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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting <br />Minutes – January 14, 2020 <br />you guys, and we got to keep track of the goats especially, you know, whoa, <br />they eat everything. <br /> <br />NP: Excuse me. The naio is dying from a thrip? <br /> <br />MRH: The naio is dying from a bug called a thrip, yeah, and it’s taken out most of <br />the naios on the northern slope of Mauna Kea, which is a very serious fire <br />hazard. The fire load gentlemen is not the grasses which burn real fast it is <br />the hard wood forest that has died on the mountain – the naio trees – when <br />they fall on the ground and if those should start on fire – they heat up very hot <br />and they kill the indigenous microbes in the ground – kill the life force in the <br />ground and nothing will grow there for years. So it’s very important we keep <br />on top of our fire breaks... <br /> <br />NP: Well, so you’ve got this grass fire fuel and then you’ve got this fire fuel of <br />dead naio... <br /> <br />MRH: Dead trees, yes. <br /> <br />NP: ....it’s the perfect staging of a barbecue... <br /> <br />MRH: Yes. And that’s why it’s important to support DOFAW here to get more, more <br />fire breaks you guys. <br /> <br />NP: What, um... <br /> <br />MRH: More fire breaks, yeah? More, wider, farther. You know, I did - he warned <br />me... <br /> <br />J: So the fire breaks... <br /> <br />MRH: Steve Bergdorf warned me. Don’t \[unclear\] - we’re gonna make the <br />firebreaks bigger and I lost a few sandalwood trees to the big giant excavator <br />that they mowed everything down with, you know, it’s collateral damage it <br />happens, you know, better that than an giant fire on the mountain. <br /> <br />NP: OK. Here’s what our stand is. We do have a strong stand about the sheep <br />and the native forests. We support native endangered species, we love them <br />also. We value them. We acknowledge that at one time the sheep population <br />was out of control – way too many – it wasn’t managed and that they did do <br />some devastation but we believe that there can be a balance and that there <br />can be a beneficial amount of sheep on the land that would manage the grass <br />fire fuels and benefit the endangered species. We believe a balance can be <br />achieved with proper game management – managing a certain count and not <br />letting them get too overpopulated but just at a rate where they are actually <br />helpful – so that’s what we believe. <br />24 <br /> <br /> <br />