2013-07-15 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 We also had a UH Hilo master’s student as an intern with us for two years and he did a study that showed that specific levels of shade greater than 90% effectively can affect gorse. 90% and above shade will stop gorse’s reproduction. 95% and higher will actually limit the bio-mass production of gorse. So that was our target. Can we establish, can we find species of trees that create 90% gorse? The focus will be on that. GMAC is interested in having sheep up on the mountain again someday. Wild animals - do they do more harm than good when gorse is so abundant? Sheep can control the keikis, but if there’s no way to keep them out of the mature gorse, we may not be able to control the mature gorse. To recover our lands from the gorse infestation, we need to use every tool possible - a very long term commitment. This is why DHHL formed the Aina Mauna Legacy Program a management plan for the next 100 years. It took 100 years to get it, and it will take 100 years to get rid of it. Not opposed to having pigs up there. Pigs don’t move as far or as fast. We could work around them. Gorse could be brought three inches into the ground by using rock bits. Makes a good mulch that way. It re-sprouts immediately – its grass gorse. The key is to come back and spray consistently to convert from gorse to grass, may take 8-9 years. Herbicide - about 500 gallons per year is used to treat about 1,400 acres. Ten gallons per acre – of which about 97% is water. So we’re being very, very light with the herbicide. And also the herbicide we use today is not close to the old days of paraquat and tordon. The biggest issue is a feral animal or a ranched animal. As you know feral animals tend to go where they want to. And gorse and sheep are a lot easier to handle than feral cattle. Having a very large enclosure where they’re contained is not necessarily a bad idea. Can we now begin to use livestock as a means of controlling it in areas where we’ve already established some control like Keanakolu Road or where the gorse is not as dense outside the perimeter. The Maui study – the U.S. Forest Service did a similar study – they threw a bunch of goats in 10 acres of gorse and they whacked the heck out of it – but they died in the process. So we’re talking commercial ranching opportunity – gorse alone has high protein but will not sustain an animal. You need to supplement and feed them nutritionally. So we’d like to use livestock – in a way that helps us control the gorse where it’s not so bad – but as far as the dense gorse and special areas where we want our trees – as you know you put goats in with the tsugi pine they’re gonna be worse than the cattle. You put goats in with my koa – gonna be worse than or as bad as the cattle. So it’s a matter of 6