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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-07-15 Game Management Advisory Commission Minutes Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 Game Management Advisory Commission County of Hawaii Minutes Via Video Conference (Hilo-Kona) Meeting Date: July 15, 2013 Time: 6:30 p.m. Place: Hawaii County Building West Hawaii Civic Center Puna Conference Room Council Conference Room, Bldg A 25 Aupuni St., Suite 1501 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy. Hilo HI 96720 Kailua-Kona HI 96740 CALL TO ORDER: At 6:32 p.m. by Chair Anthony “Tony” Sylvester. Quorum established. ROLL CALL: Chair Sylvester asked members to introduce themselves and state their district. Dwayne “Ike” Yoshina, District 2 Anthony Sylvester, District 3 Paul Bueltmann, District 4 Tom Lodge, District 5 Rob White, District 7 Mark Bartell, District 8 Cleon Bailey, District 9 ABSENT & EXCUSED : Willie-Joe Camara, District 1 ALSO PRESENT : Bobby Command, Mayor’s Executive Assistant Bill Brilhante, Deputy Corporation Counsel Barbara Kossow, Commission Secretary GUESTS: Richard Onishi, State Representative Mike Robinson, DHHL Steve Hurt Jon Kataoa Lisa Hadway, DLNR Mel Hadway Kerri Marks, Philip Heileson Leonard Tanaka 1 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 Phil Fernandez Glennon Gingo Barbara Dalton, Governor’s Liaison Marni Herkes APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Chair Sylvester entertained a Motion to approve the Minutes of July 15, 2013, GMAC meeting. ACTION: D. Yoshina moved to approve; seconded by M. Bartell, and carried unanimously by voice vote. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: There were none. However, Chair Sylvester recognized Phil Fernandez who did not have a comment on the agenda items but submitted a written introduction. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES : 1. REPRESENTATIVE ONISHI ON STRATEGIES TO INCREASE MONIES TO THE WILDLIFE REVOLVING FUND Rep. Onishi stated the following:  He supports GMAC efforts and will help to continue to develop the plans and to provide funding so that our resources can be managed efficiently. He shares similar concerns to provide a balance between GMAC efforts to look at conservation and endangered species protection but also at the same time trying to provide opportunities for hunters and other people to be able to have access to the land to do hunting and fishing.  Puuanahulu Range – funding earmarked to go into the revolving fund – partly to manage the Range and partly to the resource fund. What’s the projection in terms of the cost? Range will be privately run. Lease payments should be going into this fund. So once that is created this is supposed to be the proto-type for ranges on every island. There are plans or specifications to hire staffing. However, if there isn’t enough money or there’s no position established, legislation may be 2 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013  introduced to do that and that funding would be separate from the revolving fund.  Fees and penalties will also go into this fund. Law enforcement is another issue. Last resort would be to establish either one type allocations or continued allocations into the fund, which is a bit more complicated to do.  The House Finance Committee, as a project, is to review special funds.  Suggest GMAC for next legislature session – begin to identify projects, develop a plan, budget, funding source for implementation. If there is a lack of funds - then come in with the introduction of bills to help fund those plans or projects. Group concern:  Chapter 123 - the Game Mammal Plan – no word back if Governor signed or not. It provides for aerial eradication or aerial shooting in Chapter 123, which is of concern to GMAC. Since it hasn’t been implemented, we know this is an HAR – does the legislature override an administrative rule or influence an administrative rule? Rep. Onishi said, “The legislature writes – we pass laws.” And laws supersede all the rules, procedures, whatever the department – in some cases – county ordinances. In addition, we don’t supersede federal laws.  A suggestion by a member to raise the hunting fees to avoid relying on federal monies. Reason, too many federal rules. The licensing fees are supposed to go into the revolving fund. Who determines how the funds are used? Do we need a state board to oversee? Discussion followed. Chair Sylvester thanked Rep. Onishi for addressing GMAC. Rep. Onishi informed the group to call on him anytime and that he would welcome another opportunity to meet again. GORSE CONTROL 2. 