2017-08-22 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – August 22, 2017 KS: I got to write these questions down so I can go get answers and not say I don’t know. TL: Well, we’ll be happy to send you some. Also, I want to thank you. This is kind of interesting to me. The HCP – I guess what concerns me is that it’s taken so long and I was under the impression that this was all done by the Feds for the Feds and that this whole process had to do with applying for federal funds in order to do game management. KS: Yes. If we would have – I don’t understand the differences completely but there’s two types of HCPs – there’s the federal HCP and a state HCP. So we consulted and requested a state HCP because if we requested a federal HCP we would not be allowed to use any federal funds. I don’t understand why – I don’t know any – I just know that’s what it is. And so, sorry it’s taken so long, I mean... TL: So will there not be any federal being able to be utilized on state land for game management or enhancement of game mammals in particular? KS: For certain activities – no. We do use federal funds PR funds for hunter access, fire break maintenance and things like that. We already– we do that now. But for some of the other things – no. TL: The reason why I bring it up is last year or the year before – we submitted a bill regarding the – and we were told to look, can you put this aside because we’re dealing with the commission at that time – on changing the structure of the Wildlife Revolving Fund and the use of that money. Right now that money is mandated to be used for, I mean, the first use of that money is to do match funds with – for federal money. If the Wildlife Revolving Fund is gonna be the only source of income to take care of this habitat conservation plan then we probably should be looking at restricting that money to be used for other projects. KS: I’ve already had those conversations with our managers and they’re aware that if I ever wanted to use Wildlife Revolving Funds that I’ve asked them it’s not money as it’s been used as match for anything – that it stands by itself. TL: Well, we do have – we did submit a bill to make it more hunter-responsive and now that there is, you know, a state game management plan or, ah, commission, uh, they might be an appropriate vehicle to dispense with them like in the HCP or some other projects because – and the reason why I asked for water – it’s just hard to do habitat improvement to improve the populations that are there without money and if this is our only source of money maybe we ought to be looking at several things – changing the structure of the Wildlife Revolving Fund and maybe we should be looking at fees that are higher – I don’t know why we have $10.00 license fee, I just don’t and to go 27