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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGMAC Minutes 7.18.23 Final Draft Game Management Advisory Commission County of Hawai’i Minutes – Final DRAFT Meeting Date: July 18, 2023 Time: 9:00 am to 11:00 pm Place: Zoom and In-Person site - 25 Aupuni Ctr., Ste. #1501, Hilo HI 96720 AA: Good Morning, welcome to the July 18 Game Management Advisory Commission. It’s 9:03 am right now. Barbara, would you mind making roll call? 1. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: at 9:03 am District 1 - Robert Duerr, present, in person District 2 – Vacant District 3 – Rhon Leomana Turalde, via Zoom after roll call at 9:12 am District 4 – Brian Ley – Excused District 5 - Abraham Antonio, Present, in person District 6 – Austin Griffey, Present, Excused District 7 – Natalie Reynolds, Present, via Zoom District 8 – Cortney Okumura – Present via Zoom District 9 - Justin Ackerman – Excused Quorum not established with Commissioner Turalde running late. STAFF: Sylvia Wan, Deputy Attorney, Corporation Counsel – in person Barbara Kossow, Administrative Specialist – via Zoom BK: OK. It’s 9:03. Roll call – District – 1? RD: Present. BK: District – 2, is vacant. District – 3, Leomana? AA: Leomana should be coming in late… BK: OK. Late. District – 4, Brian Ley? AA: Brian Ley is absent. BK: OK. District – 5, Chair? AA: Here. BK: District – 6, Austin is absent, right. AA: Yeah, Austin is also absent. 1 BK: District – 7, Natalie is on Zoom… NR: Here. BK: District – 8, Cortney is on Zoom. CO: Here. BK: OK. So, we have four… AA: District – 9 is absent. BK: I’m sorry, District – 9 is our newest person. He is out-of-town… AA: Yeah. BK: OK. So just let me know when Leomana pops in in person or Zoom. AA: \[unclear\] BK: Thank you… AA: Until then we don’t have quorum? BK: Correct. AA: We just go through the rest of the – so we cannot vote on the minutes? SW: So Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan, so at this point because we don’t have quorum GMAC will not be able to approve or disapprove anything, basically, they won’t be able to vote on anything, however, they can still hear presentations so if the Chair would like to kind of skip to the presentation and hopefully we will gain quorum in the meantime – that should be allowable. AA: \[Technical difficulties\] BK: OK. And we have Kanalu Sproat on Zoom and Kanalu has his own presentation – maybe he can share his screen with us. SW: Yes, so just a moment. I have admitted everyone who was in the waiting room. You may want to try from a different browser. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Action: Motion made by R. Duerr to approve the May 16, 2023 minutes as circulated. Seconded by C. Okumura. Motion carried by poll vote with 5 ayes, 4 absent. 2 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: None 4. COMMISSIONER REPORT BY DISTRICT: AA: OK. Commissioner Report by District – District – 1, Robert Duerr? RD: Ah, District – 1, the funding has been approved for the Wailoa River Improvements, ah, a meeting will happen with the stakeholders, um, Laupahoehoe – a project has been cancelled by Mayor, and by the County Council Chair, Heather Kimball due to funds needing to be switched to the sewage and that’s about all I have. There’s a meeting, ah, Laupahoehoe community th meeting on the 20 of this month where Maurice Mesina will be making a presentation, um, side by side with that – there’s a fellow who lives in Laupahoehoe who is a marine engineer who has agreed to meet on site – to kind of go over details of the project – he’s interested in volunteering some services to or at least give a preliminary on it – but that meeting was scheduled for an on-site visit but was cancelled. But I was looking to have GMAC meeting with him and Bobby Gonzalez who is a community advocate and knowledgeable about the project, um, Heather Kimball set the meeting up but could not attend and then she will also be invited. AA: OK. Thanks. District – 2, vacant. District – 3 is still not in yet. SW: No. AA: Ah, District – 4, is absent. District 5 is me. Ah, pigs still in that area, still trapping, um, get, there’s one guy he’s – in one month he’s up to 60 pigs in just one month in Hawaiian Acres and I’m up to like 40 so I’m like right behind him, um, just got reached out yesterday in front of the bird sanctuary up in Volcano so I got a meeting with them later on this week \[unclear\] storm pending, um, other than that one of the areas – one of the public hunting areas – I got word that they gonna fence it off because it’s an easy fencing project but it’s public land and it’s outside of the NARS area so I’m gonna be looking into that and then bringing that up the Commission later on in the future. Um, District – 6, Austin’s absent. District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aloha and good morning, um, kinda good news – Governor Josh Green released his veto intent and it was on the HB 1090 – which is the commercial fishing and recreation which was a big deal with like mantas so he vetoed that or he’s planning on vetoing it – so that’s really good news, so all the small business owners on our Island – he sees that there’s a need to more work for DOBOR and DLNR to work together and pretty much come to an agreement hopefully in working with the small business owners, um, there’s the Ohana Shoreline Fishing Tournament next month, August 20, um, at Honokaa Gym, so that would be really fun and exciting it’s a whole family event if you guys like to attend. That’s all that’s going on in my area. AA: Thank you, Natalie. Cortney? CO: Aloha and good morning everyone, so the bill that was – we were hoping to have passed regarding Kahaluu Bay and improvements to the beach park there did not pass, however, I was informed that, um, Arizona State University who has a large coral project here on the Island is going to partner and help out and, ah, so that’s really good news and also the Army Corps of Engineering is supposed to help as well, so, I will keep you guys posted as I hear more on that. 3 Also, I did – I don’t know if you guys remember Jerome Nickerson from the DOBOR office who spoke a few months ago regarding the Kailua Pier – he has left and he has been replaced by Dave LeDuc who actually I know personally, so we have a contact there at the harbor. He manages the Boating and Recreation for the three piers here in Kona: Honokohau, Kailua and Keauhou so that’s good news as well. And the position is finally filled after, I think, a year so… Thank you. AA: Nice. Thanks Cortney. RD: Um, Abraham a question for Cortney. AA: Yeah. RD: Cortney – do you know if Dave LeDuc is the Island District Manager? CO: I don’t believe so. I believe he’s just for the Kona district, but I can ask him what his exact title is – I just know that he filled that position but I’m not sure on the – he said he was replacing Jerome – but I’m not sure if he holds the same title that Jerome had or not – so I can check on that for you guys and let you know. AA: Thank you. SW: Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan – just to notify the board – it does appear that Leomana is now present, and we do have quorum. AA: OK. So let’s finish up this – the district reports and then we can vote on the minutes. Leomana, we passed District – 3, so would you mind giving your district report if you can? LT: E, aloha, everyone. Aloha, Leomana, District – 3. Ah, sorry, kind of scatterbrained right now, I just got my property stolen last night down Keaukaha, which is District – 3. Um, a little update about the wild game animals in District – 3. This past week I counted 17 Mouflon sheep running around the district over here by the Veterans’ Cemetery – kinda looks like somebody’s pets got loose but it’s been loose for about 2 weeks so, we have a pack of wild Mouflon running around – a couple of rams look really nice. On the update about the pigs, it’s still the same, nothing different. I did send an email to the County Clerk asking about who to contact about – last year we had that 2.3 million-gallon raw sewage spill in Keaukaha out of the sewer pump, that affected the whole coastline and all of our fishing, I emailed the County about that to see who do I go to talk to about all the discharge happening inside of our Keaukaha reef area. And that’s it for now. SW: Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan. Leomana, you can contact me – I could probably try to figure out what department that comes from. LT: OK. Right on. Thank you. I’ll do that. AA: Thanks, Leomana. Um, District – 9, we have a brand-new Commissioner but he’s absent today. His name is Justin Ackerman. He’ll probably be here next month so… Thank you, Justin, for joining in. As far as District – 9 goes, there’s another Keiki Fishing Derby that pretty much 4 happens yearly – north and south Kohala – open to all Keikis ages 5-18. It was actually this past weekend. So, but they have their fishing derby every year so just keep that in mind. NR: Natalie, District – 7. Is that the Father’s Day one?’ AA: No, this one was last weekend – July… NR: The last weekend? AA: Yeah. NR: OK. AA: So that’s it for Commissioner reports. 