HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0258.044 1996-1998 7te r ~
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Testimony for County Council regazding Oji Paper lease
Leasing public land for the production of wood chips is not a good idea. This is about the
least productive use the land could be put to. Please find out what the community wants
to use this land for. One suggestion is to grow high value hardwoods. Growing
hazdwoods and the resulting wood working industry will provide 25 times more jobs than
a wood chip farm. It would be irresponsible to give up this opportunity for meazungful
employment on the Big Island. The main issue here is jobs. Leasing this land to Oji for
wood chips will provide fewer jobs than just about any other use the land can be put to.
The State did an environmental assessment on reforesting the lands along the Hamakua
Coast. In it they talk about sustainable forestry and the importance of growing high value
hazdwoods because of the value that is added to this wood by the wood working
community. Nowhere do they mention growing trees for wood chips. We are in full
agreement with the proposed uses of the land as described in the environmental
assessment.
Unfortunately, the State keeps using the term "sustainable forestry" when describing the
wood chip operation. There is nothing sustainable about a wood chip farm It grows a
single crop supported by intensive chemical use. It is no more sustainable than growing
sugaz cane. Please notice that I have not mentioned eucalyptus trees. They aze not the
problem. The problem is how they aze grown and how they are used.
Please hold out for true sustainable forestry. This will require a forest consisting of many
types of trees and the associated understory plants. It will also be a home for wildlife. It
will not be clear cut, but will be selectively harvested, so that the forest will remain. This
will give us valuable wood for our wood workers, and, we will have a forest cover on the
steep slopes of the Hamakua Coast. This will stop the soil erosion and will begin the long
process of rebuilding the top soil that has been lost on this coast. This will be good for the
economy and good for the environment. A wood chip farm will be good for neither.
David A. Caccia
Comm. Dia z S g. 5~ `f
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