Seeking the Sacred Raven Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island eBook Mark Jerome Walters
Download As PDF : Seeking the Sacred Raven Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island eBook Mark Jerome Walters 
Will the 'Alala ever return to the wild? A bird sacred to Hawaiians and a member of the raven family, the 'Alala today survives only in captivity. How the species once flourished, how it has been driven to near-extinction, and how people struggled to save it, is the gripping story of Seeking the Sacred Raven.
For years, author Mark Jerome Walters has tracked the sacred bird's role in Hawaiian culture and the indomitable 'Alala's sad decline. Trekking through Hawaii's rain forests high on Mauna Loa, talking with biologists, landowners, and government officials, he has woven an epic tale of missed opportunities and the best intentions gone awry. A species that once numbered in the thousands is now limited to about 50 captive birds.
Seeking the Sacred Raven is as much about people and culture as it is about failed policies. From the ancient Polynesians who first settled the island, to Captain Cook in the 18th century, to would-be saviors of the 'Alala in the 1990s, individuals with conflicting passions and priorities have shaped Hawaii and the fate of this dwindling cloud-forest species.
Walters captures brilliantly the internecine politics among private landowners, scientists, environmental groups, individuals and government agencies battling over the bird's habitat and protection. It's only one species, only one bird, but Seeking the Sacred Raven illustrates vividly the many dimensions of species loss, for the human as well as non-human world.
Seeking the Sacred Raven Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island eBook Mark Jerome Walters
In the 1970s, when the environmental movement was at its height, stories of conservation were often presented as melodramas, in which idealist crusaders battled against greedy developers and public indifference. The story of the extinction of the alala, or Hawaiian raven, in the wild, as it is told in this book, could hardly be more different. Almost all parties share a concern about fate of the alala, and many people are obsessed with saving it. The cause of saving the alala is glamorized in the press, and government money is available, yet all of this helps little in the end.Part of the problem is that those working to save the alala are constantly engaged in increasingly bitter conflicts with one another, which mirror the larger conflicts in the contemporary society. The various biologists, native people, landowners, and governmental officials may all care about the future of the bird, but they care in different ways and for different reasons. None of them can be entirely objective about the means to save the bird. The author details these conflicts in great, perhaps excessive, detail. Perhaps the greatest lesson of the history recounted in this book is the need for an inspiring vision, which might enable those working in conservation to put aside their diffenences.
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Seeking the Sacred Raven Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island eBook Mark Jerome Walters Reviews
Your view of paradise will never be the same! Hawaii, revered as a land of tranquility, in this book becomes the scene of a bitter feud to save a native species of bird, the sacred alala. Invaded by alien species as well as by well-meaning environmentalists, both of which do their share to dim prospects for the bird's long-term survival, paradise begins to look more like the Wild West. Although it has lots of action, the book has moments of profound reflection, where it laments for the terrible human destruction of the islands' natural landscape and thousands of dwindling species whose receding tide no one seems able to stem. A touching and caring book that should be required reading for anyone concerned with environmental conservation.
Hawaii probably has one of the most polarized and devisive environmental movements in the U.S. The islands' environmental media often reflect the highly biased and vitrolic nature of the movement itself. That is the real contribution of Seeking the Sacred Raven--a level headed look at the situation, in this case, the impending extinction of the Hawaiian sacred raven, the alala. The book dispels many powerful myths about Hawaii. It's not the place of paradise many people imagine but a land overrun with exotic plants and animals and of all things, cattle, pigs and sheep. We also learn that environmental scientists and activists are not always friends of conservation but sometimes unwittingly harm their own cause. The book debunks a common myth surrounding the indiginous belief in guardian spirits. Because the alala was adopted as a guardian spirit by some Hawaiians doesn't mean it was held sacred by all. While some Hawaiians prayed to it, others actually ate it. This paradox, which has dogged discussion of the alalas' sacredness to Hawaiian culture, is convincingly resolved by this book. The book is well written, carefully documented and well worth the read.
One might ask what is the importance of a crow whose ancestors reached the island of Hawaii long enough ago that they had time to separate from their close relatives of the genus Corvus. After all, it's still just a blackish crow. And one might ask why someone would trouble to write a well-researched treatise on what appears to be a fairly narrow subject. Words in the book's title hint at the answers "sacred" and "politics". The `alalâ, as the Hawaiian crow is known, had spiritual significance to ancient Hawaiians, and it became a sacred quest for author Mark Jerome Walters. While human activities were contributing to the bird's progressive march toward extinction, numerous governmental organizations (federal, state, and local) and individuals (land owners, biologists, conservationists) attempting to resuscitate the species came to conflict over just what to do to help it. No one, despite best intentions, has had definitive answers. The species is fastidious in its habitat requirements--it never expanded its range much beyond the moist mountainous region of the southwestern portion of Hawaii, and that habitat has been substantially altered by human activities. The `alalâ is sensitive to nesting disturbance and susceptible to disease and predation. Captive breeding has been a matter of fits and starts, and released captive birds have failed their promise. The few remaining wild birds have been captured, and all `alalâ are now in captivity. But what is the future of a species that no longer knows the wild or its natural survival and breeding tactics, and which may in actuality no longer even have a habitat? While Walters's book concerns one species, impending extinctions are going on all over the world. "Seeking the Sacred Raven" shows us how much knowledge we need--and determination against our own selfish interests--to protect the sacred natural world before it is too late to save it and its remarkable diversity.
Like far too many species, the Hawaiian crow is extinct (at least extinct in the wild) because of human greed and government incompetence . This is a well written, readable, and fascinating story of the sad history of this animal.
In the 1970s, when the environmental movement was at its height, stories of conservation were often presented as melodramas, in which idealist crusaders battled against greedy developers and public indifference. The story of the extinction of the alala, or Hawaiian raven, in the wild, as it is told in this book, could hardly be more different. Almost all parties share a concern about fate of the alala, and many people are obsessed with saving it. The cause of saving the alala is glamorized in the press, and government money is available, yet all of this helps little in the end.
Part of the problem is that those working to save the alala are constantly engaged in increasingly bitter conflicts with one another, which mirror the larger conflicts in the contemporary society. The various biologists, native people, landowners, and governmental officials may all care about the future of the bird, but they care in different ways and for different reasons. None of them can be entirely objective about the means to save the bird. The author details these conflicts in great, perhaps excessive, detail. Perhaps the greatest lesson of the history recounted in this book is the need for an inspiring vision, which might enable those working in conservation to put aside their diffenences.
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