PHOTO COURTESY OF UH The red ilima from the University of Hawaii's Botany Web site.

Red ilima
endangers
Ewa road

The protected plant
is holding up state plans
to adjust land usage

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

The endangered red ilima, at the center of a heated legislative debate between developers and conservationists, has stalled the state's planned North-South Road in Ewa.

At issue is whether a state law should be amended to allow public landowners, namely the state and counties, to enter into agreements with the state Board of Land and Natural Resources that allow removing endangered and threatened species' incidental habitats that obstruct land use projects.

In return for these agreements, these landowners would voluntarily promote conservation and recovery of other established endangered species habitats on their property.

Currently, the law applies only to those who own private, fee-simple land.

Two bills in the Legislature would include public landowners in the law's landowner definition.

Developers and state officials say such a change would let the state Department of Transportation begin construction of the much-anticipated 2.2-mile North-South Road on the Ewa Plain.

The red ilima, an endangered plant also found on Maui, Lanai and Hawaii, was discovered in the proposed path of the road a few years ago. But lawmakers contend this habitat was incidental because it was growing in former sugar cane fields.

Jadine Urasaki, state deputy transportation director, said the Transportation Department believes the Department of Land and Natural Resources is capable of removing and preserving endangered plants throughout the state.

Vicky Gaynor, vice president of Haseko Homes Inc., told a joint Senate committee yesterday during discussion over House Bill 2552, House Draft 1, that delays in the North-South Road have upset Ewa residents who face worsening traffic congestion in a rapidly growing community.

Dan Davidson, coordinator of the group of Ewa developers studying regional transportation issues and executive director of the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, said the road, as well as the adjacent Kapolei Parkway connecting Ewa and Kapolei, are priority projects badly needed.

But others cautioned such a drastic change would weaken the state's endangered species law.

Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club, Hawaii chapter, said that when the law was passed in 1997, opponents were told it would only apply to private land. Changes in the law should be done by citing specific locations, he said.

David Lane Henkin, an attorney with Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, warned lawmakers of serious consequences if public landowners are allowed to remove endangered species.

For example, Henkin said, state agencies may shirk their duty to promote the recovery of endangered species in favor of killing those that happen to appear on land under their control.

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