A complex and groundbreaking project that aims to bring back the heath hen is advancing “at lightning speed,” scientists said this week.

Bringing back an extinct species raises a whirlwind of questions — technical, ethical and financial. Would it be possible? Should it be done?

I sincerely doubt if heath hens were re-introduced to the Vineyard that they would make it through one season.

The heath hen’s story of decline and extinction has become inextricably linked to Martha’s Vineyard.

The last heath hen disappeared from Martha's Vineyard in 1932 and the species declared extinct in 1933.

The heath hen is at the center of a new effort and a new debate on the Island, as scientific advances have made de-extinction a possibility.