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COUNTY OF HAWAII <br />STATE OF HAWAII <br />RESOLUTION NO. 208 09 <br />(DRAFT' 2) <br />A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF MAINTAINING THE `IO, OR HAWAIIAN HAWK <br />(BUTEO SOLITARIUS) ON THE FEDERAL LIST OF ENDANGERED AND <br />THREATENED WILDLIFE. <br />WHEREAS, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a program for conservation <br />of threatened and endangered plants, animals and habitats in which they are found and the U.S. <br />Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior maintains a worldwide list which, as <br />of February, 2008 included 1,574 endangered species; and <br />WHEREAS, based on its restricted range on the Island of Hawaii and the well- <br />documented loss of native forest habitat from agriculture, logging, commercial development, and <br />natural risks, e.g. volcanic activity, volcano off gases (VOG), hurricanes, extreme weather <br />conditions, forest fires, West Nile, toxins, poisons, Ohia dieback, the `Io, or Hawaiian Hawk <br />(Buteo solitarius) was listed as endangered since March, 1967; and <br />WHEREAS, on August 5, 1993, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a proposed <br />rule to reclassify the `Io or Hawaiian Hawk from endangered to threatened, and funded athree- <br />month island-wide survey from December 1993 to February 1994, resulting in the decision to <br />abandon said reclassification; and <br />WHEREAS, in 1997, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service formed the `Io Recovery <br />Working Group (IRWG) to evaluate existing recovery goals, and to formulate new goals if <br />warranted and, in 1998 the IWRG concluded there was no substantive information to support <br />listing of the `Io, or Hawaiian Hawk under provisions of the Endangered Species Act, since the <br />study of 1998 the land development on Hawaii Island has seen enormous expansion, and the <br />study did not include cultural and religious impacts to native people of Hawaii; and <br />WHEREAS, at the time of the `Io's or Hawaiian Hawk's listing on the Federal list, the <br />designation of critical habitat for the `Io has never been identified under the Endangered Species <br />Act, therefore denying it full protection it could otherwise have enjoyed, and <br />