2017-02-17 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes — February 13, 2017 end of each one of those and tested for Ceratocystis and that shipment, again, was found to be infected and that shipment did not move — it stayed where it was. Plants that nurserymen wanted to sell those plants off-island — we would have to cut each one down and test it. Basically, Department of Ag said, "No, can't move it." Again, I'm with the University so I'm not the regulatory branch — Department of Ag is the regulatory branch. This is kind of a new game for them. They're used to looking at bugs — is there a bug — does it move — no bugs — good. But this is a much more difficult thing for them to regulate and we've had a lot meetings with them. They've been really cooperative doing their best to figure out that is practical and what's gonna be effective: don't wound trees. This tree on the right again is something you can see — it got banged by sort of earth moving equipment. It had a big wound you don't see in that picture but the whole canopy of that was brown — it died on that and we recovered Ceratocystis from that. This is the washing off your gear. Joel with Big Island Invasive Species — and they go back and forth between these, you know, they're working it out — busy outside of Leilani one day and they're working up in a forest one day so they wash all their gear, boots, backpacks, rain pants, anything that's gonna get mud and dirt on it. Then this is what we talked about earlier — easiest disinfectant is rubbing alcohol. Bleach works but you gotta mix up bleach fresh and the bleach is caustic and bleach rusts your tools. Rubbing alcohol is pretty easy to use — 15 seconds and rinse it off. Simple Green doesn't do anything, soap and water doesn't do anything to kill the fungus and pressure washing under the vehicles and wash — my inside of my trucks clean for the first time because I vacuum the thing out after I track mud into it. What to do with an infected trees? This is where we're really thinking about where to slow — 'cause what we're thinking about — the metaphor of a fire I think is used — cause we're thinking of an advancing front to the disease — so if you can hit the advancing front, maybe you can stop it from advancing. If it's in the middle of Orchidland — cutting down some trees — at that point what stress is just be careful of hazard trees. Once a tree starts rotting - it's gonna fall down any which way — worry about your house, your wires, your car or that kind of stuff. But the tree that's out in the back in the forest there — where there's thousands of acres around it infected — it's not gonna matter. But a tree that is in the area or adjacent — like in Volcano Village — that's adjacent to a lot of pretty nice forests — we're recommending now that people take it down — take the tree down — I recommend certified arborists — people do it themselves — I cut trees down — cutting trees down is dangerous and difficult so I try to advise people not to do it cause if I don't know you know how to take a tree down I don't want to advise you to do it — you'll hurt yourself. Take it down, cover it up. Three to six months it should not be attractive to the beetles anymore and it should be good to go. Also, the beetles focus on these vertical dead trees — that's what they see — that's what's gonna get infected — that's what's gonna generate more of that sawdust that'll move — once it's on the 21