{"id":980,"date":"2014-08-29T00:31:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T00:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/EH\/?p=980"},"modified":"2015-01-29T19:29:08","modified_gmt":"2015-01-29T19:29:08","slug":"board-talk-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/?p=980","title":{"rendered":"BOARD TALK"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Fence to Protect Ka`ena Point’s Birds, Plants \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fence is an opportunity to give back to organisms we stomped on,\u201d University of Hawai`i zoology professor Sheila Conant told the state Board of Land and Natural Resources at its meeting last month. At that meeting, the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of Forestry and Wildlife recommended approving a right-of-entry to allow for the construction of a 600-meter predator-proof fence across nearly 60 acres at the Ka`ena Point Natural Area Reserve and State Park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The fence would protect Ka`ena\u2019s seabird colonies, 11 species of endangered plants, and monk seals from a wide range of predatory mammals, including mice, rats, mongooses, dogs, and cats. Part of the Ka`ena Point Ecosystem Restoration Project, which is a partnership between the Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Hawai`i chapter of The Wildlife Society, the fence would be the first of its kind in Hawaii (apart from a small experimental version on the island of Hawai`i).<\/p>\n

After hours of testimony, which overwhelmingly favored the fence, the Land Board voted unanimously to approve the right-of-entry. One member of the public, however, Huang-Chi Kuo, requested a contested case hearing. Kuo argued that the fence may actually increase the ant population at Ka`ena, citing studies of offshore islets where ant population exploded and seabird numbers dropped after rats were eradicated.<\/p>\n

Summer Nemeth, whose contested case hearing request opposing the multi-agency agreement for the project was denied months earlier, also testified against the fence, saying it was culturally inappropriate, because Ka`ena is where souls leap into the next world and is rife with burials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe birds aren\u2019t native or endangered. The population is doing well. Shouldn\u2019t we just leave it at that?\u201d she said, referring to the fact that the seabirds at Ka`ena — albatross and shearwaters — are migratory. With regard to the endangered Hawaiian monk seals that use Ka`ena as a pupping site, she didn\u2019t seem to think a fence would do much to help them. \u201cThe last time I checked, those animals swim all over the place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In reply to the fence critics, University of Hawai`i botany professor David Duffy explained that no data exist to support the idea that rats control ants.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach island appears to be different in its response to ant control. I wouldn\u2019t bet the ranch on ant futures,\u201d he said. Regarding albatrosses, he noted that sea level is rising in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and a one-meter rise would submerge the habitat for many birds there.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaces like Ka`ena Point will be important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Conant, who participated in one of those studies Kuo cited, said that the fence is not intended to control ants at Ka`ena Point. She added that many species of birds went extinct with the colonization of Hawaiians. Also, she noted that more plastic is found in the bellies of albatross at Kure and Laysan atolls in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands than in birds at Ka`ena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like people. But I\u00a0really<\/i>\u00a0like plants and animals. Perhaps we could think of [the fence] as a sense of reparation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Regarding the fence\u2019s cultural impacts, practitioner William Aila, Jr., disputed Nemeth\u2019s claim that the fence would prevent souls from moving into the next world. He added, \u201cWithout the birds, there is no culture. You can\u2019t catch fish without the birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before voting, board members said they were satisfied with the public outreach done by the department, and felt there was compelling testimony to approve the project.<\/p>\n

At-large board member Samuel Gon added, \u201cIn reality, fences are very ephemeral things. I don\u2019t view this as the end-all. But unless we do things, all we\u2019d be doing would be arguing about things…until they\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the representatives of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in the room, board chair Laura Thielen said that with regard to Hawaiian cultural issues, \u201cgroups need to have a different, safer environment — not the DNLR — to resolve things…We need help. We\u2019re not the appropriate party… We need to move beyond this head-butting.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Nemeth interjected that she didn\u2019t think OHA was the appropriate agency, either, Thielen said, \u201cThe problem is, we certainly aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *
\nBoard Delays Closing Steve\u2019s Ag Logging Case<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a case with a rather long and tortuous history,\u201d deputy attorney general William Wynhoff told the Land Board at its January 8 meeting, referring to logging-related violations that occurred about a decade ago on state land in South Kona, on the island of Hawai`i.<\/p>\n

