2019-04-15 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – April 15, 2019 it’ll be neutral. The other part about the carbon is that – if you think about it – well, I’ll tell you – is that there’s about as much wood above the ground as there is below the ground so even if you harvest to ground level you’ve got all the carbon that’s cached it in the roots and that stays and it rots away and then that becomes nutrients for the next crop. So, if you were to harvest everything all at once we would be at a – a low level – whatever the word is – but over time it’ll balance out and then it will be sustainable. GD: Over time does the soil level also grow as... GC: Yes. We found – we did studies when we, when I first started because there was concern about the nutrient levels of the old sugar cane lands and so much of the top soil had been broken away but we did study it and found that it was about an inch a year of top soil that was building up – now I don’t think it just goes on forever – but there is – because the trees – these eucalyptus lose so many leaves they break down into... GD: For the transport between the forest and the plant – I’ve heard concerns that it’s many miles – maybe thirty and it would require like twenty trucks a day – something... Could you give us some numbers on that? GC: It’s between 20 and 30 loads a day so we calculate about 10 trucks depending on the distance – so if it’s Kau it’s perhaps only two trips a day, if it’s just outside of Pepeekeo then it’s 3 or 4 trips a day, so, there’s more loads that can be done – but it is a significant amount of wood that has to move, um, I live in Waimea so I drive to Hilo and I drive to Kona and around to Hilo and I had a conversation the other day with Kevin Balog of DeLuz trucking was amazed at how many trucks he was telling me are on the road so I don’t think our trucks are going to make – we will use only small contractors – our only contractors – to do that trucking but I don’t think you’re going to notice a big shift in what we see, I mean, there is more traffic but as one of the speakers said earlier that everything, I believe it was Abraham, all our goods come in on boats and ferries and, you know, that’s how we get all our food for the most part so – the trucks are there – we will add some but we’re not going out and buying new trucks. We have bought trailers to – that are specifically designed to be safe to transport logs, but, um, the trucks are here already and moving goods everyday to be honest. TN: This is Teresa. In scheduling your trucks – most of the large transport trucks that leave from Hilo to the rest of the Island are travelling at 10:00 at night, 12:00 at night, 2:00 in the morning to avoid traffic. Would you consider moving your trucks when the least amount of traffic is happening because your traffic into Waimea, as you well know, is, right now, because they’re fixing the road…especially – and all of our roads are gonna need to be fixed – 23