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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022_02_15 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes Game Management Advisory Commission County of Hawai’i Minutes Meeting Date/Time: February 15, 2022 Place: Mayor’s Hilo Conference Room, 25 Aupuni St. 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: Meeting was called to order at 6:01pm District 1 - Stanley Mendes, in person District 2 - Kean Umeda, via Zoom District 3 – Rhon Leomana Turalde, via Zoom District 4 – Brian Ley – via Zoom District 5 - Abraham Antonio, in person District 6 - Grayson Hashida – Excused District 7 - Vacant District 8 – Cortney Okumura, via Zoom District 9 - George Donev, via Zoom Quorum Established (Seven and one excused) STAFF: Keyra Wong, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel Pomai Bartolome, Executive Assistant to Mayor Roth Barbara Kossow, Administrative Specialist Mayor’s Kona Office AA. Chair Antonio reminded everyone of the Sunshine Rules – if you are on Zoom you need to be present at all times. If anybody comes in your presence - you can correct me if I’m wrong – you got to state their name and I think that’s pretty much about it – just the rough of it. KW: Keyra Wong) Yes, that’s correct, Chair, and if I might clarify one thing. The Sunshine Law – one of the new requirements is that all the Commissioners have to be present on video as well – we just need a quorum of Commissioners present on video. If we’re unable to be present on the video than if someone is unable to sustain that connection than that’s OK – we just have to try to establish quorum by being visual on the camera. 1 Note: Commissioner George Donev does not have a camera, but it is okay since there is a quorum. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: January 18, 2022 Action: K. Umeda motioned to approve the January 18, 2022 minutes. Seconded by C. Okumura. Motion passed unanimously by voice vote. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: Chair Abraham Antonio, welcomes anyone that may want to say something regarding an agenda item may do so anytime throughout the meeting. Richard Hoeflinger send in a statement as follows, I traveled south to Ka’u last Sunday to check out the turkey situation. In the past, turkeys and peacocks have been plentiful from Kapapala Ranch to the orchards south of Pāhala. Not so anymore. I didn’t see or hear a single bird or either species either along the roadway, nor the orchards I visited. It was a dead zone. Other than doves, the only game birdsI saw or heard were a pair of Kalij pheasants. Not a single peacock call! Weird. I did not spot a single bird of the two species while I hunted Kapapala Ranch during the preceding upland game bird season either, although it was reported that 10 turkeys were taken over the 3-month hunting period. They may have been from the bunch that were trapped in West Hawai’i and released on the Ranch. Speculation is the birds were affected by the gas emissions from the volcano. Don’t know of any scientific evidence that supports that theory one way or the other. What I do know is the birds have disappeared. Bummer. And that was from fellow hunter Richard Hoeflinger. The next one is from Jon Sabati – a fellow hunter from Kona side. Aloha, First I would like to thank DOFAW for setting up the online purchases for tags. It makes it much easier for the hunters and especially for me since I 2 don’t have the time to take off work and drive 80 miles to buy tags. It should also save DOFAW money since there is no longer a need to purchase plastic tags to distribute. In regards to the game bird season and counts, I believe there should be a game bird management plan for sustainable yield put in place. Some of the changes that should be put into place are the following: For fall turkey it should not be one turkey of either sex per day and no tags. That is a heavy hit on the turkey numbers. There should be a fall season limit and tags needed like the other states. For peacocks in Puu Waawaa for now limit should be one per season and a tag be required. DOFAW should have the ability to adjust the daily bag limits for the other game birds according to the sustainable numbers. The money from game bird stamp and tag sales should be used for improving the habitat and a program like the one on Oahu and Kauai where pheasants are brought in, raised and released in increments during the hunting season. Much Mahalo, Jon Sabati, Hawaii Chapter of National Wild Turkey Federation AA: So, that was two statements from the public. Any comments from our Commissioners? Statements from the public will also be taken throughout the meeting. 4. PRESENTATION: a. Big Island Invasive Species Committee Communications Director Franny Brewer will speak about games resources being identified as “invasive species.” Deferred to next meeting. b. West Hawai’i DOFAW Wildlife Biologist Kanalu Sproat will discuss possible reasons for the game bird decline. KS: When Brian asked me to talk I let him know that I have no idea why the game bird population is going down and I’m not going to make something 3 up but we can talk story about – I don’t know if you guys got questions on what limits us to on how we manage or – I do have the hunting numbers for the year that I can share – the harvest numbers – which is – in the – what – th this is my 8 year – this was the worst year for game bird hunting in the time I’ve been here and historically from what I’ve looked at one of the worst as well, um, ideas on why – we don’t have any clue and we don’t, yeah, I don’t know – you guys have questions on why we don’t know or? AA: Abraham – District 5. Well that would be like the straight up like one of the questions – like why don’t you guys know? KS: Why don’t we know why the population is going down? Cause we don’t monitor in a way that would give us that type of information. We don’t have the resources or capability to do so. And so, right now, it’s me and one technician covering all the wildlife issues for the whole west side of the Island from Laupahoehoe down to Manuka and mostly what we just putting out fires here and there. Lot of calls for injured Nene Goose which we respond to – at the very minimum trying to maintain the roads and game guzzler units within the hunting area – managing data – for 2 guys is – we drowning – but, anyway, why don’t we know – we don’t have the resources, never had the resources to keep track of the information that is necessary to understand that, we just – yeah, that’s why we don’t. SM: Stanley – District 1. Could it be the grasses overgrown? KS: I been… You know I wonder, I think that plays a part into it so and this is all anecdotal like but, so this is just me talking story with other hunters and people – my understanding – if and if there’s somebody out there that has more intimate knowledge about this than me and is willing to share – please do, but my understanding is even on Parker Ranch where they have active cattle grazing, they release birds – which they haven’t in a couple years because of COVID and stuff but even there the game bird population has declined, so the longer grass doesn’t play a part into it – I think it probably does a little bit – I don’t – but, I mean, I don’t know… Another thing that maybe we can consider is predation might be playing a big role into it – we – the Mauna Kea Forest Restoration program increased their predator control and I think I talked story with you guys about that about a year ago and they 4 – now they have what 700 or 800 traps on Mauna Kea, or something and last year they trapped 121 cats, which the year before they trapped 70 and so I wonder, I think predation probably has a role in that as well. I wonder about rainfall, and when the rain events happen, yeah, if you look at the annual rain it might look OK but when all of that rain falls in four days in the year because you get these huge storms – I’m not sure how beneficial that is for the birds. Yeah, I don’t know, it’s just all stuff I wonder about. SM: Stanley – District 1, again. I took notice few years ago now – that when we used to hunt there weren’t baby birds like the erckels, franklin and all that, now, you get lotta – during the bird season you get all that young birds – the baby stuff – so, you guys can figure out why, no? KS: Yeah, and like I would think about that is dependent - is when was the rain events that was beneficial for the hatch that year… SM: Right… KS: Because they can have multiple egg laying hatches within a year and so but we don’t have any weather type of recording stations in the hunting areas to record that data – I do have two though that I do want to put out – I just got ‘em though, so we’re working on getting those on the program – you got a program you got to find a place to put ‘em – that would be something that could help – I don’t know. Something else that we are exploring is to at least try to help bolster – is – I’ve been in contact with somebody from Kohala High School that wants – that has built a fly pen and is ordering chukars and wants to do it as a school project and they want to release it in the public hunting area and so I’m planning on going up there and talking story with them – we’ll probably support them a little bit financially but he’s found some good money resources so he doesn’t need too much help but he needed help with the permitting process to bring the birds over and so if our agency participates in that that helps when he goes to the Department of Ag to make things a little easier and we intend to do that as a start for this year to do something to help track with that, but, I think, you know, like you guys are saying or at least it feels like – there’s more to it than just that… putting birds back – it’s like finding out what we can do to help them out there. 