2025-09-02 PL-REZ-2024-000083 Email Christy Schuerch Response to Applicant's Response to Testimonies

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From: Christy Schuerch To: WPCtestimony Cc: Darrow,Jeff Subject: Response to"Applicant"s Response to Testimony"(by John Pipan) Date: Tuesday,September 2,2025 11:43:16 AM Dear Windward Planning Commissioners, I appreciate Mr. Morris' stated love and concern for the ocean of Kailua, Oahu as evidenced in John Pipan's, "Applicant's Response to Public Testimony". I would hope that Mr. Morris might also be able to understand the same love and concern that we residents of Volcano feel for the native ohi'a forest that surrounds our homes. In the words of Paul Banko, PhD, 40+year USGS wildlife biologist and long-time Volcano resident, "A 3-acre lot might not seem like alot to fuss over. But it's not just this lot, it's the one cleared before this one and the one cleared after this one and on and on that degrades the native ohi'a forest." Dr. Banko cites habitat destruction and modification as a primary reason for the disappearance and decreasing populations of numerous of the bird species listed on the application. The native birds that we still enjoy in Volcano (apapane, amakihi)hang on solely because we still have their preferred food source, nectar from the lehua blossoms of the ohi'a trees. My personal background includes education and experience in plant biology, horticulture and forestry including a B.S in Plant Pathology from UC Berkeley. I'm a graduate of the UH- CTAHR Forest Stewardship program of 2024. I grow food in the forest on our residentially- zoned lot in Volcano. I have watched closely as developers, some even very well-intentioned individuals have cleared land in Volcano, hoping to save Ohi'a trees next to their home sites. Unfortunately, these folks have often chosen to hire heavy equipment operators, not only to clear their driveways and house pads, but also to clear between trees in their intended garden areas. Sadly, the death from Rapid Oh'ia Death (ROD) on these properties ends up being between 60-90% of the mature ohi'a trees. Some of the trees are grubbed immediately. Those that are left, often have roots that have been injured through the grubbing and grading; and will die within months to 2 years. Proper sanitation (ie. steam-pressure washing) of the heavy equipment helps, but isn't often practiced by heavy equipment operators, and to my knowledge not required by law. In my observation since 2018, only hand-clearing of invasives can substantially reduce the incidence of wounding and subsequent ROD in the native ohi'a forest. This is a veritable holocaust to witness in lot-after-lot in our neighborhoods. Standing, dying trees. Trees that have taken 50-100 years to mature. Bit-by-bit, damage caused by clearing is destroying the native forest and its associated wildlife. There is another way. The Draft General Plan 2045 calls on us to "Study, develop and establish a Biosphere Reserve Buffer Zone... to guide development within native forest through regulatory measures and economic incentives." (45.p) And to "Amend the Code to require site clustering of development in order to avoid critical environmental areas and assets." (45.m) We ask that the Windward Planning Commision retain the original zone designation of RS-20 for the lot in question. This site has a nice stand of native Ohi'a trees in the front quadrant that