Comm No 0003.01.36 - Testimony - Ad Hoc - PONC fund and Maintenance fund

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From: Jane Rubey <honua-aloha@earthlink.net> Sent: Saturday, December 8, 2018 8:01 AM To: Charter Commission Subject: Strengthen the Land Fund - It Serves to Strengthen the County! Importance: High Aloha Charter Commission members, I am writing this message to weigh in, as a very concerned Hawaii resident, regarding the pending issue of cutting the Hawaii County Land Conservation Fund. Other counties in Hawaii, and across the nation, use tax supported land conservation funds to leverage other federal funding for land conservation efforts within their jurisdictions. In many cases they can double the number of dollars they have to protect sensitive and valued habitats and ecosystems that in turn support their communities with green infrastructure services and tourism dollars. In our state of Hawaii where we are indeed reliant upon tourism revenue to sustain our economy, it would be short sighted to discount the long term benefits of sustaining strong land conservation practices within our county. The citizens of this County have — more than once — voted to establish, expand, and maintain this fund, because they recognize that the keiki of our communities deserve a sustainable ecologically sound landscape to face the future of climate change and expanding ecosystem loss. I content, that this wisdom should not be ignored. We cannot afford to continue losing sustainable systems when the health of our environments are in flux — "Rapid Ohia Death" being a clear example of that flux! I hold an advanced degree in Environmental Science, having worked professionally in the field of land conservation for decades, and can readily say that the sustained financial value of land conservation remains consistently underrated and overlooked. The balance sheet seldom considers the longer term role that protected natural lands provide in sustaining critical ecological functions on the landscape, such as: water supply from aquifer recharge, toxin and sediment filtration, flood attenuation, habitat support for fisheries, etc. etc. etc. Certainly not all ecosystems provide all of these services, but many core ecologically intact areas are critical elements for green infrastructure services that our human communities rely upon. Under the escalating effects of climate change protecting these areas is no longer a minor issue, but a MAJOR one! Conservation of ecosystem function is not a frivolous issue but rather an Essential Survival Need. And that survival need is for humans and the long term sustainability of these islands. Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture has worked in recent years with the Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative, addressing the science behind climate changes and the effects these changes will have on ecosystems across the state. Suffice it to say that some radical shifts are ahead — in the very near future (potentially even a decade or so) - for which sustaining core levels of ecosystem function will be much more critical than ever before. Under the current Hawaii Island Land Conservation Fund, citizens have proposed 180 properties and only 14 have been acquired. To move conservation efforts faster, the County should have a dedicated staff member who works ONLY on the 2% Land Fund Program. This would result in more properties being acquired, more matching funds being obtained and more stewardship grants being awarded. Apparently in the last 14 years, 4,400 acres have been acquired on the Big Island for a cost of $27 million, one third of which was from matching funds. With the additional Ka'u property of 2,200 acres closing soon. Essential to this effort, are two additional items: 1 Comm. No. 3.1.36