5 SM: This is gonna be my next question about releasing birds – but my concern is you release the birds and if there’s a problem then those birds are gonna die, too, right… KS: Yeah… BL: Brian Ley – District 4. First apologies to everybody – I thought the meeting was at 6:30 and I had my alarm set – I’m working in Michigan so it’s 11:30 something out here so my apologies for being late and thanks Todd and, oh, Kanalu, for texting me and getting me up a little earlier than I was planning… Hey, are you in touch with Brian Leo – cause I know he was doing liver samples looking for toxicology in there – are you in touch with him and seeing if he’s got any of his results back? KS: No. Yes, I do know he’s still waiting for results… BL: OK… KS: So he’s not received the results from that… BL: Have you guys thought about doing blood samples or anything else like that seeing if the migratory birds might have brought in a new strain of something that’s killing the birds cause I know they’re having problems on the mainland with the grouse with the new disease that’s showing up that’s kind of decimating the grouse population on the mainland… KS: Oh, yeah, that’s interesting, so last year we were doing a pilot study with palila where we were just trying – cause that’s another, I mean, I regret now mentioning that word cause I’m sure I’m gonna get plenty of questions about it but in that study they captured 30 birds and they took blood samples and it was the only place on the Island – I don’t know if in the State – maybe the State – but where there was zero avian malaria in the birds – all the birds – so they caught 30 palila – but they caught other birds too, so, I mean, that doesn’t answer the question about game birds necessarily but I would assume that some sort of disease amongst birds would probably hit our native species harder and first than it would the game birds – so, I mean, that’s a good thing – that it’s not disease for palila. Like I said in those 30 6 birds there was and I think they tested for 10 other pathogens and sicknesses as well and they didn’t find anything. Could be, I mean, I’m open to the idea of trying to maybe do a little more detail on that for game birds… BL: Yeah, just cause like with all the other new pathogens that show up if you’re not testing for it how do you know it’s there if nobody’s testing or looking. KS: Yeah, that’s a good point. BL: I mean, it might be able to explain the palila dropping too drastically in the last year or two…I mean something’s obviously going on up there. KS: If you could send me, I don’t know, articles or anything, information you have about that I’d be interested in digging into it a little bit. BL: OK. I’ll do some research – I know, I think it was last year on some of the pages – the mainland bird hunters were talking about a new pathogen hitting the grouse and dropping their populations. I’ll see if I can find it and send it to you. KS: OK. What’s keeping us from having any idea on it is we don’t have the resources to do anything like that – like I said – it’s me and one other guy and I would love to go out and find out why this and why that about all of our game stuff, but we just trying to keep the roads clear and make sure you guys can still go hunting for – at the very least. BL: Brian – District 4, again. Hey any thought about getting ahold of some of the people at the university and running by some of your ideas what you’d like to see and see if any of the students would jump up on the idea and work in concert with them during bird season either for blood test liver samples or (unclear) things. KS: That’s something to keep an eye out on, I do have two professors from BYU are coming over. They get here Thursday and they’re the ones that are helping me do the population counts at Puuwaawaa and Puuanahulu for sheep and goats – we put out cameras and do camera traps but one of him he did his Ph.D. on chukar research - so I’ve been kicking around some ideas 7 on just like some basic stuff we can do – we can put cameras on water units to see what kind of things are influencing – if birds are even using the water, you know, and if that’s a limiting factor so that is – while they’re here for the next week we are going to be kicking around some ideas on what things we might be able to do at least start to get in some information to tell us what might be happening. BL: Brian, District 4 - Well, maybe hopeful that we can start up – get back into the game bird counts that we started and then we had to postpone because of COVID – that might be – get some information to help too. KS: Yeah, we did counts last year in September and I still need to find somebody to do that data analysis which is something I was talking to BYU about as well cause they original ones we did was a post doctorate project and that project ended but we just continued the same survey strategies – survey design – and so I have the data – I just need to find somebody to analyze it – but I think BYU can do that as well that they’re pretty – they’re good with the stats on that kind of stuff – so I’m gonna be talking – I’m gonna show ‘em the data I have when they come over, I think they can do that for us too. NP: Kanalu – I have a question for you. This is Nani Pogline… KS: Hi… NP: Hi… So recently in the Star Advertiser Senator Brian Schatz announced that he managed to find 10.7 million in federal funding to support sustainable fishing and hunting in the islands and I was wondering if you would be able to apply for some of that money – research the situation here or petition for some of that money – it’s supposed to be just shoveling into the DLNR for the purpose of hunting and wildlife conservation, do you know about that? KS: Is that Brian Schatz – our federal senator? NP: Yeah, he managed to get 10.7 million for the hunting and fishing conservation in the islands. 8 KS: Oh… NP: That’s a lot of money, I’m hoping you can get some of it to do your research in why our birds are declining… KS: I will look at what the process is to try to apply for that money… NP: We sure should get some of that… KS: Would be nice, I’d take anything right now. NP: Yeah, maybe you should look into it before somebody else gets it… KS: It’s just been an interesting process – I’ve had – it’s just been funny – maybe I’m a curse, I don’t know, for this side of the Island, but, every time I’m gonna hire somebody something happens – in this pandemic I had two biologists that I was gonna get created under Governor’s list and or likely to get created – no guarantee – but there was a good chance and then the pandemic started and there went that… But, I will look in to that and see what we can do to try to get some of that funding… NP: Thank you, yes, find out that funding and get it for the Big Island, yes, thank you. KS: I mean, if it’s something that your guys’ organization – the GMAC – would consider and find beneficial it would be helpful for you guys to push the, our law makers and our governor and what not to try to get me some more positions for this side of the Island – not sure what that process looks like and how you’d do that but it would be helpful, if possible. NP: Thank you. AA: Kanalu – Abraham, District 5. KS: Yeah… 9 AA: So, I guess I going agree with you – or I’m glad to hear that the Mauna Kea Reforestation guys is having more predator control because one of my friends just went up this bird season and in one day he’s seen 3 cats and that’s just within one hunting day. KS: Yeah… AA: So who knows how much everybody else, so, you know, besides the grass got to be like