2021-01-19 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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DOFAW. At the time, the Puuwaawaa Advisory Council was formed. We started surveys for endangered plants and animals and then finally, 18 years later the Executive Order was signed to create that sanctuary. A year later a draft management plan that was drafted by the Puuwaawaa Advisory Council was taken to the Board of Land and Natural Resources and then finally Puuanahulu was designated as a game management area in 2006. The Puuwaawaa Advisory Council consists of community members, ohanas from the aina, inter-agency members and other users of the area and the Council is designed as consultative organization to us. They drafted a management plan that was approved in concept by the Board of Land and Natural Resources in 2003 to manage in an ahupuaa structure from mauka to makai and they developed 62 integrative objectives to kind of be all encompassing to manage the area for the different uses that took place there. The primary goal of the plan – is to protect and restore the native habitat and protect the fifteen endangered plant species and the one endangered moth that are found there. The main threats that have been identified to achieving those goals are wildlife fire, ungulate depredation and invasive weeds. The majority of the rest of this talk is going to be talking about wildland fire because it is by far the greatest thing is a threat to the perpetuation and preservation of those species and of the forest that remains. As grasses invade – they’re more prone to fire and to carrying fire into the forest and as the forest is lost because of fire the grasses are more capable of reestablishing and so there’s more grass which causes – which is conducive to more fire which removes more of the forest and this is just a vicious cycle and then we see that unfortunately first hand here. This is a picture from the – I think the last 18,000 acre fire we had a couple of years ago in – that started in Waikoloa and went to Puuanahulu. And just to drive home just that the devastating effects of fire – in 1985 there was a board submittal to create a natural area reserve within Puuwaawaa area – it was about 3,000 acres that they wanted to set aside to be – to create a NAR (Natural Area Reserve) and so there are some before and after pictures from the board submittal to now – there was a kauila lama forest – as you can see – there was grass already growing within the forest but there was a fork structure that the State felt was quality enough to create a NAR but unfortunately within a year or two of that board submittal there was fires and all that we pretty much have left is a fountain of – or a sea of fountain grass – so fire- I mean, we see it firsthand there – fire is the greatest threat. 4