Help us ensure that the invasive Verbesina enceliodes weed that once ravaged Midway will continue to be suppressed!
With support from FOMA and several million dollars invested by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) over the past 15 or so years, Midway’s program to eradicate invasive Verbesina encelioides from the atoll has been edging ever closer to success, with numbers of plants encountered continuing to dwindle each year and a new prioritization on depleting the seedbank in Midway’s sandy soils making believers out of those who doubted eradication would be possible.
In June 2023, however, USFWS and NFWF reduced funding citing other critical priorities, including dramatic and unexpected funding increases necessary to host the ongoing Seabird Protection Project (SPP), and the belief that the achieved low levels of Verbesina coverage can be maintained with a much-reduced control effort.
This decision triggered an immediate funding loss for the USFWS Verbesina lead technician position held by Rachel Santulli.
“While recent funding proposals included plans to test approaches for reducing control efforts, there was an immediate concern that the sudden reduction of staff supporting the project could rapidly result in an irreversible resurgence of Verbesina across the atoll and jeopardize the recent success in controlling other invasive plants,” noted Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner.
While USFWS was ultimately able to obtain funding to keep its four contract field technicians through November, it did not have funding to extend the team lead position position held by Rachel Santulli.
Fortunately, with the support of our members and donors, FOMA is well positioned to match an anonymous donor’s generous gift which will extend Rachel's position through November 2023.
We invite you to join us in ensuring that Midway’s program to completely eradicate this noxious weed achieves its goal, a goal that once seemed impossible to many.
“What makes this commitment from FOMA stand out among other projects it has funded during 2023–including aviaries, micro-climate weather stations and professional photo documentation of SPP–is the swift action the board took to move on matching a gift from a passionate donor to keep this crucial on-the-ground work going, despite all the other pressing monumental and unexpected elevated cost needs of the ongoing mouse eradication project. I was also fortunate to observe first-hand the motivated and back-breaking exhausting work performed by field crew while keeping their mental acuity sharp to seek out Verbesina. What also impressed me was the USFWS crew lead, Rachel Santulli. To put it quite frankly, I couldn’t keep up with her tenacious focused mental or physical energy in the field or in the office, so it was best I just better get out her way,” explained FOMA board member Ann Bell.
In the coming weeks, we'll continue to share stories, old and new, of the monumental efforts that have gotten us to this point. We invite you join us as we document and celebrate the progress made to date, and if you are moved to support this work with a financial contribution you can do so via our Facebook fundraising campaign or with a direct donation.
More updates from the field coming soon!