\u201cThe devil is in the details.\u201d If that clich\u00e9 was uttered once at the September meeting of the Natural Area Reserves System Commission, it was uttered a dozen times as commissioners thrashed out the implications of having the U.S. Forest Service establish what it calls an experimental tropical forest on about 12,000 acres of state land at Laupahoehoe, on the windward coast of the Big Island. Roughly two-thirds of the area lies within the Laupahoehoe Natural Area Reserve, where, as with all other such reserves statewide, activities are under the tight control of the NARS Commission.<\/p>\n
Whether and under what conditions the experimental forest is established will ultimately be determined by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources. Yet the board would be unlikely to act without the commission first weighing in with its views on the subject. When the commission met in Hilo on September 7, its agenda included \u201cdiscussion and action on the proposed implementation\u201d of the memorandum of agreement between the Forest Service and the state for the two experimental tropical forests proposed for the Big Island \u2013 one at the rainy Laupahoehoe site, the other on the dry, leeward side of the island at Pu`u Wa`awa`a. As it turned out, however, no memorandum of agreement was available for review or discussion, and commissioners were left trying to fathom the contents of a draft MOA from comments by deputy attorney general Linda Chow and Boone Kauffman, director of the Forest Service\u2019s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, based in Hilo.<\/p>\n
In an interview later with Environment Hawai`i,<\/i> Kauffman said he had hoped to reach a final agreement with the state on a shorter timeframe, \u201cbut because of everyone\u2019s schedules, we didn\u2019t quite finish the work as soon as we\u2019d hoped to.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Chow, figuring out how the commission\u2019s authority could continue to be respected even as the Forest Service took over management of the Laupahoehoe Natural Area Reserve is one of the issues at the heart of ongoing negotiations between the state and attorneys from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Office of General Counsel, in Washington. Chow told commissioners that her office had reworked a draft agreement submitted by the USDA, and that the ball was back in the USDA\u2019s court.<\/p>\n
Commission chairman Dale Bonar, of the Maui Coastal Land Trust, questioned Chow whether she was intending to ask for the commission\u2019s advice as the agreement progressed through draft stages to completion. Chow responded that while it \u201cwould be useful for the board [of Land and Natural Resources] to have the commission\u2019s input before approving the final agreement, this isn\u2019t a requirement.\u201d In any case, Chow said, based on her past work with the commission and her knowledge of the role it plays in managing designated Natural Area Reserves, she was well-equipped to represent the commission\u2019s interests adequately during the negotiations.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Jim Jacobi, of the U.S. Geological Survey\u2019s Biological Resources Division, said all the commission was doing was \u201ctrying to get clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the present rules, the NARS Commission has to approve all activity\u201d within the reserves, he noted. \u201cWould this [the experimental forest] be a change?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chow said that under changes to NARS administrative rules now being proposed, the commission could delegate its authority to a representative, who would participate in reviewing and approving research proposals for the experimental forest. Still, she acknowledged that the memorandum of understanding could not be written in anticipation of a rule change, and had to be based on present rules \u2013 though with perhaps enough flexibility being written in to accommodate the proposed change in rules without necessitating a new agreement.<\/p>\n
Kauffman explained that he anticipated all research proposals for the experimental forest would be vetted by an advisory committee, which would include representatives from the commission, the Land Board, the Forest Service, and probably the university community as well. Under the Forest Service proposal, Kauffman said, Laupahoehoe \u201cwould be a unique Natural Area Reserve. There would be an order of magnitude more science coming out of it than from any other NAR.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Stonewalling<\/b>
\nJacobi reminded Kauffman and others that the purpose of the NAR system was not to further science, but to protect and restore the most important natural areas remaining in Hawai`i. \u201cNARS were not designed to be science laboratories,\u201d he said. He noted that when the commission reviews research proposals, one of the first questions it is supposed to ask in its review is whether the work can be done elsewhere \u2013 and if it can be, the proposal is denied.<\/p>\n
Lisa Hadway, the Big Island NARS administrator, told the commission of the potential conflicts that can arise between researchers and field managers. She cited the case of a coqui researcher in the Manuka Natural Area Reserve. While the researcher\u2019s work helped NARS staff find and eradicate coqui populations in the reserve, at the same time, the researcher\u2019s control plots were wiped out, creating a strain for a while between NARS staff and the scientist. \u201cWill research projects [at the experimental forest] interfere with management?\u201d Hadway asked.<\/p>\n