3 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 Chair Sylvester introduced Mike Robinson who provided a power point presentation which may be found on the DHHL website, “Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands Beneficiary Consultation Aina Mauna Legacy Program”. Mike Robinson shared that the Land Management Division based in Hilo is responsible for the east side of Mauna Kea – the area of Humuula and Piihonua ahupuaas – which is now called Aina Mauna. It’s 56,000 continuous acres representing about 25% of the trust lands. Formed in 1920 by a federal act – “Our mission is to manage the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust effectively, and to develop and deliver land to native Hawaiians. We will partner with others towards developing self-sufficient and healthy communities”. The Hawaiian phrase – Aina Ho’opulapula, “From the Land we Flourish” Gorse once established it’s very difficult to eradicate. Destruction of existing gorse plants is only the start in achieving long term eradication and eradication of gorse in a single herbicide application is difficult. Chemicals or herbicides today, typically, with several applications will treat to get an infestation under control. Gorse seeds can live 50-70 years in the soil. Basically, if there’s a change in management during a 50 to 70 year period – gorse will quickly re-establish itself. Short term tools and solutions such as clearing, grazing and burning help contain and control gorse but have proven unreliable over many decades. These solutions are fairly ineffective in the long term – meaning 50 to 70 years – however dense shade relies on natural forces to weaken and subdue gorse in the long term – in essence we have nature fighting nature. Gorse is native to the British Isles and western Europe. It’s a pre-barbed wire plant – the English settlers who settled South Africa, Australia and New Zealand took this plant with them because they used it to control their livestock. Gorse has become a noxious weed throughout the world and is ideally suited for high elevation temperate climates like Humuula and the east side of Mauna Kea. The first record found is in January 5, 1891. A gentleman named August Hannenberg was the manager of the sheep station and he kept a daily journal and in his journal, he talked about sending his worker Kramer to Puu O, the old Doc Stanley ranch, to kill that Australian weed – gorse. 4 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 Gorse was identified by other settlers in that area in the early 1890s. So we think that it was accidentally introduced from sheep being brought in from New Zealand and Australia for the sheep industry up there. It could have come in, in feed. We don’t know. But we do know that one plant started the whole problem. The Dept of Ag in 1958 helped initiate the first major gorse control program at Puu O. Control work at Puu O ceased though from ‘62 to ’68, for whatever reason, probably a change of management or got too expensive, and the gorse infestation increased to sizeable acreage in certain areas. Parker Ranch began extensive gorse control in 1958. In ’63, ’67, ’68 and ’73 the State, Dept of Ag, addressed the growing gorse problem. In 1964 significant land management change happened at Humuula and Parker Ranch got out of the sheep ranching business. They switched entirely into cattle in 1964. So we know that sheep control the keikis. In the 1970s gorse burning began with 6,900 acres burned in that year, followed by a chemical treatment with tordon pellets. Due to sporadic control the Dept of Ag issued reports deteriorating conditions from ’82 to ’84 and DHHL requested assistance from Big Island RC & D office and they formed the Big Island Gorse Control Committee. And then in the 80s and 90s that committee introduced bio controls. They actually planted koa trees to see if it would shade gorse. Eradication was limited by a lack of repeated sustained treatments on all areas. Now in anticipation of Parker Ranch’s lease expiring in 2002 – Parker Ranch began spraying and burning large areas of gorse in 1998. Parker Ranch’s lease ended in 2003 and at that time we estimated the gorse was at 7,000 acres. DLNR assumed management responsibilities, and we decided to create a corps containment area. UH Hilo had some soil scientists come over – they found out that koa and gorse soil needs were very similar and that reassured us that where the gorse was at there needs to be a koa forest as in pre-ranching days, probably. Parker Ranch became one of our partners and we convinced them to shift to perimeter eradication. A lot of progress made, but in 2005 we were removing feral cattle from the area and we got sued by the former leasee and they were damaging our tree plantings. There is a moratorium on tree planting right now. We won a lawsuit in 2011 and now we’ve been removing cattle again, so the transportation of gorse throughout is being minimized. 