5. PRESENTATION: a. Kanalu Sproat. DOFAW West Hawaii Wildlife Biologist – Presentation Regarding grazing and fire fuel suppression (Technical issue w/set-up) KS: Perfect. Thank you very much. Sorry for the short delay. I was asked to present – I was asked to give a representation kind of like – the same presentation again – that I gave a couple of years ago but I wasn’t comfortable giving that full presentation, so I condensed it down and we’re just gonna talk story about some of the fire suppression strategies that we are implementing in Puuanahulu and Puuwaawaa. OK, next slide. So just a brief overview – I will talk really quickly about the history of the area because I think that plays an important role into where things are now and why we are doing what we’re doing as we move forward. I’ll talk a little bit about the effects of fire from a case study from the 80s in that area. The brief literature of three different peer reviewed projects that were carried out in the area and kind of the main points that I draw from them for management purposes and then what we’re doing – how we’re using that information to manage and reduce fuel loads and manage for that out there so, next slide. OK. Quick introduction. From, so, I guess I should have gone even further back there is - largely, historically a dry land forest and from beginning in the mid-1800s after European arrival the area was used for cattle grazing and other livestock grazing for basically 150 years, and so that timeline there is just kind of a timeline of all the different activities – different grazing and leases and everything that has been going on in the area. I guess, the main thing to note would be that in 2000 the long-term cattle grazing lease was ended. Next slide, shortly after that those state lands were transferred over to DOFAW – mostly DOFAW – some to State Parks – that’s where Kiholo State Park is. There was an advisory council that was formed which included members of the community, other agency members from DOFAW, Forest Service, and other interested parties – to create – basically to manage the area holistically – to being inclusive for that area. In 2005 that council was able to get a management plan approved in concept through the board which was an integrated management plan – it was inclusive of all types of different so – protection, conservation, preservation, recreation, hunting – and so that plan was approved in concept in 2005. That advisory council still meets quarterly, and they do guide – provide an 5 important voice, I think, in guiding our management out there. And so, in 2006 Puuanahulu was \[unclear\] over to us and so now we have the Puuwaawaa was turned into a forest reserve and Puuanahulu was a game management area. Next slide. Just an important note, I guess, so while that area was primarily used for grazing and cattle grazing for 150 years and because of that natural, that native dry land forest was destroyed on many levels, not completely but quite a bit – even though that happened we still have 15 rare plants and one rare moth that exist in the area and that we are so – and because of that some of our main objectives are built around protecting those species and, yeah, protecting them, OK, next slide. So now we get into the fire part of it a little bit. So, this is just a slide that shows kind of a very common cycle, fire cycle based around grasses. So more so the grasses and so and this we see happening at Puuwaawaa. So many grasses are not native. So as they’re introduced for cattle grazing and for other reasons they begin to establish and as a fire might come through the system – the grasses dry out faster and they can carry that fire from just the grassland into the forest with the higher intensity than might have naturally occurred before the grasses were there and so as that forest slowly or quickly – it can happen both - as it burns and, there begins to be re-establishment of vegetation in the area – generally those grasses can re-establish themselves much more quickly than the forest can and because of that – as they dry out through a season someday, again, if there’s fire they can – it just becomes kind of like an endless cycle that increases in capacity and in impact over time to a point where you have no forest left and so that’s kind of just a brief overview and the next slide. That’s just a picture of a pretty good fire out at Puuanahulu, and so you see just mostly grass there. That’s probably what already grass but before that historically there used to be a dry forest there and it’s no longer. Next slide. So, talk about the case study. Just kinda driving all of that home – so in the mid-80s, 1985 – the Natural Area Reserves proposed a NARS in a patch of forest that was like Highway 190 – the mauka road between Kona and Waimea - transected right through this patch of kauila and lama. Next slide just to – we have some before and after so it was a kauila/lama forest and shortly after that proposal was submitted there was some devastating fires that went through and you have – so we’re – the next three slides are just gonna be pictures of what the forest looked like and what it’s like today after those fires, so there was – so next slide is probably a little bit better but we had some, oh, somebody says they had – is that Leomana has wood from that forest – interesting. So next slide, this is just – that’s what the forest looked like – that’s what it looks like now. Next slide, and so I guess that’s just – it’s kinda just some images to show that that other slide about that cycle is, you know, we’re not just making stuff up – we see these things happening on the ground – so talking about literature review – it’s this research, this project out there by Blackmar and Vitousek in 2000 –I’ll just read what they – kinda the general gist of what their project concluded. So even as grazing caused a gradual – so – sorry I’ll take one step back – I apologize – we’ve had grazing out there for so long which did cause destruction to the forest, but not all of it and this is where you kinda get your Catch-22 – your 2 way sword where you have all these non-native grasses and this destruction from these non-native ungulates on the forest – but what it has been – what remains is a large swath of non-native, fire loving vegetation and so we’re gonna, I guess, get briefly into the best way to control the fire-loving vegetation, um, is those animals that kinda caused the destruction of the forest to begin with, so Blackmar and Vitousek said even as grazing causes gradual declines in forest cover, however, it protects forests from rapid loss – the destructive fires – by reducing the ability of grass fuels to carry fire. Grazing in drier areas reduces the risk of fire, not only by controlling the accumulation of fuels but also by controlling the spread of more flammable grass species, and they weren’t and now in there specifically talking about fountain grass and so at Puuwaawaa there’s the mauka section of that area has a mix of fountain grass but other grasses like Kikuyu, whereas the makai section of that area is pretty much only 6 fountain grass and fountain grass – I’ve talked about fire-loving – fountain grass is super fire- loving compared to the other grasses. It burns more, it comes back quicker and so by using cattle to graze and keep those fuel loads down, it keeps that species – it not only keeps the fuel loads down, which keeps the fire from spreading but it also can keep that species from spreading into areas where other maybe less flammable grasses are. Now is the result of that search – next slide. Oh, sorry, I told you next slide and I’m looking at my screen that’s not connected and it didn’t move over here but it moved over here, um, so \[unclear – sounds like Wada\] is calling 2017 – their research was based around restoring the forest and the best way to restore the forest. They did kind of a cost estimate of using manual control and other types of control to reduce those grass types and other non-native vegetation and so just the result of their research was it would cost 4.6 million dollars a year just to if you were going to manually – so weed eating – maybe mowing in some areas if that was possible, um, 4. – it would costs us that much money – 4.6 million dollars a year just to keep the grasses down to a level that would reduce fire from spreading. Next slide. And so, one other research that was done was Castillo et al in 2007 where they compared – they had different plots in Puuanahulu where they compared prescribed burns, glyphosate operations so Roundup application and grazing and different combinations of those things, and they basically concluded that livestock grazing with proper stopping rinks is the most cost effective tool for fire load, fuel load management in Puuanahulu. Next slide. So, this is kind of currently, I guess, where we’re at. While we don’t have long terms leases for grazing we do allow grazing in the areas – most of the areas that, I guess, where we consider appropriate where the area has been so degraded that there’s not anything to protect anymore and it’s only grass, and so we do allow on an annual permit, couple of different people to graze in Puuanahulu and Puuwaawaa. This map on the side there they’re just kind of shows different ignition sources for fires \[unclear\]. It’s not the most up-to-date, but sort of like 15 years or something like that. Most of our ignition sources occur near the highway and so our focus has been keeping fuel loads along highways as low as possible. This – I should have spent a little more time updating this slide – since I gave this presentation – we have completed that 5 million dollar water project – CIP project up in Hale Puila and Puuwaawaa – which allows us to move water all the way from the forest bird sanctuary to makai of the highway and because that is finally been fully implemented – we have been able to issue a permit for the makai section of the highway where they’ve increased the herds – I think they have about 600 head of cattle down there so it was – I think it was 1,000 – it kind of goes up and down – it’s between 1,000 and 1,400 head mauka and now another 600 head makai – so about 2,000. And then, I know that the Bertelmann lease – the Keakealani lease or – it’s not a lease but historically what it was called, l think they have two to