In 2003, the Land Board fined Big Island logging company Steve\u2019s Ag Services and
\nWesley and Raymond McGee $1.1 million — a record fine at the time — for illegally logging about 200 koa and kolea trees and constructing roads on state land in the late 1990s. During the contested case hearing that followed, ownership of the alleged state land was called into question and the Land Board, upon the advice of its hearing officer and over the objections of its staff attorney, decided to dismiss the case in June 2005.<\/p>\n

After further survey and review by the DLNR, the state filed a quiet title action in U.S. District Court in January 2007. According to a DLNR staff report, the loggers \u201cvigorously contested the case,\u201d claiming that the state property was included in lands sold by Kahuku Ranch owner Damon Estate to the United States government and The Nature Conservancy. The parcel\u2019s adjacent owner, Yee Hop, Ltd., also claimed ownership.<\/p>\n

On November 17, 2009. U.S. District Judge Samuel King ruled in favor of the state, and the loggers\u2019 attorney has since filed an appeal.<\/p>\n

On January 8, the DLNR\u2019s Land Division recommended resolving the enforcement case by imposing a reduced fine of roughly $631,965, \u201cconsiderably less than the maximum amount that might be assessed, which amounts would include a fine of $1,000 per tree and damages based on the amount grossed by loggers, $1,035,900.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorneys representing the loggers, however, asked for more time to prepare a response. Wynhoff told the Land Board that he didn\u2019t object to deferring the matter until the board meets again March 11. Big Island board member Rob Pacheco, however, opposed the delay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has gone through contested case hearings and federal court rulings…We\u2019re basically finishing up here and I\u2019m not comfortable waiting another two months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over Pacheco\u2019s objection, the board voted to withdraw the matter, with the understanding that it would return to the board in March.<\/p>\n

* * *
\nKona Fish Farm Transfers Lease<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Kona Blue Water Farms, Inc., is selling its open-ocean fish farm in waters off North Kona to Keahole Point Fish, LLC, in order to expand its presence in the global seafood market. So at its January 8 meeting, the Land Board consented to the transfer of Kona Blue\u2019s 90-acre ocean lease.<\/p>\n

Rob Parsons, representing of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, urged the board to defer the transfer. He said he worried about sustainability of the new company, as well as the transfer of the operation to a company that may be less interested than Kona Blue had been in local food security.<\/p>\n

Parsons also said he was concerned that the farm\u2019s mortalities were being disposed of at sea, citing reports from whale researchers who had allegedly seen dead fish when they transit near the cages. He added that the farm has also had problems dealing with a skin and gill fluke that infest the caged kahala fish, requiring chemical treatment.<\/p>\n

Marti Townsend of KAHEA: the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance also strongly opposed the transfer of public trust resources and said she was disturbed about private control of ocean resources.<\/p>\n

When Land Board member Samuel Gon asked Kona Blue\u2019s owner Neil Sims about the skin and gill fluke and efforts to monitor any environmental consequences of the operation, Sims explained that the company does regular water quality and benthic substrate monitoring in accordance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit, issued through the state Department of Health. He added that both the company\u2019s state Conservation District Use Permit and NPDES permit require it to inform the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands and DOH Clean Water Branch of diseases, pests or parasites. Sims said his company also monitors health of wild kahala and that while the penned fish do have a skin fluke, the wild fish don\u2019t seem to.<\/p>\n

Regarding the dead fish claim, he said, \u201cWe take very seriously the public trust. One of the CDUP conditions is that dead fish be disposed of in the landfill. It\u2019s not just a permit condition, it\u2019s common sense. If, indeed, there have been incidents of this, it sounds like rumor and innuendo… I will fire any employee that disposes of fish in the ocean. Maybe let\u2019s look at some third party validation and not go on hearsay.\u201d<\/p>\n

With regard to Parsons\u2019 concerns about the new company, Sims said Kona Blue will continue to operate the fish hatchery that provides the farm\u2019s fingerlings and provide guidance on grow-out. It will also continue to conduct research to improve feed and fish health, and will sell and market the harvested fish as Kona Kampachi. Keahole Fish will merely be a third-party grower.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we grow this industry to take Kona Kampachi from 500 tons a year to something that\u2019s going to have an impact on the global seafood supply?\u201d Simms asked rhetorically. \u201cWe need a third-party grower. It allows the industry to grow without having to keep our hands all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *
\nNew NARS Additions and an Off-Roading Park<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