5 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 We also had a UH Hilo master’s student as an intern with us for two years and he did a study that showed that specific levels of shade greater than 90% effectively can affect gorse. 90% and above shade will stop gorse’s reproduction. 95% and higher will actually limit the bio-mass production of gorse. So that was our target. Can we establish, can we find species of trees that create 90% gorse? The focus will be on that. GMAC is interested in having sheep up on the mountain again someday. Wild animals - do they do more harm than good when gorse is so abundant? Sheep can control the keikis, but if there’s no way to keep them out of the mature gorse, we may not be able to control the mature gorse. To recover our lands from the gorse infestation, we need to use every tool possible - a very long term commitment. This is why DHHL formed the Aina Mauna Legacy Program a management plan for the next 100 years. It took 100 years to get it, and it will take 100 years to get rid of it. Not opposed to having pigs up there. Pigs don’t move as far or as fast. We could work around them. Gorse could be brought three inches into the ground by using rock bits. Makes a good mulch that way. It re-sprouts immediately – its grass gorse. The key is to come back and spray consistently to convert from gorse to grass, may take 8-9 years. Herbicide - about 500 gallons per year is used to treat about 1,400 acres. Ten gallons per acre – of which about 97% is water. So we’re being very, very light with the herbicide. And also the herbicide we use today is not close to the old days of paraquat and tordon. The biggest issue is a feral animal or a ranched animal. As you know feral animals tend to go where they want to. And gorse and sheep are a lot easier to handle than feral cattle. Having a very large enclosure where they’re contained is not necessarily a bad idea. Can we now begin to use livestock as a means of controlling it in areas where we’ve already established some control like Keanakolu Road or where the gorse is not as dense outside the perimeter. The Maui study – the U.S. Forest Service did a similar study – they threw a bunch of goats in 10 acres of gorse and they whacked the heck out of it – but they died in the process. So we’re talking commercial ranching opportunity – gorse alone has high protein but will not sustain an animal. You need to supplement and feed them nutritionally. So we’d like to use livestock – in a way that helps us control the gorse where it’s not so bad – but as far as the dense gorse and special areas where we want our trees – as you know you put goats in with the tsugi pine they’re gonna be worse than the cattle. You put goats in with my koa – gonna be worse than or as bad as the cattle. So it’s a matter of 6 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 where we do it and at what point we do it – but I agree with you – the time is now to start exploring that and obviously our sheep management project is the foot in the door to see if we can make it happen and that’s one strategy we’ll learn from which hopefully can expand into gorse control someday. Cost varies at $225,000 and high has been $300,000 to manage the whole 56,000 acres. That includes everything, not just gorse control. So if you compare our budget with DLNR, Kamehameha Schools, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Park, we’re like 2 cents an acre and these guys are spending $10 an acre. Again, our mission is to put homesteaders on the land and for the last decade DHHL has expanded their planned management to let us take care of our natural resources as well – which is a very culturally appropriate thing to do – but it’s not a traditional – it’s not a historic thing, I should say, ever since DHHL has been established. So letting our beneficiaries know that there’s this big chunk of land up there that needs some management – that was under Parker Ranch management for 100 years – Parker Ranch 1902 – 2002 – there’s some issues we have to deal with – and, of course, as you know, you’ve got a lot of people on a wait list for their homes, their homesteads – so when we tell them – they don’t know – you have a choice to spend money on my homestead versus the gorse eradication on a different island – sometimes it’s hard to make that connection – so I feel, I’m pleased that DHHL has given the support to this project as they have – they’ve been very, very supportive – but the money’s not quite there yet. So one of the things we’re trying to do is create income above and