three hundred head in there. So somewhere between, you know, about 2,000 head of cattle grazing to keep those grass loads down to help protect against fire spread. Next slide – this is just I guess a review of how we feel that has worked or been effective so if you look – the red indicates areas where we have had fire and the spread of those fires I think up until, it says, from ’75 – 2011. If you look on the I guess kind of middle portion where it’s mostly – there’s some red but it’s mostly green and it’s mauka of that Highway 190 – that’s where we’ve had the main cattle grazing kind of consistently for the most period of time and we’ve had, as you can see, far less fires in there. The fires that have come in have been smaller and that’s mostly because those cattle are keeping those grasses down and I would also say that because there’s an extensive road network in there with the fencing and stuff – we are able to respond more quickly to those fires as well – so it's kind of a combination of the two, I guess the reason I say that is because I guess one caveat, none of this is perfect – and the largest fire in our recorded history happened couple years ago on Parker Ranch, which is highly grazed, but it was a, I think, kind of special conditions there and super high winds and super dry and in 7 some cases I think if the fire wants to go it’s gonna go, but in general, if we keep the fuel loads down we can respond more quickly, more effectively, to reduce the impact of wild land fires. Next slide. So, these last slides are gonna just be real quick about some of the other things that we’re doing to, to reduce, well to protect the forest but also reduce the spread of fire into that forest. So while the ungulates – cattle, sheep, goats and I guess pigs to some extent – while they can graze and keep fuel loads down in areas that are degraded, which is a large portion of Puuanahulu and Puuwaawaa – they are still damaging to the existing native forest that is left – the remnant forest – and so it is important for us to exclude them from those areas so that those areas can recover and hopefully, you know, ideally in a perfect world – expand over time. Next slide. Just a brief review I guess about excluding ungulates at Puuwaawaa we have about, I think, 4,000 acres of fences that have been already implemented – fences that keep sheep and goats out – so on the ranch side they have a bunch of barbed wire fences and that’ll keep the cattle out of one place, but the goats and pigs and sheep can move freely. So, we have about 4,000 acres of ungulate proof fencing that keeps all the animals out after we remove them and we plan to add about 4,000 acres more to protect – like I said – that remnant forest and so that’s kinda like I said a two-way sword. These animals can be useful to stop the spread of fire while at the same time being dangerous or harmful to the existing forest and so we’re trying our best to use them for what they’re good for while keeping them away from what they threaten. Next slide. And then we also do manual control within so within those fenced units so those areas where we’re trying to remove the ungulates. We will do the manual control of weed eating and herbicide application to protect the forest. Next slide – just to show some pictures of what that kind of looks like and then last slide. Mahalo. Any questions? I’m happy to take any questions. AA: Abraham, District – 5. So I was supposed to say this in the beginning, but I brought Kanalu one – this month – he brought his presentation to us before but last month was the County’s, I guess, fire prevention awareness month and because we didn’t have a meeting last month and Kanalu wasn’t available last month either, so that’s why I brought him on board this month to do his fire presentation and also Brian been bothering me for quite some time to get Kanalu back on and just so happened he’s not here again today so too bad for that. Kanalu you said you guys just had that water upgrades? KS: Yeah, and I should have said so we had two like 350-400,000-gallon tanks that were – they were also – that, that water catchment system was implemented by one of the original leases, you know, sixty years ago and we upgraded it and connected everything. We de-commissioned one of the reservoirs and we upgraded another one, and put in a new liner for catching the water – the rain water from forest. Last year in December we had a super big rain and one of those 400,000 gallon tanks like literally exploded, and so right now we only have one tank functioning and we have put in some CIP money – some other money request to replace that larger tank that is not functioning anymore. Um, but yes. AA: So, you guys took the water from – all the way from the mauka side down to the makai, right? Did you guys… KS: We’re catching rain water, yeah, it’s rain water that’s being caught, harvested and then piped down to – all the way to makai. It stops along the way and there’s a couple of reservoirs, but yeah, all the way to makai. 8 AA: Right so are you guys, is some of the piping connected into, um, not the cattle water troughs but I know you guys get some bird waterers out there and stuff like that, um, are you guys piping into \[unclear\] to get the animals to get water – isn’t dry forest – so they can actually – or what is your guys’ research for the animals eating the trees to get the water off of the trees? KS: Oh, are you talking about game animals like sheep, goats, stuff like that? AA: Yeah. KS: OK. We don’t – we’re not tied into that water system for those animals at all. We do have – we have nine guzzlers mauka and like four or five guzzlers makai, that we, so, it’s just like a small roof with a tank underneath and the roof is guttered and connected to the tank and then the tank is connected to a little trough with a float valve that provides water for sheep and goats and then Puuanahulu has another ten of those systems. It has been my experience while I’ve been here that the sheep and the goats do not use those water guzzlers very much. It’s very minimal use, and I’m – have been concerned for some time that those troughs might actually be more – might allow for feral dogs to spread into areas where they normally wouldn’t be because they have a water source. I have enclosed the troughs because of that but I’m, I guess, cautious or, you know, I’m concerned about it. The other thing is the cattle troughs are, you know, they have – I have no idea how many cattle troughs there are but the cattle troughs do not exclude goats or sheep from using them and so they have access to water, it’s just, yeah, it’s not, to me that’s not an issue for those animals up there. AA: Abraham, District – 5, when you bring up the wild dogs then they kind of takes it in a whole different avenue, right, um, that’s just some of the complaints or not really complaints but questions that I get from some of the other hunters and stuff out there. I don’t personally hunt in that area so I can’t really – we can’t have a bigger conversation – so, anybody else have any more questions for Kanalu? NR: Natalie, District – 7. The last time you guys did research was in 2007 so that was approximately like what 16 years ago? Um… KS: The last was 2017 – was one of the ones I cited but… NR: That… KS: That 2007 research was about grazing fire and… NR: Controlled burns… Like that, yeah, so just cause I grew up on the mainland – small disclaimer – and I’m used to a lot of fires and I’ve seen the benefits of the controlled fires, the controlled burns, I just didn’t know like if there’s more research done because there’s great improvement and so much research that it comes with it and how it protects and how it’s actually beneficial for the forest so I just didn’t know if that would be an option or if we actually have the resources in order to do that? KS: I think, as far as so I only talked about research that was done specifically in the area, anything and so, yeah, we haven’t done anything updated since then in that area. I’m sure there’s other research all over the place much more current than that. You make a good point about 9 resources, though, for us to do a prescribed burn and the personnel that we would need and the equipment that we would need to support that is – it’s – it costs a lot of money, so, it’s not something and, it’s not something we’ve seriously considered – to be honest because of the potential threat that that fire jumps to areas we’re trying to protect. NR: I was just curious. KS: It’s also, and I don’t mean to I sorry to be that guy – but that’s not my primary responsibility. We do have a Protection Forrester and so that would be kind of his, his realm. I’m just wildlife stuff. NR: Cause wouldn’t you guys kind of work hand in hand in order to protect one another? KS: Oh, I would, we would absolutely work with him. We work for the same agency. It’s just that would be – questions about that would go towards him because that’s – does that make sense, like, that’s his realm? AA: Kanalu, maybe if you have, his email and Natalie’s email. Maybe you can share it to Natalie or just send to Barbara and Barbara can send it to Natalie. KS: Yeah, for sure, hasn’t he been \[unclear\] to you guys before – Don Yokoyama? AA: No, he, I don’t think he came in. KS: Oh, OK. I thought he did but… I can definitely share his email for sure. AA: Thanks. Any other questions or comments from the Commission? CO: This is Cortney, District – 8. AA: Yeah, go ahead Cortney. CO: Kanalu, while we have you, I was just wondering if there were any updates on the Feral Ungulate Task Force by any chance? KS: Oh, sure, we met… AA: Hold on, Cortney, I going to bring Alan Nagawa to the next month Cortney for that update. CO: OK. th AA: Because it’s off of the agenda