird Conservancy, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in working to protect and recover this treasured species.

Now therefore, Derek S.

K.

Kawakami, mayor, County of Kauai, does hereby honor the life of Ha Kele, the last known wild Akikiki, and recognizes her as a symbol of perseverance, resilience, and hope for the future of her species in the native forests of Kauai.

Thank you, Nalani.

If we can get Justin and some of our bird folks up, yeah, I'll just um continue a little bit honoring, it's very similar with the certificate here that we have, but you know, the Kauai County Council also proudly honors Paquelia's extraordinary life.

And Justin, I know you have it's upside down, but you have a picture of her.

It's appropriate because it's that's how she was.

Okay.

Um yeah, so thank you so much for being here.

I just, you know, I want to give you an opportunity to just speak a little bit about this and you know, your your work to try to save this species and to follow our last individual around.

So I'll take it away, Justin.

Um, thank you all so much for this.

Um listening to the mayor's proclamation just now really um uh overwhelmed me.

I uh so just give me a moment.

Um these birds are uh it's it's so it's uh it's so strange to be here right now speaking to all of you about this.

Uh so much of the time we are myself and the other field biologists, we are kind of alone in the mountains in their forests interacting with them and just seeing seeing their stories and their lives unfold slowly, and it's very, very separate from the rest of the the human world, as it were.

Um so it's it's um but I'm so honored to be part of this, and I and it's just it's so wonderful to be able to share the story of Hakele.

Um and the other Aki Kiki.

And so I do want to just say that like, you know, this is uh marking this date, uh, August 29th, 2025, last year is like the last the day kind of just a celebration of life for her.

Uh that uh this three people, Brendan Wang, Graham Talibur, um, and Kylie Um Amakawa just just spent an afternoon, went to her territory, it's deep in the Alakai.

They spent the afternoon just in her territory wandering around.

She showed up on and off here and there doing her own thing, and they said one of the most remarkable things about that day was that nothing remarkable happened at all.

It was exactly like all of the other times that we've spent um with her.

And uh she just forged through her trees, she called, she did her thing, she wandered up and down the valley.

Um so many field biologists got to know of all of the Yaki Kiki that we knew over the years, she was really one that just um she was near camp.

Uh and she her territory is incredibly beautiful.

Um just high up in in the watershed on the edge of the Wainyha.

Um it's really really a beautiful place.

And and just being able to think all of my uh my thoughts have gone out of me right now.

But just yeah, that she was um a special bird.

And just from the moment that we met her, like all of the other Aki Kiki do their normal thing.

Um they breed when they can.

Um always together, but but she just had a singular focus on breeding, which was really just I think beautiful for us as we think about how hard it has been for this species um and watching the threats that they face and watching their population decline, and that just her and her alone really was like, I will breed, I will save the species, I will do this.

Um that all of us so many people have have worked really hard to save them, but really that it always felt like she was doing the most more than anybody else out there to save her species.

So um just that in general, Aki Kiki are wonderful and that they're going to be missed.

Um and they were just thank you very much.

Anybody who like to say anything or uh you know, we we spoke about this last month so deeply and how much appreciate all the people who have dedicated their lives and the the kind of economic support that's gone into keeping the the birds alive, and I'm just gonna still continue to hope that there's some that are out there that that we've missed.