Though few may have heard of it, the U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area has for decades worked on conservation science behind the scenes.
EMA is the biological research arm of the U.S. Interior Department that provides the science informing the sustainable management of ecological resources by addressing issues such as drought, invasive species, and wildlife diseases. In Hawaii, that includes everything from examining coastal hazards to finding strategies for saving the dwindling population of native birds and restoring Hawaii’s forests after wildfires.
But much of this work is poised to end — if not halted already — with the Trump administration’s plan to zero out EMA’s annual budget of about $300 million in fiscal year 2026.
The cuts, which were planned well before the U.S. government shutdown, would leave numerous programs in the lurch and take away support for the next generation of scientists, according to U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who is urging Interior Secretary Doug Burgum not to go forward with the cuts.
“The Trump Administration’s decision to gut USGS EMA funding will be devastating — in Hawaii alone, it would end programs that work to protect Hawaiian native forest birds, help to prevent brown tree snakes from spreading to other locations beyond Guam, support the next generation of scientists, and more,” Hirono said in a statement.
In a budget request document filed in May reflecting President Trump’s recommendations for fiscal year 2026, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget proposed eliminating $564 million from USGS programs.
The role of the USGS, the office said, is to provide scientific information on natural hazards, ecosystems, water, energy and mineral resources, and maps of Earth’s features.
The office said work that duplicates other federal research programs or focuses on social agendas such as climate change should be eliminated, and instead “focus on achieving dominance in energy and critical minerals.”
The Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI-CASC) hosted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is already impacted, along with the Northeastand South Central centers. These three centers had applied for, but were denied, their next five years of funding by the Interior Department.
PI-CASC, established in 2012, is a partnership between the USGS and a consortium hosted by UH-Manoa, with UH-Hilo and the University of Guam, that works on climate adaptation science across the Pacific Islands.
The center has 13 federal and university staff and research fellows, and supports 25 student researchers each year, and has, among other accomplishments, launched the Hawaii Climate Data Portal.
Darren Lerner, executive director of PI-CASC Consortium, said as of Wednesday, the program was no longer being funded. An announcement posted to PI-CASC’s website said the center is transitioning to minimal operations, and can not lead any new projects, programs or services at this time, and that other efforts would be paused.
“We don’t have the capacity to continue,” he said.
Some of the faculty at EMA have already departed for other positions, according to Lerner, due to the uncertainty. The center, meanwhile, is looking for ways to continue funding its graduate students.
Congressional funding had been appropriated to the center for fiscal year 2025, he said, but some of it has been withheld and spending has been halted by the Interior Department.
Lerner said all nine regional CASCs have bipartisan support from both the U.S. House and Senate, and had actually been allotted even more funding for their budget in fiscal year 2026, but whether they will get it remains uncertain.
The centers are working to have conversations with USGS and the Interior Department to reconsider their decision.
“There is still an opportunity to change that,” said Lerner.
The Interior Department said in an email that it takes all correspondence from Congress seriously and carefully reviews each matter, but does not comment on it through the media.
The U.S. House and Senate have not yet passed their Interior Appropriations bills, according to Hirono, and it remains unknown when the budget will be finalized.
Hirono said she has for years supported initiatives to fund Climate Adaptation Science Centers, which is why she is urging the administration to reconsider their decision.
“By prioritizing his billionaire buddies, Trump is dragging our country backwards in all aspects, including sabotaging our ability to understand and respond to environmental threats,” she said in a statement.
Defunding the USGS EMA would also shutter the Pacific Islands Ecosystem Research Center, with 26 employees and 21 federally funded research staff, which works to protect biological resources.
The center researches how the brown tree snake has impacted power lines on Guam, resulting in hundreds of power outages each year, and is exploring effective ways to prevent their spread to other islands.
PIERC staff also work to combat rapid ohia death, the fungal blight that has killed millions of native ohia trees in Hawaii, and to restore ecosystems following wildfire events.
The USGS National Wildlife Health Center Field Station in Honolulu and its three staff members, would also be slashed. Another $2 million, already allocated in 2024, to build a state-of-the-art laboratory facility for wildlife health needs in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, would go to waste.
“In the short term, resource managers will have less information on which to base decisions,” said Hirono in the letter. “Long-term, our pipeline of next generation scientists will be weakened reducing the United States’ standing as a global leader and eroding our nation’s influence.”
Source: The Garden Island
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