too, so… Kanalu if you can be available on the 15 then you can kind of like share at that time about that. Sorry Cortney. CO: No worries, thank you. KS: August. OK. I will just say that we did meet, recently so we’ll talk about what we talked about next month, then. 10 AA: Yeah, thanks… RD: Ah, yeah, Duerr, District – 1. Ah, yeah, Kanalu, the Blackmar/Vitousek study in 2000 – grazing, can help prevent – is a plus and a minus. Is that applicable in the palila habitat? KS: Is it applicable in the palila habitat? RD: Yes, is Vitousek’s – the Blackmore/Vitousek’s report applicable in the palila habitat. KS: I do know that we are exploring, contracting goat grazing for fuel or reductions along DKI. I’ve gotten some quotes for that, so I think some of it is applicable. I’m not sure all of it is, and we are trying to see if how we can use it. So, yeah, so like I’ve been exploring using Mark Crivello and his goat grazing to graze along DKI between critical habitat and the highway, so I think there are some applications, yes… RD: Do you have risk assessments for fire in palila habitat? Do you have a head along what could happen and when it will happen, if it will happen? KS: I know we have a Mauna Kea Fire Management Plan. I’m not sure that a risk assessment in that plan, again that would be a question for Don. RD: OK. Yeah, moving over. So, 4,000 acres of land will be fenced. Do you have a cost per acre for fencing? KS: I don’t off the top of my head. I know our project manager out there – Edith – would have a lot of that and I can try to get that to you – I can email you something kind of general – what we spent so far at least. RD: Yeah. And that goes – are there records – is there a log on how much land is fenced and what the cost for that land being fenced is? KS: If it’s just the fencing, yeah, I’m sure Edith has all of that. RD: OK, so, and who would that contact be? KS: Her name is Edith Atkins, but I can ask her those questions and send it to you. RD: OK, great. And then finally – on the herbicide applications – have you – do you keep logs on the applicators and the usage and what herbicides are being used? KS: Yeah, absolutely, and so, that’s another question for Edith. In general, as far as herbicides – I don’t know all of them – I guess it’s mostly Roundup, Garland, maybe some, ah, what’s that one – it starts with a P… I forget – those are kind of the main ones we use, though, but I can be more specific, and I can get that information from Edith for you. RD: OK, OK, great. Thank you very much. KS: Yeah, no problem. 11 AA: OK. Thanks, Kanalu. KS: All right… LT: Oh, Leomana, District – 3, sorry, I just got two ideas I just wanted to ask you about so the first one is – so they allow permits for grazing. Who’s responsible for the water troughs, who takes care of all the logistics of the grazing areas, is it the… KS: The permit… LT: The permit holder. So, they gotta come in and they fix all the – OK, shoots. I just wanted to check on… KS: We work with them, but they maintain their water system yeah… LT: And so those permits – what does that look like? You get full access for like a year or two years or? KS: It used to be a month-to-month permit but it’s an annual permit now so every year they need to renew. LT: And then this last one – OK, so this is about the controlled burns. I know a long time ago – and this was from the Fire Chief – Lincoln – from Waimea. They used to do the controlled burns as a part of their recruit class. I don’t know if they do that anymore. I know they changed all that. But the controlled burns that – he said that they used to do as part of the recruit class but it got out of hand and it jumped into a koa forest and they ended up burning the koa forest down, and so since then that’s when he said they just stopped doing controlled burns cause they cannot manage them, but that the fire chief from Waimea. Anyways, Mahalo… KS: Yeah, thanks. AA: OK. Thanks, Kanalu. And I not seeing anybody else. Thanks, and I see you next month. KS: Yeah, I’ll be back. b. Thomas Gilmore, DOH Remedial Project Manager seeking public comment on Soil Remediation Plan for Hakalau Beach Park AA: Moving on to Mr. Thomas Gilmore from the Department of Health, Remedial Project Manager seeking public comment on Soil Remediation Plan for the Hakalau Beach Park. TG: Good morning, my name is Tom Gilmore, I work for the Department of Health. The Department of Health has an Environmental Management Division and I feel like my office is probably the best kept secret in the state, besides my office within Environmental Management Division there’s Clean Air Branch, Clean Water, Safe Drinking Water, Hazardous Waste, Solid Waste – there’s all these different entities but my office is the Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office. We are composed of 3 separate entities. One of us is the Environmental Health 12 and we run things like the lead exposure program for children – I don’t know if anybody is familiar with that – we also have a fleet on unseen coordinators, and they respond anywhere in the state where there is an ongoing release or an emergency of hazardous materials. We work closely with all of the fire departments and the LEPCs on site, the Navy, Coast Guard and others to make sure that we can mitigate or stem the – and then I specifically work for the ESTAR Group – sorry about the alphabet soup that we used but that’s site discovery and remediation. So, I am the regulator after everything’s done that comes in and oversees the cleanup and the restoration to make things safe going forward. I have a quick presentation and it includes my contact information should anybody want to contact me and have any other discussion, ah, besides what I’m gonna talk about today with the Hakalau Gulch project, we oversee a variety of other things that hit close to home – I don’t know if anybody’s familiar with the Waikoloa Maneuver Area – the huge area on the Big Island where unexploded ordinance still is being located and found. So we are the regulator – we work closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and oversee their clean up and it’s this constant struggle that we have with them – they’ll use the language – we feel that’s it a degree of safety that’s acceptable and my co-workers and I think, no, that’s not acceptable because if one kid finds one unexploded hand grenade it’s not so – it’s just ongoing battle and it takes a lot of time for them to comb through the area – get right- of-entry permissions from landowners – do a lot of those things and go search and then clean up and that’s just one of the things we do. So going ahead – the Hakalau Stream Gulch is in a public comment period right now and I think that’s how you all found me through a public notice in the newspaper, otherwise we’re pretty well hidden. The bridge was originally built in the 1900s that crosses the gulch, and it was railroad bridge to haul cane. The bridge was painted with lead paint for years and years and years – which works quite well but it also causes and environmental issue as the paint decays and flakes down and goes to the ground below. So, this is a 1936, 1925 photo that we found, and it shows the bridge, the sugar mill and the flume that was there to help carry product. And they were all painted with lead paint that over the years weathers, gets repainted and then just flakes down and creates snow in the environment. The bridge was cleaned and de-scaled of lead paint in 2000 and then going forward there were some studies done that. Our limit, that is for exposure for people to be in is roughly 200 milligrams per kilogram. And that’s a lead concentration or some people might use the term “parts per million.” And that is safe for even kids to go out and play in and you know kids dropping skittles and picking and then eating and, and that is still safe for them at 200. There’s portions of the park that have been sampled that exceed 1,000 parts per million or 1,000 milligrams per kilogram. And some areas that are even really concentrated – my guess is the people – somebody probably spilled paint during some of the painting processes that came down. So, the lead is a hazard – outlawed in paint in the 1970s – we still find a lot of old buildings and things that pose a hazard. Direct exposure is one hazard – people can have it on their skin and absorb it. Tentatively what you get is an inhalation hazard whether dust or someone not wearing a dust mask. If they’re scraping lead based paint or working in it and it can be inhaled it can also be ingested and that’s probably the most thing that we’re concerned about with children is their desire to put everything in their mouth or to drop things and pick them up – we’re all heard that 3 second rule and pick it up and it’s good and, and for someone that be of my age you could expose me with all the lead you want and it’s really no risk to me – but someone who’s developing those neurological systems – it’s a huge neuron-toxin for children and that’s really what our primary concern is with a lead exposure. So, in 2017 the park was closed to the public, similar to how Hakalau Park was closed to the public because of the high, elevated concentrations of lead in the soil. Those areas are mainly close to the bridge – here’s a graph that illustrates areas that were sampled. Green is good. 13 Yellow maybe not and red is bad. And you can see where the breeze comes in on the south side that it takes all the flakes is there coming off the bridge and deposits them upwind and creates a problem – so we closed the park – not us but the County and then the Department of Transportation that owns a lot of the land – because of the risk being so high. Several portions of the park were so high that they failed PCLP which is a fancy