The Sedgwick County Zoo and its President Scott Newland are no strangers to the Marianas.

"Sedgwick County Zoo has been involved with both Guam Rails and Guam Kingfishers for over 20 years and that is how I became familiar with both of these programs and how I got started as a part of the management team for both of these species," Newland told KUAM.

Newland, whose aunt served in the Navy on Guam, visited the region for over a decade and works closely with local agencies and long-time Marianas-based wildlife biologist Suzanne Medina. He served as the Species Survival Plan coordinator for both the Guam ko’ko and Sihek, leading plans to maintain the population.

He said, "We are trying to produce birds of both species to support the releases on Rota for ko’ko and our efforts for sihek in the future."

His work in the Marianas is part of the reason Kansas is at the center of Guam’s Sihek recovery. The zoo is a founding member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. What’s happening in Kansas is critical to meet metrics set by U.S. Fish and Wildlife for translocation.

"We have to show that our techniques are valid. That our survivability is going to be good. Obviously, we do not have to spend a lot of time and resources to release sihek back and have it not be successful," Newland said.

That release is now set for next year at Palmyra Atoll, which is managed by The Nature Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It's one step closer to bringing the birds to Guam - which is difficult to do right now.

Newland said, "At the moment we seem to have no easy route to get birds to Guam. Historically continental was our go to and then United and Continental merged, United was a great partner and has been a great partner. But right now there is an embargo for us to be able to get ko’ko or sihek even if we were ready to get sihek to Guam, I do not have a reliable way to get those birds there on a normal basis."

Even getting the sihek to Palmyra is a massive logistical challenge they’ve been preparing for. But first the eggs have to be flown or driven to Kansas for the quarantine process from some of the 24 state-side facilities with Guam sihek.

He explained, "What we found to be true, like many things in the zoo, the animals do not read the manual we create. Even though we said we are going to use these specific pairs and we should be able to get 20-24 eggs out of these pairs, they did not listen to any of that."

Newland said, "We have learned so much this year in this process that it is actually going to make us more successful in 2024 when we are ready to try another cohort of birds moving out to Palmyra."

Editor's note: KUAM’s reporting in Wichita, Kansas is made possible through a partnership with the international conservation charity ZSL.