Kauffman attempted to allay such concerns. It was always the intention of the Forest Service to use the Natural Area Reserve portion of the Laupahoehoe forest more as a control site than an area for experiments, he said. And of course, the overriding objective of the experimental forest would be restoration. \u201cThe memorandum of agreement already states that that would not occur,\u201d Kauffman said, referring to conflicts between management and science. \u201cIt requires the parties to consult with one another\u2026 This is a conservation area, and it\u2019s just not an issue that research would interfere with management.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonar said that he saw the experimental forest as an \u201copportunity for leveraging funds\u201d for research, \u201cbut I want to ensure it\u2019s all done for the benefit of the land. I don\u2019t know the issues of contention between the two drafts [of the memorandum of agreement], and don\u2019t feel as though I can make a recommendation without that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Representing the Land Board chair Peter Young on the commission was Robert Masuda, deputy director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Masuda worked closely with Young in getting Governor Lingle to initiate the steps leading up to the USDA secretary approving the Hawai`i tropical forests. Masuda seemed surprised by the jurisdictional concerns raised by the commission. \u201cThe chair and myself saw this as a partnership that would bring forward more research,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a bit embarrassed. We should have thought about Natural Area Reserve conflicts before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Peter aware of this?\u201d Masuda asked Chow. \u201cHas he seen the drafts?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Chow replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to learning more,\u201d Masuda said. \u201cI was just merrily going along,\u201d unaware of the issues. \u201cI don\u2019t want to see the details keep us from getting the real job done,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to look at how we can do it rather than why we cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several of the commissioners voiced their agreement, noting only that they sought to be clear on the role the commission would play. \u201cThe NARS Commission is not trying to stonewall this at all,\u201d Jacobi said. \u201cThese are extremely unique biological diversity areas\u2026 We just need to figure out how to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bonar added, \u201cWe all want the same thing,\u201d but noted he was unclear about exactly what staff was seeking from the commission. If it was a recommendation for approval of the memorandum of understanding, then commissioners would need to have a copy of it in hand well before their October 16 meeting. If the agreement is not ready by early October, he warned, it would have to await action until December, when the commission is scheduled to next meet.<\/p>\n
A Bump in the Road<\/b>
\nIn February, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved establishment of the experimental forest. At the time, Paul Conry, administrator of the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of Forestry and Wildlife, assured the board that under the partnership between the state and the Forest Service, the Forest Service would help pay for research crucial to managing the areas. The memorandum of understanding, he said, will spell out the roles of each partner, but generally the Forest Service would administer research activities while the state would continue with its land-management and resource-protection activities.<\/p>\n
That same month, the NARS Commission approved the experimental forest in concept. Representatives of the Forest Service told the commission that the Laupahoehoe reserve would be a control site, with most of the experimental work and construction of supportive infrastructure being done outside the NAR boundary.<\/p>\n
After whizzing through initial approvals earlier this year, the process seems to have slowed to a crawl by the September NARS Commission meeting. Kauffman was optimistic that a resolution is in the works.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not unexpected,\u201d he said a few days after the meeting, noting that people naturally become cautious \u201cwhen you start to get down to the legal details of how we are going to manage something we don\u2019t have here yet but which will be remarkably important for conservation in Hawai`i. People want to do it right and make sure everybody\u2019s best interests are represented.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have vast gaps in our understanding of how natural ecosystems function, and we really need the information that the experimental forest will provide,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this will be a great partnership, involving land managers, the state, and researchers who will come here from throughout the world. But how do we get there? How do we make this marriage work and last forever?\u201d<\/p>\n
He did not see any show-stoppers at this point: \u201cWe\u2019re too far along, and it\u2019s too important for the future of Hawai`i forest research, education, and conservation not to move forward,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a deliberative thing and will last a hundred years. A little patience is certainly worth the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
— Patricia Tummons<\/p>\n
Volume 17, Number 4 October 2006<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“The devil is in the details.” If that cliché was uttered once at the September meeting of the Natural Area Reserves System Commission, it was uttered a dozen times as commissioners thrashed out the implications of having the U.S. Forest … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-october-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1460\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}