word for a laboratory analysis and everything else that actually identifies that as a hazardous material by the US government, EPA, Department of Transportation and others and it’s because of this that material can’t even be disposed of legally in the State of Hawaii – so when this gets cleaned up these really hot, high concentrations of material are gonna have to get containerized, barged and shipped to the mainland and then they’re properly dispose of ‘em and what they usually end up doing is something called a “Macro encapsulation” making a concrete block – something that won’t leach and be able to move throughout the environment and then it’ll be residing in a lined landfill where the leaching collection system if anything does move it gets picked up in the water and treated so that’s been one of the drawbacks and why nothing’s gotten done and the park’s been closed for years – the Department of Transportation is responsible for the mess hasn’t had the money to clean it up. So, my job is to keep feeding on them in a civilized manner that says, hey, we have such limited access along the coast in this area that these treasures really need to be open so the public can benefit because between when Kolekole was closed and Hakalau there’s almost no access to the coastline in these areas. So, I’m a strong proponent since I live here even though my office is on Oahu, I’m trying to get this done. I’ve recently heard that the Department of Transportation has funding for bridge repairs and improvements and you’ve seen them do the Kolekole weight restriction and then that bridge repair and then some others and they’re trying to get the soil cleaned up under the same time that they’re doing bridge repair and some money for that so we’re hoping that that gets done in this year and that’s why they’ve asked me to hold the public comment period. There was a lot of studies that were done next slide… And they’ve shown different areas and different opportunities with different costs. Isolating like at Kolekole Beach Park where one small area is fenced to keep people out of the highest contamination if they pave over certain – there was a lot of studies and I don’t want to waste time talking about what we’ve done and we’re all online and available if you want to go read that – thanks – and these were the choices that were presented that the Department of Transportation studied, and you can see green is good, red is not, yellow is questionable. And the choice that’s all green was choice 5B and that is essentially, summing things up quickly digging up all the contaminated areas that are over the 200 milligram per kilogram – what are safe to your one limit is – hauling it off to be disposed of properly – bringing in clean fill and restoring the area. Other areas might, other options might be cheaper but they’re not as effective or they might have ongoing annual inspections, reports due, things like that that drive up the cost in the long term issues. So choice B was what their selection was and receiving public comments. Most of the people are in line with 5B, other’s say they don’t really care, just clean it up – we want access back and we’re tired of not being allowed to go to our community park in those areas. Questions for me. SW: I just note that it appears that Leomana – sorry this is Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan – had a number of comments in the chat – I don’t know if you want to share those comments or questions? TG: So, if you go to the next slide, again, my contact information – there’s phone numbers, email addresses, opportunities with the \[unclear\] if you have questions that you don’t want to ask during the forum. I am a public entity. Everything that we do is pretty much transparent and 14 online. I am funded by grants from the EPA as well as Department of Defense for the kind of work we do so I’m not necessarily part of the Governor’s legislation and budget concerns so during COVID when the former governor says “We’re gonna cut back on state employees’ hours and furloughs,” I would not have been in that situation. However, like any poorly run state agency we are well understaffed. Our staff of 12 in my office a few years ago was down to 3 for over 2 years. The volume of work didn’t change it just means that those of us now become camels with bigger loads stacked up on top of us and it just takes longer for people to get their projects to our office. LT: E, aloha, Leomana, District – 3, I just wanted to say thank you for this. My family – I grew up around the Island and we go down there, and we camp down there, and my family grew up down there – I take my kids in the big tunnels and the lava tubes and up the river so… I just wanted to say mahalo. TG: So in addition to this project, things I deal with – I work closely with Department of Education and we study water fixtures at all the schools where keiki fill up their hydro-flasks every day to make sure that they don’t have lead as well as, you know, you know \[sounds like tramatesizes\] are an important part of our construction industry here in Hawaii and we’re concerned that a lot of the buildings get arsenic sprayed around the perimeter in the 50s when these buildings were built so we’ll go around and measure and check soil around the outside of a lot of the classrooms. We’re not really concerned about open areas and fields where kids play but we’re more concerned about the uptake again because they’ll be standing in line – dropping things, picking things up then hand them out. So, I work with a variety of different entities and something if you’ve got a notepad handy you can write down the word IHER – I-H-E-R – that is a public access database. It has a viewer map for the entire State of Hawaii, and you can go zoom in on these colored dots and pretty much open any one that you want within your district or in your county and see what these colored dots are for areas that we’ve managed, overseen, and cleaned up in the past. Obviously, you’ll see a lot of colored dots where all the petroleum terminals are because they have a tendency to spill things but you’ll also find mixing sites for the former sugar cane industry where they mixed herbicides and, treated roots with arsenic before they would plant and things – I – we have a legacy of historically crapping in our own backyard. My job is to try and help people to make sure that that gets cleaned up property going forward. SW: I’m sorry, Mr. Gilmore, this is Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan. Can you please repeat what you just said as far as the acronym for this site - what does that stand for? TG: Ah, our database… SW: Yeah, the database. TG: ….is, we call it IHER and it’s the letter I H E R. It’s available to the public. It has a really nice viewer – it’s a little slow so if your bandwidth is good it will work better. SW: And that’s located where? On the Department of Health website? TG: It’s on the Department of Health website and if you just go Google IHER it will take you right to it. 15 SW: Thank you. TG: It takes about two click and for example my office deals with a lot of things. If someone might have heard of Red Hill recently…. Ah, we respond to that as an emergency response sampling water – we hold the Navy accountable – we spent hours and hours in litigation with them – making sure that they’re held in compliance. People really don’t trust government entities, but I try to get out and rub elbows with people to make sure that they know that I’m here for you – I don’t work for the Navy – I’m not funded by them – I’m not their puppet. Other things we do is the current thing is P-fast. I don’t know if anybody’s hearing about these – four \[unclear\] chemicals. You’re starting to see commercials similar in the \[unclear\] if you were exposed to aqueous firefighting foam in the military, please call us so we’ve recently had some drinking wells on Oahu test positive for P-fast. My office has done a variety of studies as this contaminant spreads its way through society, fish purchased at the market, fresh caught for these contaminants, bio solids at the Hilo Pump Station when they’re not pushing untreated material out Keaukaha, ah, as well a variety of things like that. We get grants from the EPA to study these things and so we can put together sampling proposals and do – collect data for the public – that’s really what we’re here for. AA: Thanks, Thomas. Ah, Abraham, District – 5, so got a question from the public. Hakalau soil remediation – any mileage studies of lead affecting fish, reef in the area? TG: We have not studied migrating of lead or arsenic out to the terrestrial through – into the marine eco-system. That, we just haven’t had the ability to do that, we are looking at off the Maui Airport studying the mechanism for the P-fast chemicals because they’re had a fire-fighting foam releases and they’re very close to the ocean like Daniel K. Inouye International Airport is. AA: So, do you think that the people that would be doing the studies for the lead would be more like Department of Aquatic Resources? TG: They might be able to help you with that. We can deal with the toxicity and the leach ability and the fact that lead isn’t very soluble, so it has a tendency to settle out in the environment and not necessarily be something that in in a turbulent environment. Again, my favorite thing to eat is billfish – and that’s probably one of the worst things out there because it is highest in mercury or heavy metals because of those kind of a things that, you know, at my age I don’t care I’m gonna live a little. LT: Aloha, District – 3, Leomana again, getting back to the aquatics so are you also the person that I call if I wanted to talk to about sunscreens and in our fishing areas and