On January 8, the Land Board increased its protection of the state\u2019s forests when it expanded the Natural Area Reserves System, while also giving fans of off-road vehicles on O`ahu another legal place to ride. The board approved the addition of about 700 acres to East Maui\u2019s Kanaio Natural Area Reserve, and about 5,800 acres to the Kahauale`a NAR, on the island of Hawai`i. It also granted a month-to-month revocable permit to the Sand Island Off Highway Vehicle Association for management of a 30-acre off-road park in the 141-acre Sand Island State Recreational Area.<\/p>\n

The DLNR staff report on the off-road park notes that ATVs and off-road motorcycles \u201chave been observed by public and private land managers as an increasing use, creating public safety, environmental and trespass issues statewide.\u201d In 2005 an O`ahu group of off-roaders discussed with the DLNR the possibility of creating another legal place to ride, in addition to the North Shore\u2019s Kahuku Motocross Park. The 30-acre Sand Island site, which had been subject to years of illegal dumping, was selected.<\/p>\n

* * *
\nArmy UXO Investigators Gain Access to Kulani<\/b><\/div>\n

What does the military want with the now vacant Kulani Correctional Facility and the thousands of acres of forest surrounding it? That\u2019s the question on the minds of a handful of community activists and Big Island residents, now that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to search a portion of the property for unexploded ordnance (also known as UXO).<\/p>\n

Kat Brady of the Community Alliance on Prisons, a vocal opponent of the facility\u2019s closure, told the Land Board at its November meeting that the Army\u2019s decision to search for UXO raised red flags with her. Brady says she is skeptical about why the state administration would close a good minimum security prison that provides millions of dollars worth of work to Hawai`i County, develops job skills for prisoners, and helps manage some of the state\u2019s best native forest at a time when more beds are needed. Why search the area now, after it\u2019s been populated for decades? she asked at the Land Board. Although it was later revealed that the area to be searched was far removed from the facility itself, Brady remained skeptical.<\/p>\n

News reports published late last year when the decision to close the facility was announced noted that the state Department of Public Safety, which manages the property, was developing a two-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Defense to allow the site to be used for the Hawai`i National Guard\u2019s Youth Challenge Academy for at-risk teens. However, an email from Hawai`i County to the wife of the Kulani facility\u2019s former warden states that the department actually is seeking a 25-year commitment, which led Brady and others to suspect that the military has other plans for the area.<\/p>\n

Brady, Kyle Kajihiro of the American Friends\u2019 Service Committee, Marti Townsend of KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, and two Big Island residents testified that there may be more to the Army\u2019s plans than meets the eye. Some of them asked the board to defer granting a right-of-entry until it finds out the DOD\u2019s full plan for the area, especially since, as Kajihiro testified, the future use of an area drives the level of remediation.<\/p>\n

No one from the Army Corps of Engineers attended the Land Board meeting to answer questions. Without further proof of the claims made by several members of the public, the Land Board seemed loathe to withhold their approval of a mere right-of-entry, especially since DLNR Land Division administrator Morris Atta said that a delay may lead the Army to shift funds for a cleanup of Kulani elsewhere. The Corps has projects in the pipeline for decades to come, Atta noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were warned by the Corps, \u2018Don\u2019t hold up these projects because the money will be shifted to other priority sites,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Land Board chair Laura Thielen added that she would hate to delay the UXO investigation\/remediation and \u201csee somebody out there stumble across anything and get hurt.\u201d Thielen also noted that any changes in the use of the land would have to receive Land Board approval
\n.
\nStill, some board members shared the public\u2019s concerns about the future use of the area. The DLNR (as reported in the October 2009 issue of\u00a0Environment Hawai`i<\/i>) has begun investigating the possibility of adding most of the Kulani lands to the state Natural Area Reserves System, which includes the best examples of native ecosystems and unique geological sites in the state. At-large board member Samuel Gon, who is also the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy of Hawai`i, said that because the correctional facility was a major partner in the Three-Mountain Alliance (a watershed partnership that has managed and protected the area\u2019s natural resources for several years), he was anxious to know how those lands would be managed after the facility closed at the end of November.<\/p>\n

To help allay the concerns expressed by Gon and the public, Thielen suggested that the board follow a recommendation Townsend had made to include in its approval an affirmation that the board supports protecting the area\u2019s valuable natural resources. In the end, the board voted unanimously to approve the right-of-entry with a statement that the Land Board \u201crecognize[s] the value of the native species forest and the importance of that to the state and the DLNR.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *
\nCritic Contests Curatorship at Keolonahihi State Park<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

