Author Mark Jerome Walters first came upon the 'alala nearly 20 years ago while on vacation here, when he read in a local newspaper about the endangered Hawaiian crow and its shrinking habitat on the Big Island.

Trained in veterinary medicine and journalism, and a professor of journalism and media studies at the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg, Walters said he's always on the lookout for a good story.

The 'alala "had a mystique about it, and so I began to pursue it," he said. "I suspected it might be a window into something much larger than itself."

He started researching the efforts to save the 'alala in spring 1996, and began the book in the hope that he would chronicle a "success story" about giving the 'alala another chance to survive in the wild.

But the bird's fate would plunge down a different path.

'Alala once thrived in the cloud forests on the slopes of Mauna Loa, but by the time Walters arrived, only about a dozen of these birds remained alive in their natural habitat.

Walters says disease, predation and loss of habitat, along with a power struggle among landowners, biologists, government agencies and conservation organizations that prevented stakeholders from agreeing on a program to help 'alala survive in the wild, resulted in the 'alala's collapse.

In the end, those who wished to save the bird were forced to focus on captive care and breeding to keep the species in existence.

About 50 'alala remain in captivity. The last bird was observed in the wild in 2002.

"The loss of the 'alala will affect the forest in many ways, most of which we can't even begin to be understood," Walters said. "It's like pulling out a rug from underneath the living-room furniture."

There's a loss on the cultural level, too, Walters said: We are losing a strong, prominent presence in Hawai'i — an entity that was included in the Native Hawaiian creation story.

The author gives a talk tonight on his book, "Seeking the Sacred Raven: Politics and Extinction on a Hawaiian Island," an investigative report into the decline of the 'alala.

As Walter tells it, mistakes were made, and he wants his readers to learn from them so they won't be repeated in the future.

"The 'alala is not extinct," he said, and therefore there is hope for its eventual reintroduction into the wild. "This is one of those rare opportunities when we've been given a second chance."

In what he calls a great irony, the major mistake that Walters says led to the species' extinction in the wild wasn't lack of knowledge about the 'alala but a conflict that arose from lack of understanding between the parties involved.

The key to conservation success, he asserts, is finding a common ground.

"The premise of any successful conservation effort has got to be cooperation," he said. "The relationships between the parties involved were so acrimonious, so unforgiving and so volatile, that the best interest of the bird often became lost.

"The amount of effort and time wasted was unfortunate. We need to learn from that."

The book has attracted some controversy and criticism, Walters said, but he argues that he couldn't please everyone in his effort to write a balanced history of the saga.

"I try to the best of my ability to let everyone have a say," he said. "There were many colliding points of view in this, and I made no attempt to gloss it over.

"I believe that in the end, it (the book) honors both the bird and those who worked on it," he said.

Reach Christine Terada at cterada@honoluluadvertiser.com .