beyond homesteading monies – like you say maybe a goat operation, sheep operation, some self-funding thing to help pay for the gorse eradication. Gorse burns well as fuel. Gorse comes back like gangbusters with fire. We gave one of our beneficiaries 1,000 acre lease in 2006. I think the issue is harvesting it. It’s not an easy plant to harvest on rocky land and therefore very expensive to turn it into fuel. The goal in the 100 year plan is to turn the area into a native forest – native being commercial koa – mamani on the mauka side – ohia on the makai side. We estimate that 22,000 acres of that land used to be in koa. Based on soils, elevation, rainfall – we estimate 22,000 acres of that land can support koa, either commercially or conservationally. And koa we’ve demonstrated – I didn’t mention we’ve been doing koa salvage up there for almost the last decade and we demonstrated that mature koa forest will generate 100 acres – or let me put it this way – an acre of koa will produce 8x the income that an acre of ranch will produce. So when we presented that to our commission – pre Aina Mauna agreement – they zeroed – well why are we growing cows when we can grow koa? But we do have pasture up there too, because you can’t eat koa, so it’s the balance that we’re trying to achieve in our legacy plan. 7 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 No decision has been made to reintroduce as a bio-control – a type of sheep or goat. That is up to the trust, the commission’s role – the Hawaiian Homes Commission makes the decision. Mike Robinson has given his personal opinion, which he feels is a role to play in any kind of tool that doesn’t create more problems. Discussion followed regarding an unpublished Maui study in the 80s or 90s possibly in the Olinda area. U.S. Forest Service did the research. Gene Conrad, now retired was involved with it. Mike Robinson remembers Mr. Conrad saying, “The goats did a great job, unfortunately they didn’t live because all they had to eat was gorse.” Mr. Robinson suggests that Chair Sylvester’s research from New Zealand may have more reality checks than that Maui study. Chair Sylvester asked Mr. Robinson if DHHL would entertain a test project - maybe with DLNR and private. Mr. Robinson said it is possible to delineate an area where it would be safe to put in a test. Suggest working with sheep instead of goats. He would not want to replicate an area that doesn’t have goats to begin with. Sheep is just as effective. He is open to ideas. Question: The animals that would potentially be eating gorse. The nutritional value of the gorse is not particularly high so they need to be feed other sources of food be it natural or provided by men. Is there any evidence of toxicity in the meat of the animals themselves, for example, would a person get ill in any way, shape or form if they were to eat an animal that was feeding on gorse a lot? Mr. Robinson said his educated guess that the answer would be, “No, it wouldn’t be a problem to eat sheep that ate gorse.” Chair Sylvester thanked Mr. Robinson for his presentation and answering the commission’s questions. 3. LETTER TO DLNR CHAIR AILA REQUESTING HIS PRESENCE AT ONE OF OUR UPCOMING MEETING – BOBBY COMMAND B. Command sent the letter out to Mr. Aila last week. No confirmation as to Mr. Aila attending GMAC in August. B. Command will continue to work on securing th Mr. Aila for August 26 meeting to be held at the West Hawaii Civic Center. 8 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. UPDATE ON HAWAII ADMINSTRATIVE RULE CHANGES TO CHAPTER 124 Chair Sylvester: Hawaii Administrative Rule Changes to Chapter 124. In response to public inquiry the GMAC would like to know if the Mayor would generate a letter to the BLNR opposing the amendment changes to HAR-124. A determination needs to be made to address what part or parts or in its entirety. We need discussion and action. Since then, a draft letter was submitted by Vice Chair Tom Lodge. Action: D. Yoshina motion to review the draft letter to BLNR opposing the amendment changes to HAR-124, make changes if necessary, and submit to the Mayor for his signature; Second by P. Bueltmann. Discussion: T. Lodge read the draft letter. Letter must be specific and itemized. Clearly a “no” vote by Mayor. It was determined that additional work needs to be done. Action: D. Yoshina moved to table the draft letter for now; second by T. Lodge. Motion carried unanimously by voice vote. W. Brilhante stated that there’s a provision in the Sunshine Law which affords for situations, wherein a specific bill or be it a resolution or document was discussed by the group, but there were amendments made or part throughout the discussion or within the