what you said, predation – so I don’t know if you get enough funding to even get more traps or that’s just Mauna Kea guys they can get more traps out or whatever the deal is with the trapping… KS: I got to talk to him about if he wants to put a lot more out, I mean, 800 is kind of a lot. The way we were supporting them is we had a general laborer who was going out for them once a week to check the traps… AA: Right… KS: ….and then that person… AA: Well, I guess the other thing with the traps is like we discussed before you guys or they need to be more careful of the bait because like Mr. Hoeflinger reported before that – he noticed or other people noticed that birds was actually getting caught in the traps too. That would be one of the main concerns for us or for the hunters. KS: Yeah, for sure, I mean, I think we had eleven erckles and only erckles in the traps. AA: Right. KS: Let me go look real quick. This year we harvested on Mauna Kea we harvested 1,286 erckles. And so in an ideal world we would have zero erckles in our traps and we do we are doing our best to make that happen but unfortunately we got 11 and that’s about 1% of the total that we shot on purpose. So if there’s more, if I find out more information about, you 10 know, strategies we can use where we can still be effective in trapping while reducing the amount of by-catch… AA: Yeah, it’s not only cats but probably also rats too. KS: Yes… AA: I’m not sure how many rats they catching or whatever… KS: They do trap rats and mongoose as well… AA: And then you had that person – that kid or whoever out in Kohala that’s raising or want to help release – how does the public go about that – do they still need to get in contact with your guys’ department – like let’s say I have a bunch of birds that I’ve been raising for some time now and I’m over populated now and I want to go and release them up there and let’s just say I got chukars or ring necked pheasants or whatever – what is the process of some farmer that wants to release or help the state… KS: Come stalk story with me and we go release ‘em. I mean, if you wanted to be compensated for it that’s a different story and it’s probably possible if we were gonna like buy birds from. It’s something we could explore and I think Ian has done that on a very small level. But, yeah, just come talk story with us and we can figure it out – what would work and what’s beneficial for both parties. AA: OK. So wouldn’t be like no – like let’s say – just taking like a map and releasing them into the forest reserve or whatever you cannot do that so I was just seeing if it was basically the same process with birds… KS: I mean, you cannot just go do it on your own without telling people like without… AA: Permission… KS: Yeah, permission, but it’s a little – so far – it’s not as frowned upon, I guess, it’s something we could do and, I mean, like I said, Ian’s already done it the 11 last couple of years he’s – I don’t think he’s on the call, but, like I say, he did it on a much smaller scale – I think like 100 birds or something… AA: And, I don’t know, to me that’s a lot. KS: Yeah, I mean, it’s better than zero but when we harvesting on Mauna Kea we had 2,000 birds this last year and that was our worst year as long as I’ve been here. AA: I not too sure on how much acreage you take care of like on bird hunting season versus like Ian’s side on Kapapala Ranch – who has the more acreage? KS: Ah… That are like kinda the main areas where for bird hunting? AA: Yeah, right, right… KS: For us we got Mauna Kea, Puuwaawaa and Puuanahulu which his more than Ian. AA: So can West Hawaii like maybe we can help by finding, you know, like how we’re trying to push the gun range through, maybe we can put legislation in next year or something that can help you guys maybe build an aviary out there and, something along those lines or how come you guys never did go and check into like making you guys’ own hatchery like Kauai and Oahu does? KS: Cause I got two guys that take care of all the wildlife stuff for this whole side of the Island. AA: So it goes back to lack of employees… KS: Personnel… AA: Yeah. KS: I mean, I would probably need at least two people that is all they’re gonna do for about six months out of the year, right? 12 AA: Right, right… KS: Which I would – if I had the people for it – I would do it; it would be awesome – that would be real fun – I would love that project – that would be a fun project. AA: So it would be something maybe we work together and maybe we can work with some legislator or representative and maybe we can push something like that – what do you think or? KS: I mean, yeah, \[unclear\] kinda stuff to try to get position… I’d love it… AA: Yeah. KS: Our process, as far as I understand, and I might be a little off on some of the details on this but the way the process works is within our division – so within just our branch – so like our Island – we’ll come up with our boss and say, hey, these are the types of positions we need and that boss will kind of prioritize which ones are the most important and that’ll go on to our administration and then they’ll receive from all of the branches requests for new positions, right, and they’re gonna prioritize the most important ones – so cutting stuff out – and then that goes up to the Department – does the same process of weeding on it then it goes to the governor and then it goes to the legislature for being created. Now, I mentioned briefly I had way before the pandemic those two biologist positions that were on the governor’s final budget request to the legislature and there – I think – there were only four total positions for our whole division that were getting requested on that budget and so two of ‘em were mine, or, you know, for our side of the Island and unfortunately COVID happened and, you know, all hell broke loose and now everybody’s worried about money for other reasons, so, I would guess that that has to happen again in that order but if there’s enough voices from the legislature talking to the governor about, hey, they need this, then it probably expedites some of that and kind of bypasses some of it. But, yeah, so, working, so far it’s a long story but working with the legislators to do that – I would say is a beneficial thing. 13 AA: OK. Maybe we can draft up an advisory letter at our next meeting or something in support of that and then maybe you can take that forward to your bosses just to help you along but… KS: I could, I could… AA: Even for us to get a letter drafted and go through our whole process that’s still gonna be like 2 months away I think so… KS: I’m glad you mentioned that cause did you ever follow-up and see if that letter supporting our fire break stuff got submitted by your – by the mayor? AA: Yeah, I signed it and it was supposed to have been sent to you guys’ office… KS: OK, no, I just haven’t seen it if it got sent… Cause it would have got sent to our admin… AA: OK, Barbara, do you know anything about that? She may have stepped out… I’ll ask her when she comes back in… KS: OK. And then I’ll check with our admin if they received it too… AA: OK. She just came back – Barbara did our letter relating to the fire break – the mayor’s support letter – did it get sent out to DOFAW? BK: Yes, it did. AA: OK, there you go… KS: Awesome. Thank you guys… BK: I can send you another copy, Kanalu… KS: Nah, no, it should be fine. Well, you know what, yeah, send it to me… BK: OK, I will… 14 KS: ….and I’ll follow up with admin and make sure they got it, but, that project should be happening – we got a lot of support – so it should be happening. AA: OK. So, yeah, we’ll draft out – next meeting we’ll vote to draft up a letter, one more thing, Peter, and then you can speak, Kanalu you missed the beginning letter from Jon Sabati and maybe you talked to him before too but I just going run his ideas of how he thinks things should kinda go along. KS: OK. AA: I not going read the whole letter just his ideas – for fall turkey it should not be one turkey of either sex per day and no tags. That is a heavy hit on the turkey numbers – there should be a fall season limit and tags needed like the other states – so that’s one. For peacocks in Puuwaawaa no for now limits should be one per season and a tag be required. DOFAW should have the ability to adjust the daily bag limits for the other game birds according to the sustainable numbers and the last one is the money from game birds stamp and tag sales should be used for improving the habitat and the program like the one on Oahu and Kauai where pheasants are brought in, raised and released in increments during the hunting season. So if you got all that – can you comment on any of those? If not, I can