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r <br />HAWAII COUNTY GAME MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COMMISSION <br />Feburary 23, 2020 <br />Dear Honorable Governor David Ige, <br />Re: Hawaii County Game Management Advisory Commission, advise to <br />the Governor and Hawaii State Department of Land and Resources <br />regarding the Mauna Kea Federal eradication mandate. <br />We ask the DLNR be assigned to re-evaluate the wild game eradication <br />agenda on Mauna Kea, and update information to the Federal court <br />mandate, for a variety of important reasons. <br />Routine aerial eradication of sheep and goat on Mauna Kea continues, <br />in a time of covid 19 related loss of government revenue. The <br />eradication efforts are at a high government cost, yielding minimal <br />kill. There are nearly no sheep or goat left on Mauna Kea to eradicate, <br />and palila continued to decline. <br />Game have been eradicated to protect endangered native palila and <br />mamane, sighting wild game the cause of popuation decline. The <br />federal mandate has proven unsuccessful. After 40 years of <br />eradication, the palila have continued to dwindle to a population less <br />than one thousand, and a serious secondary threat has developed. <br />Since Mauna kea no longer has grazing and browsing animals to <br />control invasive grasses and weeds, the over growth of such has <br />mounted up to a source of fire fuel, setting stage for wildfire. The <br />