2015-04-20 Game Management Advisory Commission Mintues

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes—April 20, 2015 NA: Yeah, some of that is in forest reserve, some of it is private property and that's what was proposed to the watershed partnership. And that's everybody agreed on the partnership and that's what was put forth in the environmental assessment and management plan. There is an environmental assessment that has been done. It is now an exempted activity— management— I'm not sure on the exact terminology — but it is an exempted... MB: What does not mean. The state has exempted itself. NA: No, the environmental —sorry, I'm trying to think of the name— Office of Environmental Quality Control — OEQC —exempted the state. That is a community board —that's a voted on board — people are put in place on there. MB: Are there hunters on the board? NA: I'm not sure of the make-up, You could check with QEQC. MB: So, Nick? Is there an EIS done on this? NA: To answer your question — is an environmental assessment done each time a fence is erected? No, sometimes there's replacement of old fences, existing fences, if they're short segments in the past we used to have and exemption for— it could be no bigger than 10 acres. But it didn't give a linear distance on that, so it kind of left it open for interpretation. And then that went back to OEQC and they, they didn't see the purpose in having us go through an environmental assessment each time we want to erect a fence. Having said that, as Willie-Joe said, or has been a part of—we're going through the Laupahoehoe forest management plan currently. It is going to — once it has been approved by the Laupahoehoe Advisory Committee, and then it is approved to go out to the public, then it will be— I can assure you that the GMAC will get it's copy to review. So it— most of the large scale fences still go through the environmental review process. One way or another— I hope that helps. DP: This is Dave Penn in Kona. Can I maybe give some clarification on that? I think if you're talking about the Office of Environmental Quality Control — that is a state agency which is attached to the Department of Health — and it has a director who is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate and if you're talking about the environmental council —which is a body of up to fifteen volunteers —who are also appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate— and that is the body that has the rule making authority under Chapter 343. So Chapter 343 lays out the environmental review process, requirements in a big way— but then the 17