discussion, some outside viewpoints were brought into the discussion and the Sunshine Law does afford for situations like that and the requirement is - so long as the item that was agendized and the object that you’re voting on – there was a sufficient nexus – is what the language states between the two. So here, when I read the agenda, the actual agenda item was that they wanted a determination - to address what part or parts – a draft letter submitted by Vice Chair Tom Lodge – that the chair hear a motion to review the draft letter, make changes if necessary and submit to the Mayor for his signature. So what I would propose is that, that language does seem sufficiently clear enough as to what the intent – because the whole basis for the Sunshine Law is you want to provide notice to the public as to what specific items or actions that are being considered by the board – and here I think it’s clear that you want to draft a letter opposing the amended changes to HAR-124 and have the Mayor send that letter on behalf of the County to the BLNR for consideration, and I think those components are sufficiently and clearly identified within the agenda. So I think if this board takes action tonight to ratify or authorize the commission to 9 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 send a letter to the Mayor, you can identify who you want to draft that letter and the letter – sufficient basis can move forward, and then that would not have to be voted on at the next meeting. Action: D. Yoshida motion Chair Sylvester be authorize to review and to send a letter to the Mayor requesting that opposition to the proposed amendment changes to HAR-124 be considered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Second by M. Bartell, and carried unanimously by voice vote. 2. IMPROVE ANIMAL SALVAGE Chair Sylvester: Improve animal salvage with discussion and objectives to reduce waste. A request was made by the public to enact some form of wanton waste law. As the first step, it was determined that we should work with our County Council and enact a resolution. Action: D. Yoshina motion that we should work with our County Council to formulate a resolution addressing wanton waste. Second by T. Lodge. Discussion. Resolution to bring awareness – it may not have the force and effect of a law per se but it does bear some formality in that a government entity – here the County Council - is desirous of maybe some type of future action to take place, which would give consideration to this resolution. Call for the question: Motion carried unanimously by voice vote. NEW BUSINESS: 1. VALUING OUR ANIMALS R. White requested that valuing our animals be added to the agenda for next meeting. R. White stated that the website has been delayed. A new person is working on it, as well as the graphics. He is currently working on obtaining the necessary material for the site. Also, he requested that the website be added to the next agenda. 10 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 2. NRA MEETING WITH GMAC R. White suggest a possible meeting with the Friends of NRA and GMAC in mid November and the purpose of that meeting to cover a number of things that GMAC could and would be working on with them. The Friends of NRA is a sponsorship – they do fund-raising events. 3. MEDIA OUTREACH C. Bailey request to agendize for next month’s meeting media outreach. How do we request funding? Form an ad hoc committee? Procurement issues? ANNOUNCEMENTS  Na Ala Hele, Hawaii Trail and Access System will have a statewide meeting on July 21, in Waimea. Information can be found on DLNR website.  Governor and Cabinet for the Day will be in Hilo on July 19 and also in Kona. This includes Mr. Aila, Ms. Kia’aina, the state land manager and the state parks administrator. More information on Governor’s website.  Families of Field Program – NRA – it was suggested that GMAC support hunter education classes be a way to get families involved in hunting so that we can expand our ranks somewhat.  Possible speaker for GMAC meeting - Christoper Lepczyk, Associate Professor. He is in ecosystems management, Law of ecology, landscape ecology, human dimensions at CTAHR. He has an opportunity to work a lot with Puuwaawaa, Puuanahulu areas.  Next meeting August 26, 2013. West Hawaii Civic Center, 6:30 p.m. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chair Sylvester entertained a motion to adjourn. 11 Hawaii Game Management Advisory Commission Meeting Minutes – July 15, 2013 Action: T. Lodge motion to adjourn; second by D. Yoshida; the motion was unanimously carried by a voice vote of all Commissioners. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Kossow Secretary ATTEST: Anthony H. Sylvester 12