In 2007, Mikahala Roy and members of the Betty Kanuha Foundation together celebrated the reopening of the 30-acre Keolonahihi State Park to the public. The park had never really closed, but, because of a lack of funds, had become overgrown with weeds and littered with refuse. Taking matters into their own hands, community groups, including the Betty Kanuha Foundation and Na Kahu o Kalua o Kalani (to which Roy belongs), banded together to restore the culturally significant area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonoring the area’s role as a place where wisdom is passed from consecutive generations, its caretakers are inviting the community for the first time Saturday and Sunday into the complex to share in a cultural and educational event called Kakala o Kamoa,\u201d\u00a0West Hawai`i Today<\/i>\u00a0reporter Lisa Huynh wrote in an article at the time.<\/p>\n

Despite the improvements the groups had made, the DLNR\u2019s Division of State Parks was concerned about their ongoing clearing of the property and sought that year to establish a curatorship agreement with them. But in the years following the event, the groups seem to have reached an impasse over who the official curators should be.<\/p>\n

At the Land Board\u2019s November meeting, Roy testified against a recommendation by the Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019 Division of State Parks to enter into a three-year curatorship agreement with the Betty Kanuha Foundation. The foundation is a non-profit organization run by members of the Kanuha family and focuses mainly on educating the public, children especially, about Keolonahihi, which includes the Keakealaniwahine archaeological complex and is considered by many to be one of the most sacred Hawaiian cultural sites in the state.<\/p>\n

The Kanuha family includes lineal descendants of the area, and the fact that it has stepped forward as stewards pleased at-large Land Board member Samuel Gon. But Roy, who also has family ties to the area, argued that a non-profit organization cannot be allowed to represent the spirituality of such a sacred place. She added that the members of Na Kahu o Kalua o Kalani have long served as caretakers for the area, as well.<\/p>\n

In response to Roy\u2019s concerns, Land Board chair Laura Thielen noted that the curatorship agreement, in acknowledgement of the various individuals and community groups with a stake in caring for the area, was specifically crafted to allow nearly anyone to sign onto the agreement. The agreement \u201crecognizes the Betty C. Kanuha Foundation as a curator and gives families associated with Keolonahihi an opportunity to participate as volunteers and advisors,\u201d a State Parks report states.<\/p>\n

Even so, Roy, who threatened to take her fight against the agreement to court, requested a contested case hearing.<\/p>\n

* **
\nJudge Rules Against Opponents of Mauna Kea Management Plan<\/b><\/div>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

Groups opposing the Land Board\u2019s decision last April to approve the University of Hawai`i\u2019s Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan [CMP] have lost their appeal in Third Circuit Court.<\/p>\n

On December 29, Circuit Judge Glenn Hara granted the university\u2019s motion to dismiss the appeal, stating in his decision that the court lacked jurisdiction over the board\u2019s approval of the plan, as well as the board\u2019s denial of a contested case hearing requests filed by the plaintiffs, which include the group Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I, the Hawai`i chapter of the Sierra Club, KAHEA: the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, and Clarence Ching.<\/p>\n

Hara\u2019s four-page decision cited a 2006 Hawai`i Supreme Court decision, which states \u201ca contested case must have occurred before appellate jurisdiction may be exercised.\u201d The decision also states that if a circuit court lacks jurisdiction to hear an agency appeal, it can\u2019t rule on the denial of a contested case hearing, either.<\/p>\n

Hara added that the plaintiffs failed to prove the board\u2019s approval of a plan adversely affected their rights, duties and privileges, and therefore did not show they were entitled to a contested case hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may be that a future implementation of the CMP might trigger a requirement for a contested case, but the action of the BLNR in accepting and approving the CMP in and of itself does not do so,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

(For more background on this case, read the \u201cBoard Talk\u201d column in our May 2009 issue, available free to subscribers atwww.environment-hawaii.org.)<\/a><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Teresa Dawson<\/b><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Volume 20, Number 8 — February 2010<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fence to Protect Ka`ena Point’s Birds, Plants    “The fence is an opportunity to give back to organisms we stomped on,” University of Hawai`i zoology professor Sheila Conant told the state Board of Land and Natural Resources at its meeting … 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":[13,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-board-talk","category-february-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","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=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}