email it to you and then you can comment at a later time. KS: I would be interested to see what the rest of the public thinks about those things – to me they seem reasonable. And I would be open to trying to do something like that. Anything that’s gonna require a tag is gonna require a rules change,and the last rules change took seven years or something like that. AA: Yeah, there’s a whole process, right? KS: Yeah – there is a new bill that was passed last year that does give us some ability to speed that process up and it’s – I was gonna throw some – Ian and I were gonna draft a couple of things to like try it out – like – so this is a – from my understanding what happened the last rule change – like not the one now but the one before was they were gonna try to do that – like the same idea – while in theory this thing should only take like 9 months – this 15 process – as long as you do the whole thing it should take one nine month’s for you to change it – but as they got into it then they were only gonna pick like two or three things to try it but then as they started it other people would come in – well, let’s change this and let’s change that and then they decided to do the whole thing – it took seven years. Ian and I are drafting up a couple of things – like three or four things – to see if we can do it quickly in the new process on that bill that was passed last year – that should allow us to do so… AA: Abraham – District 5. Before you guys do that can you guys run some of the ideas through us first? KS: Yeah, I’ll tell you right now. My couple ideas and in fact if you guys would rather do something else – like I’m fine I’m open to whatever. AA: Yeah, that’s why we can put it into a discussion… KS: Yeah, I want to do… AA: We don’t need really da kine but we can bring you back later on and we can have that discussion of your ideas. KS: OK. Why don’t we do that, yeah, I can come back and we can talk about some – but whatever it is I only want to do like two or three things – so we just got to – whatever two or three things are – whatever you guys feel is the most important ones – I’m fine moving forward with it – I have a few that I like try – like one of them is a simple one – the rules right now state that you gotta check out on Mauna Kea hunting (unclear) at 7:30p. But there’s no rule that says what time you can check in and so… AA: \[Chuckles\] KS: ….yeah. And that’s just so I would like to change that rule, but, I mean, I can do, yeah, why don’t we do that? We can talk story – maybe with a couple of you guys and then we can come back and have – I can come back for another meeting and we can – you guys can prioritize for me what you think is the, you know, two or three ones we should try. 16 AA: Yeah, that sounds good, Peter, did you still have a comment for Kanalu? PS: (Peter Simmons) Ah, just a – kind of a question – but it fills on what you had mentioned Abraham and Kanalu had mentioned the issue of rats, and since you’ve got more cats then you’re used to I’m wondering if you’re doing stomach samples on the cats that you do catch – to see what they’ve been eating and, I’ve noticed some studies recently that kind of relate to taking cats out of the equation builds up the rat population which then predate on the eggs and the nestlings and I’m not an expert at that at all but you guys brought it up and I’m kind of aware of that to my past work so I’m just hopeful that we’ll be able kind of look at that more deeply – what the rats are doing up there. That was my – so I hope – I don’t know if how you’re doing that or how much is getting done – I know you’re short on people so thanks. KS: Yeah, no worries – I do believe that they are cutting open the stomachs to see what the cats are eating because mostly we’re concerned about them eating palila, right, and other native birds so I can follow up with them and find out what they found in that process and as far as monitoring the rat population – I know that there – in some areas we are trapping rats and I don’t know if you can use just the trap – the capture numbers as a surrogate to then estimate how much are out there – it’s kind of – that’s not very clean but we’re not really doing any – I mean – we’re not doing anything to monitor what’s happening to the birds – we’re definitely not monitoring what’s happening with the rats… AA: Or the cats… KS: Yeah… PS: Yeah, you know, but if you’re taking out the main predator of the rats then you have an expectation that the rats’ population is going to enjoy that. KS: Right, yeah… PS: OK… 17 BL: Brian – District 4. I was, you know, back to the sheep on the grass on Mauna Kea, I’ve noticed the Puuwaawaa – the Hawaiian owls seem to prefer the lower grass areas cause I know like at PTA and well PTA and Parker Ranch where the grass is short you always see the owls hunting so, if we can get in there and get that grass under control I’m sure the owls would move in and would greatly help with the rat population on top of that, we’d be doing a – increasing the owl population and also, keeping the rats under control – it’s cause we’d have the owls doing the job – granted they’d also predate on the chicks and the birds too but I think that given a chance they would probably knock the hell out of the rats – is that a consideration or something we can throw on the table – that the owls prefer the lower grasses and if brought the lower grasses in the owls would move in and we would be benefiting the native birds? KS: Ah, I mean, ‘io eat rats too and I don’t know if I’d – it’s not unreasonable what you’re saying but I don’t know. Something to try… BL: Pipe dream… KS: ….and figure out, yeah… AA: OK. Any other last comments or…? NP: Yeah, Nani here…I would do with Peter – that that’s a really something to be concerned with if you’re working hard at taking down the cat population, what is that gonna do for the rat population because rats are small and they can go right up the trees and off on thin branches and eat birds and rob nests more efficiently than a cat could, I’m sure. KS: I don’t know. Cats are pretty efficient but it’s definitely something – there are many parts in working out there and we for sure need to consider the effects of removing that predator and possibly may increase the rats, yes… NP: One more question – Nani here – Kanalu? Do you know if more investigation is going into the palila decline – discovering why the palila are declining since their populations are at an all-time low right now… 18 KS: Yeah, for sure, I guess my question would be what do you mean more investigation? NP: Ah, yeah, um, I don’t know. Are they researching at all? Is there any investigation into why the palila are declining, you know, since it can’t be the sheep – they’re gone… KS: Yes – that Mauna Kea Forest Restoration program – that’s kind of the – one of the focuses of their project, I mean, their project started overall to restore the habitat, right, that’s been lost until mamane regrow and all of that but they also included in their work is investigating what’s going on so last – so that project that I said where they captured the birds couple – maybe two years ago now – that was the intent behind that – that was just a pilot study where they wanted to go and – so they took the blood samples, they captured thirty palila – like I said – one of the things that they’re – they don’t have enough information but one of the variables that they want to look more into because of that pilot project is of the thirty they caught twenty males and ten females and so they would like to find out if there’s – if that sex ratio discrepancy or, the difference between that – if that’s real or if that was just a weird sampling, because of the sampling but if it is real that’s the problem where you’re going to have way more males than you do females which will, for sure, affect the ability of the population to keep itself going, so that’s something to look at and, yeah, I mean, it all comes out to funding and how much money you have to do all kinds of stuff cause the stuff that Paul Bankwood did back in the early 2000s or whatever it is – they had – my understanding is that it was kind of big team that was kind of in there all the time looking at that kind of stuff and now it’s like – I think they have like 5 guys and two of them are doing predator control almost exclusively and the other ones are mostly doing planting stuff, you know, out planting to restore the forest so throwing extra stuff on there to investigate this – we all want to do it, and like I said there’s a little bit of information that’s been gathered to kind of help us see where we can focus that investigation, but I got to talk story more with them about – right now I think everybody’s just trying to – same like us – just kind of tread water and get done the stuff that’s already on their plate rather than to add more stuff on. AA: OK. Thanks Kanalu. 