The palila population could benefit by removal or control of feral animals, and by reforestation of mamane trees. It pecks holes with the short straight lower mandible, then uses the long curved upper mandible to probe for insects and larvae. This means that an increased mortality rate due to disease and predation by rats and cats, will have a terrible impact on their population. Many of our endangered plants and animals are found in only a few, or sometimes even a single small area. This makes the risk factor for extinction very high should something negatively impact that habitat, such as fire, deforestation, or introduced predators.
Extinction is a natural process.
Today, extinction rates are many times greater than the natural rate. If we are to save what is left, today's unnatural rates of extinction cannot continue. Extinction is irreversible. There is no way to replace a species once all of its members are gone. As in the example of the nene, a species can be brought back from the brink of extinction, but it requires human intervention.