2017-04-25 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – April 25, 2017 Ms. Naniloa Pogline indicated that she would like to have better communication with hunters. She stated that the bird, pig, sheep hunters are out there in the field, boots on the ground – can bring up-to-date reports of their experiences out there. She wants the hunters to get involve and have the hunters provide testimonies. Chairperson Lodge agreed to follow up on the Hunter outreach. This idea started from last year that could be an island wide project to have meetings with hunters. Further plans need to be determined with district commissioners. Mr. Dwayne “Ike” Yoshina asked if there’s a way that the County GMAC might be able to help the DLNR organization’s divisions so they can be fully staffed and get funds that they need from the Legislature. He is interested to know how positions are funded and where is the funds coming from. He wants the County GMAC to be involved in helping to fill positions. According to Steve Bergfield, most of the positions are funded from the State General Funds while other positions are funded from the Federal Government. Currently, there is one open for a Biologist position. Joey’s old position in Hilo Was recently filled. There are fifty vacancies but due to a staff shortage in the personnel department the positions have not been filled. OLD BUSINESS: Chairperson Lodge mentioned a situation that occurred at the Volcano Transfer Station. In the past, the check in blocks were located in the back and people used to be able to drive in. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case now. Two catchment systems were dismantled and taken out of the area. Each catchment system is worth ten to fifteen thousand dollars. As a result, the County of Hawaii placed four big rocks in front of the way causing hunters to unload and take their dogs out of the back of their truck on the highway. This is a safety issue. These hunters reached out to DLNR to find out what was going on. Ms. Nani Pogline and Chairperson Lodge, Joey and Mello went to inspect the area. A call was made to Greg Goodale, Solid Waste Division, to find out status of those rocks. Awaiting a call back from Mr. Goodale. Steve Bergfeld mentioned that his department will try to construct a bigger turn around area because currently the space is too small for people to get in and out. Possiblly, move the check station more up so people don’t have to get out to walk to get to the check station. This way people will be more inclined to actually check in and check out. Chairperson Lodge was in a meeting with Wil Okabe, Managing Director, County of Hawaii, on an unrelated issue. After the meeting, he mentioned the situation to Wil Okabe. A week later the rocks were gone. Chairperson Tom Lodge expressed his appreciation to Wil Okabe in helping to move those big A5