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11. Alala Recovery Plan: This plan dated October 28, 1982, prepared and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with the Alala Recovery Team, recommends that certain selected essential habitats be preserved and properly managed to provide for the continued existence and growth of the population of the Alala„ an endangered bird whose population has reached an extremely critical state. The Central Kona area along the north and west slopes of Hualalai is considered to be the center of concentration for breeding Alala. The Plan recommends that portion of the lands of Kaloko above approximately 3,200 feet to 3,400 feet elevation, including all parcels in Blocks 8 thru 13 of Kaloko Mauka Subdivision, be designated as essential habitat for the Alala. Once such a habitat is "secured", a specific management plan for each habitat needs to be developed which would address the improvement of food supplies, protection from grazing, predators, and wildfires, and other management and monitoring activities to provide for a stable and secure environment for the recovery of the Alala. The subject property is located at an elevation of approximately 2,500 feet above mean sea level, below the elevation recommended as an essential habitat. 12. The Water Resources Research Center of the University of Hawaii studied the possible inclusion of areas of high rainfall and high recharge watersheds into the State Land Use Conservation District as a means of protecting the state's water resources and as part of the Office of State Planning's Five-Year State Land Use District Boundary Review. The study found that the two most significant water resource characteristics of Kona are 1) the significant rainfall and fog drip in the uplands above the Hawaii Belt Road (Mamalahoa Highway) and 2) the highly infiltrable land favoring groundwater recharge. The highest moisture producing area is found at an elevation between approximately 2,000 to 6,500 feet running the length of the North and South Kona Districts. According to the study, "Rain is the primary moisture source up to about 2,700 ft (823.0m) in the cloud belt, decreasing gradually upslope. Simultaneously, fog condensing on intercepting trees and other vegetation (fog drip) becomes an important moisture source augmenting the rainfall to maintain high levels of moisture input. The zone of maximum fog occurrence lies between the 3,000 and -2-