2019-04-15 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – April 15, 2019 GC: No, I think those logs were actually going for furniture is what I heard, but I wasn’t involved in that, um, going to China for furniture. GD: Do you plan on replanting the same eucalyptus or a different species of tree? GC: It depends very much on where we are – so we’ve, um, there are about 600 different eucalyptus species in their native Australia and it is one of the most widely planted hardwood species around the world so Brazil has millions of acres and South Africa, where I’m from, has millions of acres. It’s a very widely planted and steady tree but it does depend – they vary very much by elevation and temperature and moisture and things like that so, um, it becomes a matrix of what – where to plant which tree – but eucalyptus – because it’s so well known and studied and grows so well – as you can see outside – that’s definitely where we’re going to start but we’re after with this particular project we’re after the, you know, the BTUs of the tree – the burning – the burn ability not so much the look of the table or the structural content. GD: And so in terms of the transition period between cutting down a tree and replanting – are you doing clear-cutting and then mass replanting or how would that process work? GC: It would be field-by-field so we can - we need to have about 20,000 acres under cultivation so we need to farm and it’s with type of forestry it’s – and we’ve done both over the years – we’ve planted millions of koa for Kamehameha Schools and sandalwood for the Queen Emma Foundation but, um, with production-plantation forest it’s, it’s field-by-field and as the field is planted, exuse me, as it’s harvested within three to six months we would be replanting. Now, some – having said that – some of the areas where we will harvest – the landowner has to make a decision – so in Paauilo there’s the potential for an area that is going to go to a community group and not come to us – in which case they don’t want it to be replanted but where we have access and the right to replant it will be very quick. GD: And those 20,000 acres, ah, sorry... BKK: George – go ahead and finish and then we’ll get him over to Grayson. GD: Are those 20,000 acres the capacity needed to have a like sustainable amount of wood coming into the power plant to continue production continuously? GC: Yeah, that’s the measurement. GH: Is fertilizer or herbicides gonna be used? 20