HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0258.026 1996-1998
Oi/22/9i li:1J $80A 955 820~k hdPFd PROD. LTD C~j 001
KAPPA PRODUCTIONS t.TD.
99 HONOLII PALL T`-" ~ -
i',_
HILO, HAWAII 96720
808-935-0138 808-93S-92D4 fax 23 P;I`l 5
KappaHI~AOL.GOiN „
CnU~ ^J,^,II
17/22/97
;Dominic Yagong
County Council
'(Hilo, Hawaii 96720
,Dear Dominic ,
We stand behind your efforts to put County of Hawaii lands into the
ihands of the farmers and ranchers of Hawaii. The ~.~ayors' plan to lease lands
jto Ojai Paper is misguided.
As someone who has been a tree farmer ;m:i svho still owns forest land
'.on the Mainland, I can tell you pulp chips are the log°,°e;st form of forestry. From
my research and listening to their public testirnciny at fhe County Council,
~~Prudential Paper does not have a marketing plln h7 f.~l~~ce. They don't know
;where they are going to sell their wood or for hcw~~ m _~ch. This is a gamble with
'IHamakua's future.
Look at farming on Hamakua currently. fviost small growers are on lease
,land with 1-3 year leases. This is does not leave trio srnall family farmer with a
,future. In fact the history is that the large landowners will not consider the
(small farmer's needs if it is not in their interests.
This is a momentous time. Great troubles are I-~rire with opportunity ,
Large scale industrial pulp tree farming will hire onh~ handful of the jobs that
,were lost when sugar closed. The task is, as Came:-~l'v1cCarthur understood
at he end of WWII when he broke up large land hoic~ir„?s in Japan, to put many
',people on many 5 and 10 acre farms. Many traclnr., filling many rows. Many
~~,parts, supplies, jobs.
Each farmer a plantation, each plantation ~ar.iily farm.
~~Best aloha,
Il~ob Duer~~
tlr~.~ Y: Z,~t~-14
1+th: Ito. R t: S
f2Ef. '!'o:
int. dR 2 4 1997