2018-09-24 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – September 24, 2018 SB: Sure... NP: ....since the ohia are pretty much 90% dead in Puna... SB: Absolutely, absolutely. And, but what we would – in addition to that what we want to do is try to do what we can to keep Rapid Ohia Death and the fungus from spreading into the ohia forest as well. TL: I have a question – how many birds feed off of the lehua flower? SB: Oh, I couldn’t give you anumber but certainly most of ournative birds and a lot of the non-natives use the nectar and the trees for nesting. TL: Now, and I’m not trying to drawn in inference here but knowing in Laupahoehoe when they killed off all of the banana poka we all of a sudden – or at least not maybe all of sudden – but I see – and I don’t go up there very often but I do notice there are not as many red birds Iiwi and the others are not as prevalent as they used to be with the banana poka so I’m curious are there things that can help our native birds survive that aren’t native in case this Rapid Ohia thing really goes terminal – is there any alternative for them. You know, like the Blackburn Sphinx, for example, you know, I mean, it’s using that tobacco plant or whatever it is as – and there’s a plant Cook something or other that’s kind of a hybrid plant that in South Point – that somebody was telling me about? SB: Don’t know... TL: Yeah, I’m not really – plants aren’t my thing so I’m not too sure either. But what about the birds, I mean, are there gonna be alternatives or are things like banana poka less on the list if that’s giving the birds some alternative to survive? SB: I think given the impact banana poka can have in the forested area I would go with getting rid of banana poka before I did anything else clearly because the broader impact that is caused by banana poka it’s gonna be much more severe on thenative ecosystems and the birds in the long run... TL: Than no ohia? SB: Than the ohia – those are up, you know, the banana poka’s up in the koa forest as well, I mean, the koa ohia mixed forest as we know is very rich in native bird life so... TL: So is there anything else though that the native birds will... 16