Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Endangered nene
may be released
on Molokai ranch
The state hopes others
By Helen Altonn
will volunteer to provide
the bird a 'safe harbor'
Star-BulletinPuu O Hoku Ranch in East Molokai is the first Hawaii landowner to volunteer to help preserve endangered species under a "safe harbor" agreement, and the state hopes others will follow.
The nene, Hawaii's state bird, could be released at the ranch in the spring if all the necessary steps are completed, said Michael Buck, state Forestry and Wildlife Division administrator.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources has approved the program and a 60-day comment period is under way. Public hearings will be held on Molokai, probably next month, Buck said.
"We're in like step seven of about 12 steps," he said, expressing some frustration at the lengthy process. "We've been at this 11/2 years. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to do this."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the state agreement with Puu O Hoku to make sure it is consistent with federal policy, said Gina Shultz, program leader for safe harbor and habitat conservation in the Pacific Islands Ecoregion office.
She said the intent is to protect the landowner from any future regulatory burdens and to make sure the agreement is beneficial for the species.
It's hoped safe harbor landowners will continue to use their land to benefit endangered species, she said. "But the purpose is to allow the landowner to return the land to conditions before the agreement."
Buck said the proposed reintroduction of the Hawaiian goose to Molokai is the first application of a 1997 state law authorizing endangered species safe harbor agreements.
The applicant is the nene -- not the government, he said.
Environmental Defense, a private conservation organization that developed the model for the agreements, praised the plan.
Wildlife Program Chief Michael Bean said, "Private landowners have sometimes been reluctant to allow endangered species to be released on their land because of fear that the presence of such species will result in land use restrictions.
"Safe harbor agreements like the one that will be used to benefit the nene get around those fears by assuring landowners that their cooperation in conservation efforts will not result in new land use restrictions."
The wild nene population includes about 400 birds on the Big Island, 260 on Maui and 340 on Kauai. About 35 nene are in captive propagation programs on Maui and the Big Island.
Kauai is the best place for wild birds because it doesn't have the predatory mongoose, Buck said.
Molokai has no wild nene although they were there historically, he said. They're believed to have disappeared before Capt. James Cook's visit in 1778.
Buck said the state is trying "to create some certainty and incentive" for landowners to participate in safe harbor agreements.
An "incidental take" permit would protect landowners from penalties if an accident should happen to the nene, he said. Similar protections are proposed for adjacent landowners since the birds move around, he said.
"A landowner doesn't want to be penalized for actions in 20 or 30 years. We have to meet that hurdle, as well as legal hurdles," Buck said.
The process is complicated because environmental laws are designed for a "what-if, worst-case scenario," he said.
Lawyers are used to looking at the issues from a development view, and the issues in Hawaii merely involve recovery of an endangered species, he said.
"We just want to recover Hawaii's state bird. The nene is a beautiful bird and people probably would like to have it around. We're looking for willing landowners."
Buck said the state "has a lot of aloha" for Puu O Hoku's owner for offering the ranch as a nene habitat and willingly going through a difficult process.
He said the state needs to work with the Molokai community to understand "this is a good thing for them and the state."
"Policy makers need to understand there's a certain risk in trying to save endangered species, and a certain risk when you get into these agreements," Buck added.
"But the risk of not doing anything is evident on the landscape. We're going to lose our species. We all need to get off the 'what-if-the-worst' case scenario and try to do the right thing."
Shultz said the program is an Interior Department priority -- "to work with private landowners and protect their economic and legal concerns, and still come out with a net gain for endangered species."
