The Maui Veterans Highway was reopened around 2:40 p.m., according to a spokesperson with the Maui Police Department. The brush fire was reportedly contained around 3:36 p.m. The Maui Fire Department will release specifics following their response.
For The Maui News
Cecelia âCeceâ Frisinger lets a young âuaâu (Hawaiian petrel) fly out to sea. If you find a seabird on the ground, call 573-BIRD (2473) and someone will come pick it up where it can rest safely overnight. â Photo courtesy of Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project
“At one time there were so many seabirds in Hawaii they blackened the sky,” says Jay Penniman, manager of the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project.
Seabirds have been in Hawaii for a long time, first arriving around 70 million years ago. The earliest colonists nested on what’s now known as the Emperor Seamount, the northwestern point of the archipelago that has since eroded below sea level. These ancestral residents mated and reared their young, leaving behind nutrient-rich guano seabird poop that helped create soils. Guano nourished and promoted the growth of coral reefs, helping to develop a healthy marine ecosystem. Seeds of flowering plants arrived, sometimes carried in th