sunscreen pollution in our wild fish animals – our game animals? TG: DLNR had a – again alphabet soup – Department of Aquatic Resources DAR Division – I think they’d be the ones to discuss about that. I may have knowledge in that but it’s not my purview – I deal with cleaning up hazardous materials. LT: OK. TG: I’d like to be an expert on everything, but I am not. 16 RD: District – 1, Duerr. I have a question on – is there any estimate on how many cubic yards of contaminants are at Hakalau? GT: Ah, I probably blew past it in one of my slides but they’re looking at about 4,000 cubic yards give or take. RD: And do we know how deep that is? GT: It depends on which section you’re in. Some of the issues they’re gonna have is the very steep edges up near the outer edges of the bridge are gonna be very difficult to get to because of the angle and the topography as well as the dense vegetation and so we’ll have, I know, a logic approach which that says if we can’t get to ‘em to clean ‘em up the public probably’s pretty safe because they can’t get to it and roll in it or eat it and do these things with it. RD: And, and finally, is there a cost? Do they have a cost on this \[unclear\]? TG: And that’s in the study and that was in that choice, that table that had really small text that I’d have to put my bifocals on to read but all that was laid out. RD: Do you know an estimate? TG: I don’t know the cost off hand off the top of my head. SW: \[Unclear\] TG: That one… I believe this has the cost as well as all the options that are in there. Cost maybe towards – maybe it doesn’t. AA: Abraham, District – 5, so my question is when you come to 5B and then you get public and it says “no” under public, what’s the “no” for? Like no public access or? TG: No public exposure. AA: Oh, OK. TG: If that is commendable do the public have a risk – is there a risk to the public? No… AA: OK. TG: So, some of the other ones that aren’t thoroughly clean-up they have a yellow – a potential risk to the public for example, like at Hakalau, there’s an area that’s fenced that Do Not Enter because of the highlight contamination – that would be one of those yellows that’s a potential if someone climbs over the fence, they run a potential risk of exposure. AA: So, the Hakalau Beach Park area – that was closed 1) for the lead and 2) the bridge was already all bust up so they’re repairing the bridge – that lower bridge right now, I think from what I understand it should be open later on this year back to the public after they fix that lower bridge… 17 TG: The Kolekole? AA: Yeah, Kolekole… TG: OK. AA: Yeah. TG: So, we originally allowed the County under interim conditions that they – for Kolekole Beach Park – that they maintain the grass, they keep our signs up to say, hey, no camping, don’t dig, no fires and don’t go into this fenced area because you run the risk of a lead uptake and contamination. So, we allowed the park to open and then when the bridge had engineering failure it was closed because they were worried about metal and things falling while they were working on the bridge. I believe the park is re-opened now and I’ve given the County paperwork that they can go in and do ADA upgrades to pavilions, restrooms, things like that, which means – it’s instructions – when you go to dig in contaminated soil with a lead contamination – protect your workers with certain engineering controls, PPE and if you dig in these areas you have to dispose of your leaded contaminated soil properly in a landfill and not re-use it or haul it off and again, that’s all online – available to the public in our IHER database. You can go click on the dot for Kolekole and read all the submissions that come in with their proposals and our concurrent or corrections of things they need to fix to get to work. AA: OK. Any last questions or comments from the Commission? Not seeing any, I’d like to make a motion to draft up a letter to support the remediation plan for the Hakalau Beach Park. TG: Send it quick, July 30 is the end of our 30-day comment window. SW: \[Unclear\] TG: You can just send me an email that says… SW: So, um… TG: ….we the GMAC…. SW: ….Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan. I’m sorry, the reason why that is – it has to do with Sunshine laws so, um… TG: I understand… SW: ….even though GMAC may decide to accept a proposal to draft a letter of support, the draft has to be approved by GMAC, which won’t be until next meeting which is… TG: So, all the separate entities… SW: Yeah… 18 TG: ….can email me. My email’s right there in the public \[unclear\] and you could email your preference. 5B is the correct choice in my opinion and that’s what \[unclear\] has chosen but you can read the studies or choose other options or you can evaluate why they looked at not just at encapsulating the land and leaving it there or other options, cause they were all listed in the studies, I just don’t like to get into a lot of technical details that put people to sleep in a public forum. LT: I love that… TG: They don’t really care. All they want is what are you gonna do for me and how does it help me and my family go forward so… SW: So, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan – just for the Commissioners and the public to know – any individual has the opportunity and right to provide their personal input during a public comment period, as it was happening with the Department of Health Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office. As far as official communications from GMAC, they will have to follow Sunshine Law. RD: Chair, I’d like to propose that we draft that letter right now and in that proposal what I would like to do is keep it very simple – a very simple statement of support. I’d like to make a motion that we draft a letter – a statement right now to send to Thomas Gilmore – the Remedial Project Manager. SW: Irrespective of whether you draft it now or not it would still have to be accepted and approved on the next meeting because the public needs to have an opportunity to make comments. TG: That’s fine. I’m gathering the sentiment and that’s why I would ask to be here today in the first place – to clean up my district park and let the public in. I’m beating on the Department of Transportation to try to get this done. I, I can’t force them to have money and funding and as we know how things like that go – funding gets appropriated and then magically gets used for something else and then it’s not there. AA: Abraham, District – 5. So, I know you want the letter done by this weekend… TG: July 30 ends the public comment period. I don’t have any problem waiting for next month’s GMAC meeting to have you officially send me a letter… AA: OK. TG: ….because I’m akamai about what you want here and now. As an FYI I haven’t had anybody say “no” don’t clean up my park and leave it closed so… SW: Mr. Gilmore would you like me to go back to that slide that had the options so that people are aware? TG: You can, yeah… RD: Actually, Chair, I made a copy of the screen which I can share with you and other members… 19 TG: And this is all online, again, in our magic acronym IHER database – if you open the map and zoom to the viewer to the Big Island and run out to Hakalau Beach Park the 200-page document that this snapshot comes out of is there with all the samples, all the data, all the studies, all the big words that, you know, all that stuff that we don’t care about – we just care about getting the resource open and the public’s safety. AA: OK. Thanks. So, again, Commission – you guys can write your guys’ own personal letters in support – put a 5B per Mr. Gilmore… SW: As members of the public… AA: As member of the public, yes. I wasn’t there yet. Um, other than that we’re gonna move that to next month’s meeting, to draft a letter and then approve it. SW: OK. AA: Um, moving on to Old Business. GMAC second quarter report to Mayor Roth and the County Council Commissioner. SW: I’m sorry, point of order, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan. Did you want to go back to approving of the minutes at the top of the agenda since we have to pass it because we didn’t have quorum? APPROVAL OF MINUTES (May 16, 2023) AA: Ah… Sure, hold on – since we jumping into Old Business. OK. Um, could somebody make a motion to approve the minutes from May 16? RD: I make a motion to approve minutes from May 16. CO: Cortney, District – 8, I second the motion. AA: Any discussion? Not seeing any – put it to a vote. Robert Duerr, District – 1. RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3… LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent. District – 5, aye. District – 6, absent. District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: Cortney? CO: Aye. 20 AA: Nine, absent. Motion carries and passes. SW: Five ayes and four absent. 