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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0386.020 2010-2012Murashige, Laura my CoMM. 3 W., From: Mark Fox [mfox@TNC.ORG] Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 12:05 PM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Testimony on Bill No. 112, Environmental Management Committee Attachments: Bill No. 112 TNC Testimony 10.04.11.pdf Dear Hawaii County Council, Page 1 of 1 Plat Please accept this testimony from The Nature Conservancy in support of Bill No. 112 Relating to Axis Deer which will come before the Environmental Management Committee tomorrow at 1:00pm. Thank you very much, Mark Fox Mark Fox Director of External Affairs The Nature Conservancy TheNature Hawaii Program 923 Nu'uanu Avenue Honolulu, HI 96817 mfox@tnc.org (808) 587-6234 Phone (808) 841-2019 Fax nature.org/hawaii 10/3/2011 Conservancy 1 Protecting nature. Preserving life r Contm. No. 3 A • 2'0 Ref. To: Ref. Dote OCT 4 zert The Nature Conservancy Protecting nature. Preserving life:" The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii 923 Nu`uanu Avenue Honolulu, Hawai`i 96817 Tel (808) 537 -4508 nature.org /hawaii Fax (808) 545-2019 Testimony of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i Supporting Bill No. 112 Relating to Restricting Transporting of Living Axis Deer into the County of Hawai`i Hawaii County Council, Environmental Management Committee Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 1:O0PM The Nature Conservancy supports Bill No. 112 that would prohibit and penalize transporting living axis deer to the island of Hawai`i. Populations of deer on other Hawaiian islands have created a number of serious and costly agricultural, environmental, and public health and safety problems, including vehicle accidents, crop destruction, property damage, ecosystem harm, and disease. Feral ungulates —or wild hooved animals — including pigs, goats, sheep, wild cattle, and deer are one of the biggest threats to the health of our native ecosystems and critical forested watershed areas. While Hawai`i has an important history of hunting game mammals for food and recreation, it is a modern history. With the exception of the Hawaiian bat, Hawai`i has no native land mammals. Wild pigs were introduced from Europe and Asia after 1778. Goats were introduced nearly simultaneously with the European pig, followed shortly thereafter by sheep, cattle, horses, and donkeys. Axis deer were introduced to the islands in the mid 19th century. The smaller Polynesian pig brought by the first Hawaiians is gone (except on Ni`ihau), crowded out by these later game animal introductions. Centuries before the introduction of game mammals, Hawaii's native plants and animals evolved in geographic isolation to form the globally unique ecosystems that make up these islands. In the absence of predator species, native species did not develop defenses such as thorns or other mechanism to deter browsing or rooting animals. As a result, our native forests have no defenses against wild mammals that consume and destroy forest understory plants and native seedlings. Left unmanaged, feral ungulates can strip large areas of forest bare thereby contributing to erosion, runoff, damage to coastal areas and coral reefs, and impairing the natural absorptive function of watersheds. The areas disturbed by these animals create open soil for the invasion of weed species, further enhancing the decline of native ecosystems and watershed values. Urine and feces from ungulates contaminate streams contributing to health threats like leptospirosis, trichinosis, brucellosis, and tuberculosis. Thankfully, as a state we are finally recognizing the need to manage our forested watersheds so that they can continue to deliver their benefits for generations to come. Adding axis deer to the mix of game animals that need to be managed in Hawai`i island's forested watersheds and other important lands will add a significant cost and burden on public and private land owners and managers. BOARD OF TRUSTEES S. Haunani Apoliona Christopher J. Benjamin Anne S. Carter Richard A. Cooke III Peter H. Ehrman Kenton T. Eldridge Thomas M. Gottlieb J. Douglas Ing Mark L. Johnson ..Dr_ Kenneth Y. Kaneshiro Bert A. Kobayashi, Jr. Faye Watanabe Kurren Eiichiro Kuwana Duncan MacNaughton Bonnie P. McCloskey Bill D. Mills Wayne K. Minami Michael T. Pfeffer James C. Polk H. Monty Richards Chet A. Richardson Jean E. Rolles Scott C. Rolles Crystal K. Rose Dustin M. Shindo Nathan E. Smith Eric K. Yeaman Chair: Duncan MacNaughton Chair Emeriti: Samuel A. Cooke (co- founder; chair 1980 - 1991), Herbert C. Cornuelle (co- founder), Bill D. Mills (1991- 1995), Jeffrey N. Watanabe (1995- 2004), David C. Cole (2004 -2008)