Sugg 26-04 redacted - Laserfiche WebLink

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TNC intends to add the proposed acquisition of the Hilea Property to the adjacent Kaiholena management unit of TNC's Ka`u Preserve and manage the Hilea Property in a manner consistent with its active management at Kaiholena. Adding the forest at Hilea to the Kaiholena management unit will tie it into the existing 2,000-acre Kaiholena fence area and effectively incorporate it into the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife's planned 12,000-acre Ka`u Forest Reserve fenced management area at the highest band of mosquito-free native bird habitat. The resulting 1-mile wide by 4-mile long corridor of fenced priority watershed management area would provide an important elevational gradient in habitat that supports the movement of honeycreepers and native bats as the seasonal bloom cycle moves up and down the slope of Mauna Loa throughout the year. TNC's forest conservation priorities at Ka`u Preserve are to: 1) protect Hawai`i's remaining native forests and ensure they are managed as functioning watersheds and habitat for native species that are resilient to climate change; 2) address the threats that invasive species pose to their health, our economy and way of life; 3) develop, pilot, and/or standardize innovative tools and technologies to make conservation work more efficient; and 4) ensure community access to and benefit from the Ka`u Forest Reserve. TNC will work to develop a management plan in consultation with stakeholders on the property including ranch lessees, families with kuleana lands in the ahupua`a and watershed partners. Planning will include development of access protocols in consultation with the steward of Kohaikalani heiau, Mr. Earl Lewis, the Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation, community stakeholders, and lineal descendants to ensure customary access to Pu`u Makanau continues and that the site is managed appropriately. TNC will provide access for community members through hosted volunteer stewardship days and environmental education visits. The management plan will likely include a plan to construct an ungulate exclusion fence around the property's native `ohia/uluhe forest, approximately 357 acres located on Pu`u Pakua and partially on Pu`u Iki. Pigs that we cannot push out of the fence as it is being constructed would be removed in coordination with community hunters. Due to the steep terrain of Pu`u Pakua and Pu`u Iki, however, the forest is in good condition at this present time, with likely no cattle, but some pigs. Future management actions would include management of invasive weeds, resource monitoring, habitat restoration, out-planting to establish recovery populations, and predator control. TNC will explore public and private funding opportunities to ensure the land is properly managed in perpetuity and over time. Sugg.26-04