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COUNTY OF HAWAII STATE OF HAWAII RESOLUTION NO. 208 09 A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF MAINTAINING THE `IO, OR HAWAIIAN HAWK (BUTEO SOLITARIUS) ON THE FEDERAL LIST OF ENDANGERED AND THREATENED WILDLIFE. WHEREAS, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a program for conservation of threatened and endangered plants, animals and habitats in which they are found and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior maintains a worldwide list which, as of February, 2008 included 1,574 endangered species; and WHEREAS, based on its restricted range on the Island of Hawaii and the well- documented loss of native forest habitat from agriculture, logging, commercial development, and natural risks, e.g. volcanic activity, volcano off gases (VOG), hurricanes, extreme weather conditions, forest fires, West Nile, toxins, poisons, Ohia dieback, the `Io, or Hawaiian Hawk (Buteo solitarius) was listed as endangered since March, 1967; and WHEREAS, on August 5, 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a proposed rule to reclassify the `Io or Hawaiian Hawk from endangered to threatened, and funded athree-month island-wide survey from December 1993 to February 1994, resulting in the decision to abandon said reclassification; and WHEREAS, in 1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed the `Io Recovery Working Group (IRWG) to evaluate existing recovery goals, and to formulate new goals if warranted and, in 1998 the IWRG concluded there was no substantive information to support listing of the `Io, or Hawaiian Hawk under provisions of the Endangered Species Act, since the study of 1998 the land development on Hawaii Island has seen enormous expansion, and the study did not include cultural and religious impacts to native people of Hawaii; and WHEREAS, at the time of the `Io's or Hawaiian Hawk's listing on the Federal list, the designation of critical habitat for the `Io has never been identified under the Endangered Species Act, therefore denying it full protection it could otherwise have enjoyed, and WHEREAS, the `Io, or Hawaiian Hawk is respected and recognized as `uhane kapu (sacred spirit) in Kanaka Maoli traditional spiritual practices, chants, mele and oli, worshiped as Aumakua (family guardian spirit) by many Kanaka Maoli and present day Ohana through their Mo`okn `auhau (genealogical and totemic ancestry), and therefore should maintain its protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; and