Verbesina is a highly invasive non-native plant that negatively affects the seabird colony. 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 20 or so years, Midway’s program to eradicate invasive Verbesina encelioides from the atoll has been edging ever closer to success. Numbers of plants encountered continue to dwindle each year, partly due to a new prioritization on depleting the seedbank in Midway’s sandy soils, which made believers out of those who doubted eradication would be possible.
The hard work involves volunteers and crew searching for tiny sprouts under thick pockets of native Naupaka, which is no easy task. According to Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner, trying to eradicate the last one percent of Verbesina is considered the hardest physical job on Midway for these dedicated teams!
Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes recording and narration by USFWS volunteer Owen Sobel, as he and other volunteers tackle the hard labor of eradicating Verbesina on Midway. To see more reels by Owen from his time on Midway, be sure to follow him on Instagram @0utsidenowhere. Once you hit play, make sure to click the bottom right of the video to view in full screen!
In this 2025 video by Dan Rapp below, USFWS volunteers, Molly and Emily, are shown doing verbesina work quality control. During QC they go to locations where verbesina has grown in the past. While very little verbesina has been found in 2025 due to the hard work of the annual volunteers, it is important that every plant is found and not allowed to go to seed. QC is one part of the non-native plant control in which the volunteers participate.
Volunteers Eradicating Verbesina Through the Years
Although albatross like shade options, Verbesina created such dense cover that the birds had difficulty getting to their nesting sites, taking off, and raising their young. USFWS surveys established that albatross reproductive success is substantially lower inside Verbesina thickets.Verbesina once consumed available nesting habitat for albatross throughout all the islands on Midway Atoll. The vast differences from 2011 to present day is astounding, all thanks to the hardworking volunteers who come to Midway annually.
Golden crown-beard (Verbesina encelioides) is the most notorious invasive plant species on the atoll. For many years, most of Sand and Eastern islands were carpeted with chest-high, impenetrable thickets of this plant, as seen in 2011.
An example of a young Albatross surrounded by Verbesina. An adult Albatross’s wings are caught on the branches and the dense vegetation which blocked the breeze, creating oven-like conditions for chicks. Photos by USFWS in 2023.
BEFORE CONTROL PROGRAM 2011: Verbesina once consumed Eastern Island's landscape. Photo by USFWS/Pete Leary.
AFTER CONTROL PROGRAM PLUS OUTPLANTING 2023: Native plants now dominate the landscape! This image was taken from the same view plane as the 2011 image. Photo by Jon Brack.
A huge part of the success found in 2023 came from bringing Invasive Species Bio-tech Rachel Santulli (in photos above) to Midway, to focus even harder on the verbesina eradication efforts. Because of generous donors like you, FOMA was able to raise over $12,000 that year to support Rachel staying on for an additional six months as the eradication crew lead.
Recently, per Supervisory Wildlife Biologist Jon Plissner, verbesina numbers are about 75% lower than they were last year. For half a large portion of the year, the crew have not seen plants that have gone to seed on Sand and Eastern Islands. Thus far the 22-year effort to eradicate Verbesina is proving that with sustained and vigilant effort of hard labor by volunteers, invasive species can be brought under control.
Midway staff and volunteers could not have done this without generous donors like you. Become a member or donate today to help prevent the return of verbesina and ensure the project continues, especially as federal funding for USFWS is uncertain. Your donation will support volunteers returning to Midway every year to continue the Verbesina eradication efforts and ensure the survival of the albatross we all hold dear. These are only SOME of the incredible volunteers and staff on Kuaihelani (Midway) over the years!