19 SM: Stanley – District 1. Not game bird related but last year we talked about the possibility of opening up the – that area by Puuwaawaa – the safety zone for disabled and youth – is that still on the – you still thinking about that? KS: Yeah, I would be down for that. So you just – you’re talking about around the hill, yeah, where we normally open up the safety zone for like the \[unclear – sounds like poli ans\] and stuff… SM: Yeah… KS: ….but basically as an extension to the… \[Unclear\] stable hunt area? SM: Cause we get lot of - especially youth – you get lotta youth now and up there getting kind of tight… KS: Yeah, no, I mean I’m open to that – so – I think I can do it – it’s just a legal notice and just say that’s what it’s gonna be for the year – it’s not something that can be like in the rules all the time but I can try do – that might be something we can try add to that rules change – it wouldn’t happen for this season but if that was a priority for everybody we could try that but, yeah, I’m down for that. SM: OK. So this year is out? KS: No, it’s not out, um… SM: You can just… KS: …..it’s out if I wanted to – it’s out as far making it a rules change that it’s set – Chapter 123 – but if I can and I’ll go investigate. If I am able to just write it as a legal notice that we publish a month out and just stating that this is the new boundary or, special boundary for that hunt – I think I can do that. So I gotta go check though. 20 SM: All right, thank you. KS: No problem. AA: Thanks, again, Kanalu, for all your guys’ hard work and all the information you gave and \[unclear\] ended up turning out to being a good talk story so, yeah. KS: Normally, I stick around but I got to run so if anybody else got any questions before I go… AA: Nah, I think you should be good already. KS: OK. Thank you guys… c. Hawai’i Firearms Coalition Director Todd Yukatake will give us an update of related bills in the Legislature. TY: Todd, with the Hawaii Farms Coalition for a non-profit gun rights group here in Hawaii and, good evening GMAC committee. Tonight I’ll be going over some of the bills in the legislature related to firearms and hunting. No sure if you got this list but I keep this tracker, let me share my screen here, so hopefully got a copy of my legislative tracker – these are all the bills in the legislature for this year. And I’ll provide a link in the chat as soon as I’m done in case you want to go back to it but these are all for 2022. The bills for 2021 actually carry over but usually they’re not (unclear) usually we introduce bills for the new year – but those could possibly come back, too, from last year. But I’ll just go over some bills related to farms and hunting, if there’s something you want me to go over just stop me and ask. HB 2075 - this one probably affects your hunting community – that’s to do with firearms permitting and registration – basically in the past year I filed a lawsuit, myself, to make it easier for people to register their firearms. So, if you bought or got a firearms transferred to you recently, it should be a lot easier – I believe in Hilo they do over the phone registration if you buy your firearm from a store or, a father handing it down to his son – you don’t have 21 to go to the police station unless it’s your first trip where you have to do fingerprints and stuff like that but subsequent firearms you can just call the department and do an over the phone registration, I believe. So that saves you a lot of time. What HB 2075 does is it tries to undo that – basically – you still have to go down to the police station with your firearm for inspection for any person to person transfers – or if you buy a gun from the mainland and have it mailed here or you bring it over yourself – those you still would have to go to a police station to do if this bill comes into law. I know it conflicts with what I won in my lawsuit – the federal judge said a state cannot order you to go to a police station to register firearms for any reason. So HB 2075 passed the Judiciary Committee. It’s probably gonna pass the House and go over to the Senate to go through a legislative process – so that’s still in the works. Firearm carrying permit requirements – that might be useful for hunters to have a concealed or open carry firearms permit especially when you’re transferring your firearms between your home and the shooting range or to go hunting – you don’t want to get robbed on the way there – you want to have a firearm to protect yourself – we’re opposed to SB 2800 because it puts on too many restrictions for that. You have to attend a firearms class every six month to renew your permit – your permit is only good for six months. If you carry a Taser with you when you carry your firearm – all kinds of over the top requirements and burdens. That one hasn’t moved anywhere – so we’re keeping an eye out on that. SB 3349 is a similar bill. \[Unclear\] CCW – that means Conceal, Carry, Weapons permit. That one we support because it makes it easier to get a carry permit. This one doesn’t have any restrictions to it other than some training requirements. So this one we support and the Big Island is home to the lawsuit Young vs. Hawaii – which is in the supreme court right now and it’s waiting for a hearing there. But there’s also a New York case – New York 51 States – just an association – that’s gonna have a decision coming up this spring determining if concealed carry or open carry firearms permits are a constitutional right. So we’re looking forward to that maybe in April we’ll get a decision on that and that will affect Hawaii. 22 SB 3298 about the Big Island Shooting Range – this one had a hearing today in the Public Safety and Water and Land Committee in the Senate. So this would create a working group to continue planning for a Big Island Range. As a lot of you know – Big Island has been trying to build a range, I think, for the past ten years or so in Waikoloa and by the cabins in Pohakuloa. So this would continue the work – so it brings the DLNR, County of Hawaii and the firearms community together to work on that. And it requires the County to provide some matching funds on that, I guess, to give them some skin in the game to make sure they are participating too. So that one passed the committee today and it’s gonna go on to Ways and Means – Finance – a good thing about this bill was – partially, this bill dies – it probably, this week has some deadlines for bills – it would have died this week but the GMAC and firearms committee – did a call in to the senators of these committees to schedule a hearing for bill and they were successful so that’s why we had a hearing today for it. So that was a good job to everyone here. Are there any questions on any of these firearm bills? All right – we’ll move on to some of the hunting ones here… So a lot of these bills have to do with feral animal control – especially the deer, pigs, goats, I didn’t see the word eradication on any of them so they’re all management related, like: HB 1721 – that had a hearing recently. It’s gonna move on to Finance – that’s about DLNR creating a feral animal management plan. HB 1872 – we just had a hearing today. That’s about gaming and fishing resources of basically food security. I believe the GMAC introduced this bill. But, yeah, it passed the Water and Land Committee today… Gonna move on… Some of these other bills are probably gonna dies like: HB 2207 – about feral pig control. It’s not gonna make its committee deadlines. SB 2069 – is a duplicate of HB 1872. That’s not gonna pass – same with: SB 2625 – that gives the DLNR emergency power to control feral ungulates like a mass die off or drought or there’s a lot of vehicle collisions with the animals – the DLNR can skip some regulations in order to control the 23 animals. But, that one’s not gonna make the committee deadline so that’s probably gonna die. Unfortunately: SB 2994 – requires the DLNR to update the report on palila bird situation on Mauna Kea. Unfortunately, we did a call in for that also – but Senator Gabbard and Inouye in the Environmental and Water and Land Committees declined to hold a hearing for it so this bill is likely gonna die this week, unfortunately. SB 3179 – is about controlling the deer on Maui. That has a hearing on Friday. SB 3251 – hunting guides require written permission from the landowner. And that written permission has to be given to the DLNR, I guess that’s to prevent trespassing and poaching. So that passed the Water and Land Committee – it’s going