6. OLD BUSINESS: a. GMAC 2023 Second Quarter Report to Mayor Roth and County Council. Commissioner Robret Duerr. AA: Yeah, four absent. Going to – moving to Old Business. GMAC 2023 Second Quarterly Report – to Mayor Roth and County Council. Mr. Duerr? RD: We had a problem 1) when June meeting was cancelled, we did not receive minutes and what I was doing on my report was pulling content from the minutes, however, Chair, in going over this report I basically have come up with a program that may work for us. SW: Ah, Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan, would you like to speak more about the parameters of the report in Executive Session? We have set-up the Zoom so that can be allowed so I can inform the board as to their rules, responsibilities, immunities, privileges, immunities and liabilities \[unclear\] their report. AA: Sure, we have enough time and we’ve been having that discussed like for a few meetings already so we just move into Executive Session. SW: So, at this point I’m going to move all of the members of the public into the meeting room – the members of the public that are present in the room right now we’ll ask that you please leave so that they can discuss in Executive Session. Once Executive Session is finished, we will allow all of the members of the public back into the meeting. AA: Sir? TG: This is a perfect opportunity for me to bail. AA: Yes, sir…Thank you for your presentation. LT: Yeah, thank you very much. TG: I left business cards with a few if anybody wants to get ahold of me. I’m a resource for the public. RD: Thank you, appreciate that. AA: Thank you, sir… BK: Thank you… 21 SW: This is gonna take a moment cause I have to individually put everybody into the waiting room. NR: Natalie, District – 7, we can’t hear anything. Can anyone hear anything? SW: Can you hear me? NR: Yes. NR: I just thought like – I didn’t know if we were gonna start doing that one \[unclear\]. AA: Natalie, me and Robert hear everything? SW: Could you hear me now? NR: Thank you, fearless leader, yes, I can hear you now. SW: OK. NR: Charades, that’s what I thought you were doing, charades. Action: Motion made by R. Duerr to move meeting into Executive Session for the purpose of consulting with Board attorney or questions/issues pertaining to the Board’s powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities as it relates to the Quarterly Report from GMAC to the Mayor and the County Council. Seconded by A. Antonio. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 4 absent. RD: I’d like to make a motion into Executive Session for the purpose of consulting with the Board attorney or questions/issues pertaining to the Board’s powers, duties, privileges, immunities and liabilities. SW: As related to 6a the GMAC Second Quarterly Report to the Mayor Mitch Roth and County Council… RD: As it relates to the Quarterly Report from GMAC to the Mayor and the County Council. SW: Second… AA: Abraham, second. SW: OK. Now call the vote. I’m sorry… AA: Discussion, no need discussion? SW: No there could be discussion. AA: District – 1, Robert Duerr. 22 RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, absent. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent. District – 5, aye. District – 6, absent. District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: Cortney? CO: Aye. AA: Nine, absent. (Meeting in Executive Session). (Meeting out of Executive Session) SW: Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan. In compliance with the new statute changes to Sunshine Law, I’m informing the public that GMAC just held an Executive Session in relation to their roles, rights, responsibilities, regarding, 6a GMAC Second Quarterly Report to Mayor Mitch Roth and County Council. It was motioned by Mr. Robert Duerr to enter seconded by Chair Abraham and it was a 5 to zero vote to enter in that matter they discussed their roles, powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities regarding the quarterly report. We can now move on. b. Drafted Letter of Gratitude to House Rep. Mark Nakashima for introducing bills of GMAC interest, Commissioner Leomana Turalde AA: OK. Moving on back to Old Business. Actually, I going kinda discuss or ask the question of section b and section c. Barbara, do you know the status of both of those letters? BK: The status regarding the mahalo letter? AA: Yeah, the mahalo letter to Mark Nakashima and also Senator Lorraine Inouye? BK: No, we haven’t sent that out. That would have been typed up and have you sign it as the Chair person. We’re coming back to this meeting for final approval. AA: You know, I didn’t get it in my packet and I didn’t get – it’s not here also but it should have been in our previous meeting packets, right? BK: Correct, these items not to include into your packet. RD: \[Unclear\] do we know where the letters are? 23 AA: That’s what I’m asking Barbara. BK: My understanding was that the Commissioner was to draft up the letter. AA: Yeah, didn’t we read it already last time in May? SW: \[Unclear\] AA: OK. So that’s it. OK. So… BK: There was some amendment that was gonna be made to the letters – Leomana was gonna make his letter more of an educational letter regarding the… AA: Leomana’s letter was to Mark Nakashima and… BK: OK, but I did not receive any letter from any Commissioner. AA: OK. Robert’s doing the work – the Lorraine Inouye. BK: Correct. AA: Um, Leomana, what’s the status of that letter? LT: Ah, Leomana, District – 3, the letter’s still inside of the, the, it’s the same letter cause the first one I sent in I just amended that one and then it does itself in the docs app. Cause I put it in the docs app. AA: So, did you send it over to Barbara again? LT: Yeah, it’s that same original link – it’s not a new one. SW: Can you please, I don’t think Barbara has the ability to use the link. Can you please provide her with the document form, thank you. LT: Yeah, I can. c. Draft Letter of Thank you to Senator Lorraine Inouye as Chair of the Water and Land Committee regarding HB 1089, by Commissioner Robert Duerr. AA: And so, your, Robert, what’s the status of your letter. RD: Well, as far – what I’ll do is I’ll go in the minutes and verify that in fact a letter was submitted and approved, um, because this went around to an initial letter, it had amendments to the letter, the amended letter – I’ll find out what happened to the amended letter and if it was \[unclear\] to minutes. AA: OK. So, question, Sylvia? 24 SW: Yes. AA: If those – if the both letters was already drafted and approved, so they just need to go to Barbara and then sent over to me, sign it and it’s out. SW: Yes, if the letters had already been drafted…3 AA: Yeah. SW: If the Commission has already approved the amendments to the letters and as in that it was read out and the amendments were approved – then the final copy including the amendments would need to be sent to Barbara so that Barbara can finalize and provide you to sign off. AA: OK. So Leomana and Robert can you guys double check your amendments, everything, send it over to Barbara so she can finalize it and send to me and then we can get it out and it will probably be done before next meeting. Thanks, guys. RD: Thank you. BK: I’ll do it as soon as I receive it. And I’ll pouch it to you. AA: Thanks, Barbara. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion and Decision Making: Regarding recommendation provided by the Investigative Committee Report Re: Rules and Regulations Related to Lobster Harvesting and Sale AA: OK. I’d like to make a motion to move New Business, section a, to next month under Old Business for the reason why the Chair of that Committee is not here today and even though he made his report from the Committee but maybe he’d like to make some recommendations as per our Commission charter, um, he can, we can, like draft something advisory to DAR to make more regulations on the lobsters. SW: OK. I’m gonna translate. Deputy Corporation Counsel, Sylvia Wan – so what Chair is suggesting to the Commission is that we move 7a to the next meeting’s agenda so that the Commission can discuss and make decisions regarding the recommendations that were provided during Austin’s report. Action: Motion made by A. Antonio to move New Business item a. Discussion and Decision Making: Regarding recommendation provided by the Investigative Committee Report Re: Rules and Regulations Related to Lobster Harvesting and Sale th to the August 15 GMAC meeting. Seconded by R. Duerr. Motion carried with 5 ayes and 4 absent. 25 AA: Yeah. SW: To include potentially \[unclear\]. AA: Yeah, an advisory letter. SW: So, we’ll need a motion and second. AA: I made the motion. SW: OK. We need a second. RD: Second the motion. AA: All in favor say aye? SW: Do you need a technical discussion? AA: Oh, sorry. Discussion? Any discussion. Not seeing any discussion – Robert Duerr, District – 1. RD: Aye. AA: District – 2, vacant. District – 3, Leomana? LT: Aye. AA: District – 4, absent. District – 5, aye, Abraham. District – 6, absent. District – 7, Natalie? NR: Aye. AA: Eight, Cortney? CO: Aye. AA: Nine absent. Five ayes no nayes, motion carries. Committee Reports – Investigative Committee. So, Sylvia, per our last meeting in May… SW: Um-hum. 8. COMMITTEE REPORTS: AA: ….we had Deputy Corporation Counsel Dana Lacey and she – I might be mistaken or whatever but she said we don’t need to put the Committee Reports on the agenda unless a Committee member or a Committee chair has something to actually present. SW: Report – that’s correct. So currently, the way that we’ve been operating – this is Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan – currently, we’ve been adding the items to the agenda as a 26 reminder to the Investigative committees that reports are needed and it’s also to provide an opportunity that if the Committee wants to provide an oral report and that’s their report they have the option to do that, I do understand that it can be a little confusing because once the Committee provides the report that investigative committee will end, it will conclude, um, the reason why it’s currently on the agenda in this rotating fashion is because what we have experienced is that members may forget that they’re on a certain committee, and so it’s been provided more as a reminder and an opportunity, so at this point if the Chair would prefer that I not make sure that these items are on the agenda and that only when a report is provided we can do that, however, I know our Commission members are very busy and sometimes having a reminder… AA: OK. I’m just gonna hold that to an open discussion real quick and then because Robert Duerr is gonna be, um, do you guys think that it should stay the way it is or not put it on the