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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0988.040 2018-2020 COUNTY CLERK COUNTY of HAWAII SUBJECT. Support Bill 178 RECEIVED Time_7:1 � Aloha Councilmembers, Date AUG 0 5 2020 Please support Bill 178 to encourage forest preservation and restoration by property owners. We are very grateful for the interest and support you have shown during the previous three meetings, and for your support of the amendments that will improve the bill. Sierra Club members are in full and enthusiastic support of this bill. Personally, my partner and I began a forest restoration program on our farm, previously depleted by . decades of sugar cane harvests, and after twelve years, I can affirm the health and beauty of this project. It has attracted three native species in addition to the 'ohi'a, koa, a'a'li'l, mamaki, hoawa, neneleau, kamani, maile, and hapu'u that thrive there now; we have pueo (owl), 'io (hawk) and ope'ape'a (bats) on the property now, for the first time. The native Kamehameha butterflies have returned. We actually began this project on the least productive areas of the farm, where the crops did not thrive; the soil is far more productive now than it was then! Bill 178 would increase participation in the program. It would allow some non-native species, such as 'ulu (but not harmful invasive plants, such as Albezia and Miconia), and would allow dedication even if land is covered by lava, with the goal of keeping invasive plants out. Bill 178 would also set lower taxes, and with no waiting period, so owners can afford preservation and restoration work. (Currently, landowners may clear, then allow a single horse or steer to graze, to lower taxes.) We need healthy forests to slow climate change, provide habitat for native species, support native Hawaiian culture, and provide places to refresh our spirits. Mahalo! Deborah Ward, Chair, Hawai'i Island Group of Sierra Club Comm. S . Ret.TO _ Ref.