over to the Judiciary and advancing on in the Senate. SB 3299 – similar, actually the same thing as HB 1872 to about food security. That has a hearing tomorrow in the Water and Land and Environmental Committee. So if you didn’t file your testimony for this one – we’re supporting this. You can still do it tonight at the – you can click on these links if you have this spreadsheet – that’ll take you to the bill site where you can submit testimony. SB 3306 – is about micro chipping hunting dogs. So this thing will get a hearing – it will probably die this week and then: SB 3320 – basically DLNR will give out feral pig control permits for you to hunt pigs on your property. That’s like if they’re damaging your farm or causing a safety hazard for the residents. So this passed the Water and Land Committee – it’s gonna move on to the Judiciary Committee. Are there any questions on any of these bills? SM: Stanley – District 1. That SB 2625 – Emergency Power to Control Feral Ungulates. Is that is only on State land, right, not all over, right? TY: I’m not exactly sure on this one. This is concerning Maui County, but, yeah, I’m not exactly sure – I’d have to go in to the bill to figure that out but, 24 DLNR can bypass basically - requirements to manage the animals as needed under this bill. And it didn’t make any of its hearings so it’ll likely – the bill will die this week for the year. AA: Good… Thank you. TY: All right – that’s all I have unless anyone has any questions. AA: Abraham – District 5 – Todd – how do you find out the deadlines for each bill? TY: You go to capitol.hawaii.gov – this is the Legislature website for Hawaii. On the top left corner – it says view legislative calendar. You click on that – open up the session calendar for the year – with all the deadlines on it. I’ll just go over the main ones. So we’re going into this first lateral coming up this Thursday – what “first lateral” means is – if it has two or more committee hearings to go – left to right – sorry – two or more committee hearings remaining to be heard – it’s gonna die if it doesn’t make it I guess by this deadline here. So let’s say - Water and Land and a separate Finance Committee assigned to it – but is it going to either one? It’ll die this week because of this deadline. AA: OK. TY: So, yeah, two or more. Anything with 2 or more committees left to go is gonna die. And then the next deadline is March 4. It has to complete all of th its committee hearings by this date or it’s gonna die. So, if by the 25 you want to have to try and have all of the bills you support – you want them th scheduled for hearings by the 25 or you have to do a call-in again like we did last week for those other bills. AA: Abraham – District 5. So now that we got some of our bills passed – let’s say Agriculture and Water and Land – so now let’s say they go to Finance – now we need to start calling the next Committee members’ chairs? TY: Yes, that’s correct. Actually, you could start doing that already. 25 AA: Yeah, right, right. TY: Yeah, especially for Finance or Ways and Means Committees – that’s usually a very busy committee – where they get tons of bills – usually anything with the Finance or a money requirement has to go through that committee so that committee’s really busy so, might be a good thing to start contacting those committee chairs already… AA: And then we got to submit testimony all over again, too, right? In those committees? TY: Yes… AA: OK. The testimonies doesn’t carry on, right? TY: Yeah, you have to resubmit testimony for each hearing. And sometimes the bill is changed between hearings too so, that’s what they call like House draft or Senate draft bills – those are like amended or changed bills – so you want to go through it – see if they’re changed anything in there. And then March 10 is the cross-over deadline so – that was at, let’s say passing the House but then switch over to the Senate and repeat the process again and vice versa. So as far as on this tracker here – like this HB 1721 – it has to go to Finance. HB 1872 has to go to Finance, these bills here I’m highlighting – they’re double committee bills so these are gonna die this week, let’s see SB 3179 – Ways & Means Committee, the Food Security on, you go through Ways & Means later on after its hearing tomorrow… AA: Perfect! Any other Commissioners have any other questions or comments for Todd? NP: This is Nani Pogline – a commenter from the public. A question for Todd… Today, HB 1872 passed with amendments from the DLNR and the amendments, in my opinion, are unacceptable and I was wondering if you could advise how we might contest the amendments that are attached on by the DLNR today. 26 TY: OK, so just a little background at a hearing for HB 1872 and DLNR proposed some changes to the bill and the committee accepted them – so if you want to get it change – when it goes to the Finance Committee you can ask them to change the bill back or to remove those changes. NP: So we wait until it gets into the Finance Committee or are – we can’t do it now with? TY: Um, usually, it’s best to do it the committees. The other way is, on a floor vote between the committee – after the committee hearings there’s a floor vote – between all 50 House representatives… NP: So who should we call? TY: You can bring it up to the House Speaker to vote on the original bill instead of the changes – that’s possible but it’s harder to do though. Usually changes are made in the committees – most of the time. NP: So what would be your best advice – if we reject those amendments the DLNR tacked in there? TY: Well, there are several ways to do it. You could talk to the Finance Chair – I’m not sure who it is – it might be Sylvia Luke, I think, maybe… You know, recommend that she change the bill back to the original form. NP: Sylvia Luke? TY: I’m not sure… AA: Yeah, yes, Abraham – District 5 – yes, it’s Sylvia Luke. NP: OK. TY: So if they can do it there or when it switches over to the Senate and it goes to the Water and Land Committee over there you could request the same thing there too. 27 NP: OK. Thank you, and, Todd, you were so awesome – thank you so much you’re just really giving us some great information. I really appreciate your time tonight. TY: Thank you, yeah, another thing is – now that you mention that – is if you want to get your voices heard – you can submit testimony to the capitol website that I just showed you – this site – again you just click on – enter the bill number – submit written testimony at least 24 hours before the hearing - you can also request Zoom testimony – you can testify live on Zoom just like how this board meeting is. You can request to go live at the actual hearing over the Internet and that’s a good way to get your voice heard more and, to get your point out better that way. If anyone has any questions I’ll remain on the line. I’ll put the link to the spreadsheet on the chat. AA: Sounds good and I’d just like to say also I was watching the committees in action today and, Todd, you did a good job and thanks for all your support with GMAC and everything and with Hawaii Firearms Coalition and everything that you do with this…And even answering my phone calls nighttime… Right on, thanks… TY: You’re welcome… 5. OLD BUSINESS a. Review and approval of GMAC testimonial letters for the following Legislative bills: SB 3299, SB 3298, SB 2994, and HB 662 to submit to Mayor Roth for support. AA: OK. Moving on to Old Business. Review and approval of GMAC testimony letters for the following legislative bills: SB 3299, SB 3298, SB 2994 and HB 662 to submit to Mayor Roth for support. OK. Before we continue – I think it’s too late for the mayor to submit testimony for SB 3299 but if it gets passed – because testimony I think it’s too late already – unless Steve… KW: Actually, Mr. Chair, if I may interject? 