agenda \[unclear\]. SW: Unless you have a report. RD: Um, it may be helpful just to list \[unclear\] you know, like current public inter-action group, um… NR: An open report? RD: No, no, not a – just to list that those committees are in fact standing committees waiting for a report without an updated or without a report. AA: OK. Cause if not, every meeting I gonna have to go through all of them. RD: Yeah, yeah, maybe not. NR: Yeah. a. Investigative Committee: Investigate the Eradication of Game Animals on DHHL Land. AA: Just move to close. So, 8a – Investigative Committee: Investigate the Eradication of Game Animals on DHHL Land. So, I reached out to the DHHL Land Manager couple times via email and the word on the street is there was a letter – a cease and desist letter to stop all eradication efforts up in the shoot, what is that place called Leomana again? I had it all morning, I was practicing. ?: B 17-2. AA: Something like… ?: I only know technical names, sorry… AA: Um, just, up on the mountain up on DHHL land there’s a cease and desist letter. I’ve tried to reach out to get it – he’s not responding so this investigative committee is now closed and voided so. 27 SW: So, you’re not making any recommendations? AA: Nope. LT: Leomana, District – 3, I just wanted to ask, in your talks with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and their land manager, are they open to coming and talking to us anymore. AA: Um, when I talked – when I actually talked to him and he’s like oh, just email me and you know that’s their fast way to get out of things, right, so, um, he was like I would like to come to – he was set-up a person to person meeting like maybe me, you and let’s say Robert, as long as we’re not breaking Sunshine Laws then he’ll have a closed meeting with like 3 of us or whatever come to our GMAC meeting because he’s been to other public meetings and he just got bashed so he doesn’t want to come here and get bashed even though it might not happen right? SW: OK. So, Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan – so if you do want to do some avenue along those lines then you have to create a new PIG for that. b. Investigative Committee: Investigate Extent of Effects of Mass Feeding of Feral Animals and Potential Solutions. AA: So, the – so you guys that have open committees, and I will get to mine so I not going say mines but, um, investigate committee, investigate extent of Mass Feeding of Feral Animals and Potential Solutions. So, per the last Corporation Counsel – Leomana you’re not ready to do that presentation then you don’t need to say anything. LT: Leomana, District – 3. According to what I was told the last time unless it’s an actual final draft… c. Investigative Committee: Regulations Affecting Keauhou Bay and Logistical Issues, and Potential Solutions. AA: So, the same thing goes for Investigative Regulations affecting Keauhou Bay and Logistical Issues, and Potential Solutions – that would be Natalie, I think. NR: Yeah. AA: Do you have anything? NR: Wait. Table it, next month. d. Investigative Committee: DLNR expenditures of Pittman-Robertson grants, Dingle- Johnson grants, Boating Special Fund, and Off Highway Vehicle Fund in the County of Hawaii. AA: Next Investigative Committee DLNR expenditures of Pittman-Robertson grants, Dingle Johnson grants, Boating Special Fund and Off Highway Vehicle Fund in the County of Hawaii. That’s Robert and he’s walking out the door. 28 ?: \[Unclear\] close to me. SW: Um, as long as you’re not gonna vote on anything. ?: OK. Right on. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS: a. Next meeting will be on August 15, 2023, 2023, at 9:00 am to 11:00 am at 25 Aupuni St., Hilo HI. AA: Yeah. Thank you. Announcements? Those announcements that I have and it’s not on the agenda it’s up in the Kulani and it goes up to Saddle Road by 60-mile marker – it’s called Tree Planting Road, so if you go up Stainbeck Highway the hunting area there is open from Tree Planting Road on the right side all the way up to the Kulani Correctional Facility as long as you stay out of the st correction facility boundaries, all the hunting area’s now open. It opened July 1 up to January 30, no, December 30, on opening day DOCARE came out in force, um… SW: Sorry, Chair, is this on the agenda? AA: Yup. Sure is. Just real quick and then that’s it. And some guys got caught up on Saddle Road for, um, illegal – like not having their hunting license and also having illegal weapons – so that’s all I have to announce on that just an opening of that hunting area. Next meeting will be August 15, 2023, at 9:00a to 11:00a at the Aupuni Street Center. So, we’ll be here. Anybody like to make a motion to close. LT: Leomana, District – 3. I just wanted to ask if I can – when I jumped on I was kinda, you know, scattered cause I got all my stuff stolen last night but I just wanted to finish my report because I put it up on my computer. I wanted to know if I could talk about the coral. AA: Yeah, we still a little bit of time but as long as it’s… It’s only if it’s within your district, yeah? SW: \[Unclear\] AA: So, recalling the section 4 Commissioner Report by District – 3, Leomana Turalde. LT: Aloha, Leomana, District – 3, just continuing my report. I went down into Keaukaha and I talked to the Richardson Ocean Management Team and I also did the canoe clubs this weekend to talk to them about their mooring – this is an important one for us because it has to do with the – all the tours in Kona and all the moorings that’s been happening because the Hawaii Canoe Association didn’t, you know, they never took care of the reefs in Kona, but the reason I brought this up is because right now, not only due to moorings but the coral reef around the Island has been put inside a natural area reserves having to do with the ocean and this is what I am kind of thinking for Keaukaha, which is my district, District – 3. Right now the State of Hawaii is giving out permits to do mining and I guess bypass whatever coral laws they have and it has to do with 29 the mining of the rare earth minerals in the Clarion District – if you guys just Google about the reef, anyway, this is a good way to bring up the reef and mooring problems in Kona with all of the illegal moorings going on. If you just Google it – Coral Reef – it has to do with the Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp, it has to do with the Hilo and Keaukaha boat moorings, it has to do with the Kona moorings, and this is all due to reef destruction. Anyway, I just wanted to bring that up and finish my report for Keaukaha. And the moorings that have to do with the canoe paddling in Hilo Bayfront is sand all the way out to the break wall – and the break wall is our shallow reef and so there’s no moorings – it’s all blocks on the sand – just so you guys know. AA: Thanks, Leomana. LT: Mahalo. AA: So, yeah, Cortney, I think they had some things in the news that came up in Kailua Pier about that topic about the mooring and the canoe paddlers and all that. CO: With the race? Is that what you’re talking about? AA: Yeah, they postponed the race I think for like a week or two so they can investigate… LT: That’s the Hilo side. They switched it all the way to Hilo – they’re not even races in Kona, um, and I think the Paddling Association is being fined like a real huge amount, so. NR: Yeah, it’s all over social media. All the photos are posted. It was very sad. AA: OK. Thanks. We had a public comment from Council Member Kagiwada’s office, Sylvia… SW: Um, OK, this isn’t technically on the agenda, Chair. AA: It’s a public notice. SW: It says on the behalf of Council Member Kagiwada. We’re still attempting to find a Commissioner for District – 2, to join you all, please let us know if there’s anyone you all know who may be interested and available to join GMAC for all of the good work that you’re doing mahalo. AA: Thank you. So Leomana and Robert left already. If you guys know anybody else in Hilo in District – 2, that would like to join the Commission please put in the application. OK. Now can we get a motion to close. NR: Wait, Leomana did you see my note in the meeting chat? SW: OK, Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan – I’m just going to let you know you shouldn’t be talking to each other in the Chat. NR: Oh, my bad. SW: Because it’s \[unclear\]. 30 NR: I blame Abraham. I follow his lead. AA: Natalie don’t talk to each other in the Chat and I won’t… LT: Is there a separate questions Chat cause I guess I’m confused when you say put it in the… SW: Deputy Corporation Counsel Sylvia Wan – because Zoom platform is used not just for committee meetings or community meetings, right, Zoom doesn’t have to comply with Sunshine. The Chat shouldn’t really be used in these meetings. I know this Commission, especially our community members are very active – and they like to put things in the Chat – it is not a part of our minutes – it is not officially a part of our meeting and so it shouldn’t be used even though it’s there, um, the only reason why it’s available is so that I can ask or people can let me know if they want to provide public testimony so that we can give members of Zoom an opportunity to provide public testimony, but, yeah, we need to put a little more parameters on that. And I apologize because I probably should have been sticking myself in there more telling you no, no. AA: And thanks Natalie \[unclear\]. Can we get a motion to close? NR: You just had it a few second ago. Barbara I’m sorry I won’t do it again, maybe. AA: Motion to close. 10. Adjournment (11:00 am): Action: A motion was made by L. Turalde to adjourn the meeting at 10:59 am. Seconded by N. Reynolds, motion passed unanimously by voice vote. Respectfully submitted by, Barbara Kossow Secretary 31