28 AA: Yeah. KW: This is Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel, actually the Mayor already submitted a letter supporting SB 3299. AA: OK. ‘Cause I was just gonna say he can submit it when it goes to the next committee in the Ways and Means Committee… KW: Yeah… AA: ….and that’s basically what I’m gonna say for SB 3298 because it passed hearing today so we going need testimony when it goes to the Ways and Means. As far as SB 2994 – that’s actually dead so we don’t need to discuss that one and then we also gonna need another – I not too sure how you’re gonna say this one – but HB 1872 we gonna need another testimony letter for the Finance Committee, I guess, so… KW: We can, yeah, we can ask the Mayor to resubmit… AA: And then we get HB 662 – I not sure how that one’s playing out because it’s a carryover from last year and maybe either you know or that’s kinda why I wanted Steve to be present so he can answer these kind of questions or maybe even Todd Yakutake can answer that of how HB 662 is playing out for the rest of this year. GD: Chair, this is George Donev – District 9. I was wanted to bring to the attention ‘cause I think it’s relevant to this agenda item for that bill in particular… AA: Which bill is that George? GD: HB 662. So I was looking – I’ve been going through the website and today I noticed that looks like there’s been an amendment to it – I’m not sure if you’re aware of this – it’s version HD 1 – it makes the bill effective on July 1, 2050 – so it seems like it essentially, you know, delays whenever that bill would come into effect – so we would be aware of that amendment as we 29 support it and to see if we are able to remove that in whatever committee it goes to next if that’s what the Commission wants to do. AA: That’s a good idea George… Like I said but I not sure what committee it’s at right now cause when I look at it online it’s just doesn’t have no updates for it. TY: Aloha, this is Todd again. Hawaii Firearms Coalition. On this bill HB 662 – that’s kind of a defective date so they just put it in for – basically they say it’s more discussion goes through conference committee – an extra step if it has this effective date in it. But as far as where it’s gonna go – so last year it passed the House – went all the way through the House – and it got transferred to the Senate and that’s where it ended last year. So this year it’ll pick up in the Senate – where it left off at – and, it can be worked on after the cross-over so we actually still have time to work on that. GD: OK. Thank you, Todd, for the information. TY: Yeah, I think the deadline - it has to be heard in committee by probably like mid-March or maybe in mid-March or so. I’m not sure of the exact date but we do have time to work on that still. AA: Yeah, OK. Abraham – District 5. For our timeline I guess we just going move forward and ask for the Mayor for support at this time for everything except for SB 2994 then. Is that right Keyra? KW: Yeah, that’s what I have on my list and then you can ask Mayor to resubmit support for SB 3299 and HB 1872. And I want to thank Commissioner Umeda for providing me with the information for the letter for SB 3298 so… I’ll be working on that to give to them. AA: Right on. Thanks… OK. So at this point we gotta do a motion to approve the letters at this time? KW: Yeah, to do a motion to send letters to the Mayor asking for his support for SB 3299 and SB 3298 and HB 662. 30 Action: B. Ley motioned to move forward in asking Mayor Roth for his support for SB 3299 and SB 3298 and HB 662. Seconded by K. Umeda. Motion passed unanimously by voice vote. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Commissioner agenda ideas for 2022 GMAC meetings. AA: Any Commissioner’s agenda ideas for the next few months of next year? Any more ideas that you guys can throw out? For District 5 – the Volcano Transfer Station Access Point – we will invite Michael Kaha – he’s a representative from Waste Management – right after this meeting I’m gonna send him out an email – an invitation – so what’s happening up there in District 5 is after they made the new transfer station they blocked access to the access point to go behind and gather and hunt behind the transfer station and Tom Lodge and Nani Pogline fought for this access before and the County closed it again so we’re gonna bring that one up again. So that’s one agenda items that’s gonna be coming up and then also what we just discussed with Kanalu about submitting a letter for assistance and then next month’s meeting gonna be Big Island Invasive Species Council so that’s coming up. 7. ANNOUNCEMENTS: a. District 2 and 7 GMAC commissioner vacancies. AA: We need to all work on filling these districts before the end of the year. Kean and Grayson will term out and we will not have a quorum. 8. COMMISSIONERS REPORT BY DISTRICT: BL: Brian – District 4. Abraham and I, we rode around with the DLNR a couple of weeks ago in District 4 looking at all the hunting areas and discussing access points, parking and signage for some of the hunting areas that were a lot of people have no idea where they were or there was not adequate parking so we drove around with the DLNR and we came up with some good ideas for 31 parking and some signage so it worked really well so hopefully we can see that soon and they get moving on that so hopefully that worked. AA: Abraham – District 5. So, yeah, I was kinda working on that with DLNR with DOFAW for since I started with GMAC so that’s like four years and then we finally did a drive through so one of the things was like Brian said – no parking – and especially after the lava flow came in 2018 it took out Malamaki Forest Reserve – a big chunk of it – and one of the pieces was the parking area so we discussed a parking area down there. And, then some of the other areas in the Nanawale Forest Reserves areas we discussed signage and we found old signs so they claim that it’s a very easy process for them to replace the sign but the signage couldn’t even read it already and then they going put in new signage like different areas throughout the subdivisions and stuff along their property. Yeah, that’s pretty much all in District 4 and I did my report for District 5, any other Commissioner Reports? Kean? LT: Leomana – District 3. AA: Go ahead. LT: Ah nothing major to report. I just working on a couple of art projects with the tsunami museum this year and one thing they wanted to help out with – I guess they’re doing some “talk stories” about the conservation in the fish pond over there at Wailoa and dealing with the, I guess, tilapia – or something – whatever animals they had to deal with inside there so I just wanted to let everybody know over the year they have four events planned – I not too sure when – but if you want to know about the fish in the pond they’ll be having that this year. st AA: Going back to announcements. March 1 beginning of turkey season and then the other announcement also West Hawaii is still short State Game Management Advisory Commissioner – we trying to get Teresa Nakama in but somehow we’re getting one road block with her – so we going try again th to push her forward. The State GMAC has a meeting coming up on the 17. You guys can reach out to them too. 32 th AA: Puuwaawaa Advisory Council meeting this Friday the 18 from 3:00 – 5:00p. The meeting is Zoom – if any of your guys want to attend that meeting – reach out to me or Barbara and we can send it to you guys. BK: Yeah, I’m sending you that right now. AA: OK. Thanks, Barbara. 9. COMMITTEE REPORTS: AA: Any Committee Reports: Hawaiian Cultural Practices Committee – Leomana, Legislative Committee. You guys already \[unclear\]: HB 1872: Passed Water and Land today, um, it’s going to Finance next – you guys, if can, call Chair Sylvia Luke – the sister bill to that which is.. SB 2069: Died – is gonna die this week SB 2298: Passed today unamended – so that’s just moving right along forward to the Ways & Means – you need to contact Donavan Dela Cruz’s office as the Chair of the Ways & Means 3299: Is tomorrow at 1:00pm with the Water & Land & Agriculture – so if you guys get time and also they also have a link to You Tube and that’s kind of how I’ve been watching the whole process and it’s pretty cool. If there’s no other Commissioner Reports or Committee Reports… NP: I do, excuse me, Abraham – Nani. AA: Yes, Nani. NP: I would like to say something from the Legislative Committee. 33 AA: OK. Perfect. NP: DLNR put in amendments to our bill HB 1872 today and what they wrote – game mammals and game birds and then they inserted “provide a sustainable food resource provided that negative impact of to the environment are sufficiently minimized or off set through native ecosystem protection.” But I don’t see why we need that in there because it says that in the second page in B where it says already a proper management of game populations in appropriate areas minimizes their impact and provides benefits. It says that. They’re double saying it and it’s making their bill rather than ours so I really want to fight that amendment and also one of the big things they did is they are trying to scratch the whole in debt our game animals contribute to native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices and our resources that practice relies upon. They’re scratching all of that out of there – I’m sorry – this makes me mad – they’re saying that game animals and hunting is not Hawaiian historical cultural practice. That’s what the DLNR is saying and, of course, the Hawaiians brought puaa and then the Hawaiian king introduced the game animals for their people and they have for the purpose of food resource and DLNR is saying – and I know why they’re saying that because the native Hawaiian activists are powerful and they’re taking them right out of our bill and it was OHA in 2019 when we first introduced this bill who insisted that be in this bill so I called OHA today and I’m waiting for a call back and I’m hoping that they’ll pick up this fight with the DLNR because the whole reason why native Hawaiian traditional customary practices and, of course, GMAC represents a cultural and traditional native Hawaiian practices – we have a legislative committee – where’s Teresa tonight? Anyway… AA: She couldn’t make it but Leomana is on the committee. NP: Yeah, Leomana what say you? Is the game animals native Hawaiian traditions? LT: Leomana – District 3. I think I know why they’re saying that, I mean, personally, I don’t think it’s a game animal because, I guess the way that they defined it – they’re trying to define it and I guess post contact would make it a non-traditional practice because before, yeah, I don’t know, I 34 mean I’m confused at why they’re saying that but, yeah, that’s just my mana’o. So does that mean that we just go into the future without any update on the palila count and we just use the old data and everyone who comes up with plans for the areas of Mauna Kea they just use old stuff? That’s, I guess, that’s what it means, yeah? BL: Brian – District 4. No they just released a new thing – they were saying it was a new record low – 23-year low – 600 and something birds in the last count from last year – let me pull that up and I can give you an exact. LT: Yeah, I was kind of confused on that update of that bill. I didn’t understand how they cannot get - that bill cannot get passed, update... AA: Well, they – we needed – we got Senator Gabbard to introduce it and then he’s Chair of Agriculture and then it was supposed to go to Water and Land, which is Chair Inouye. They get joint hearings, right? LT: OK. Just got dismissed then? AA: Yeah, so because they couldn’t – because they never talk story and make one time for that it be heard and it’s passed the date already pretty much then – it’s dead. We just got to do it next year, but, we will try the federal level while Kai Kahele is still there and because it’s actually a federally mandate, right? LT: Um-hum… The update… AA: Yeah. And that’s what we was trying to have Gabbard do is have the State go in and investigate it and then go and take it back to the Feds but Gabbard put it in that he was – it was just come back and report to the Legislators but we want it to go to the federal level. LT: Because we wanted the information from the palila – remember we were talking about the fire breaks and then opening up the areas and letting the game animals back in. That would be the information that would help it do that… 35 AA: Right… LT: ….the, um, yeah, OK, and then…. AA: That would be like the start… LT: ….so we’re not getting that one for a whole ‘nother year. AA: Yeah… LT: OK, yeah, sorry, I just wanted to bring it up. Thank you… AA: We all bummed about that one dying too so… LT: Yeah… AA: So next year we just gotta push harder but, I still learning too like on Sunday I went put in testimony and for some reason never go through so, you know, I did ‘em last night and then it went through for tomorrow so I don’t know – I still learning the whole process and that’s why I called Todd – he’s a great resource – and then I also called the public access room and I called Nani – they’re the resources for my legislation process but I’m still learning the whole process – we all still learning that actually… LT: So other than that report what can we use to – for supporting that opening up the fences and letting the, I guess… AA: Um, I don’t know if once the fences go up I don’t know if they going ever take ‘em back down and I think maybe I was talking to Kean or maybe somebody else and, you know, what they going do – throw in like 30 sheep inside one area and just leave the fence up because, you know, then goes back to them put up all that fence and they not gonna really like take ‘em all the way down so that’s, I guess, that’s something – and all this too – and Kean mentioned it too, you know, all this hard work that we doing maybe we might not see it, like even the shooting range and basically everything – you know what – we might not see ‘em but our kids might see ‘em, so, you know, so we just keep on putting a good fight and keep poking away at the 36 state and keep doing all the good stuff that we doing and slow bites – some people like big bites and the big bites no go nowhere but, eh, we chipping away at the rock, you know, so… Chip, chip, chip ah? SM: Stanley – District 1. The fence is not all the way – they get plenty pukas – that places that they never fence so it’s still a possibility for get the sheep back. There’s about 2 maybe 3 places that the fence is not done yet and they not in no hurry to do ‘em. I think it’s where they let the sheep go in the mountain and kill ‘em there. AA: Abraham – District – 5. Then back to the palila numbers you figure, even their research, right, you figure after 40 years they would have something but no matter who you talk to after 40 years they still get – they don’t know – or it’s the rats or it’s the cats and, you know, there’s no solid evidence of what’s happening – it’s all what’s that big word – hypothesis. SM: Yeah, Stanley – District 1. They moved the goal post. When you confront them about the palila – that the palila had dwindled – they say – oh, but look the mamane – the mamane came back – but that wasn’t the purpose for the eradication it was for the palila so they move – they just move the goal post when they like… AA: Todd – you get something to say? TY: Ah, yes, this is Todd. You can also submit resolutions to the Legislature. I think the deadline is March 11, I believe. It’s not as strong as a bill but you can request – the Legislature can request the DLNR to update a study or request a study on the bird, so that’s a possibility but, ah, yeah, it’s a request not a, you know, I guess they’re not forced to do it, yeah? AA: OK. Thanks, Todd. Go ahead Brian… BL: Brian – District 4. This new thing – new palila report out – unfortunately the population continues to decline with 2021 producing the lowest estimate in the last 23 years of just 678 birds and then I have – I can send the link to somebody that actually wants to read the full report so, if somebody sends 37 me a text I’ll forward it to ‘em. So that was the latest numbers on the palila and I was hoping that the low numbers would help us with the bill that got killed so quickly but obviously it didn’t so… Thank you. NP: ..Nani AA: OK. Yeah, go ahead Nani… NP: I would suggest that GMAC compose a letter to Kai Kahele asking him to investigate why the mandate to eradicate sheep isn’t being updated with this new information about sheep gone, palila decline, maybe we could ask him and see if he’ll get back to us about it. And we can also request information of who is it that is releasing those federal funds from the mandate – who is releasing those federal funds and the State match them too to continue the sheep eradication. If we could find out who that person is making requests from DLNR or I don’t know if it’d be the attorney general or who – so that we can maybe go above the Legislature, to expose the situation. Just some suggestions that we can do but writing a letter to Kai Kahele from GMAC might be something… AA: Keyra – can we write a letter or can we just or do we have to write an advisory letter to the Mayor and then is that the route or can we use the GMAC letterhead for that. KW: So normally you would ask the Mayor to write a letter – you can advise a federal agency or state agency – so if you wanted to send a letter directly to a state or federal agency head – that’s fine – if you want to send something to Kahele then, yeah, it would have to go through the Mayor’s Office first. AA: Eh, try say that, sorry, try say that again. KW: So if you want to send something to an agency – like a agency director – you can send a letter directly on GMAC letterhead. But if you’re wanting to send it to a legislator then that goes through the Mayor. AA: OK. Got it. OK. Thanks. That’s something we can look into later on. OK. Now any other last comments? Now we’re ready to go home. 38 10. Adjournment: Action: L. Turalde motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by B. Ley. Motion passed unanimously by voice vote. (Meeting ended at 7:46 p.m.) Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 at 6:00pm. Respectfully submitted by, Barbara Kossow Secretary 39