COURTESY PHOTO / BY GREG KOOB The Sesbania tomentosa, or ohai, is one of many endangered plants on Molokai. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to expand protection of areas containing such plants.

Protected areas on
Molokai may expand

A federal agency wants to nearly
triple the area placed aside
for certain rare plants

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed nearly tripling the acreage of critical habitats for threatened and endangered plants on Molokai.

The agency wants to expand the list of threatened and endangered plants to 46 from 32 and expand the total area to 43,532 acres from 15,230.

The proposal would affect lands mainly in central and eastern Molokai and would include some rare plants, such as a member of the aster family found only on Molokai.

The public has 45 days to request a public hearing on Molokai. The agency is designating these proposed critical habitats to comply with a U.S. District Court order in 1998, following a lawsuit filed by the Conservation Council for Hawaii.

Federal officials say critical habitats are being designated to identify areas essential for the recovery of an endangered or threatened species and that require special management or protection.

Anne Badgley, the agency's Pacific region director, said federal wildlife officials do not expect the critical-habitat designation to have a significant effect on Molokai.

"Critical habitat only affects activities funded, conducted or authorized by federal agencies, and even those activities are likely to continue after the service has reviewed them," Badgley said.

Federal wildlife officials made an initial proposal for critical habitats on Molokai on Dec. 29, 2000.

Since then the agency has expanded the critical habitats to include areas where endangered and threatened plants may have grown in the past but no longer have a presence.

Federal wildlife officials said they took the action after receiving several comments that existing plant habitats may be insufficient to ensure the survival of threatened or endangered species.

Officials said the current proposal allows threatened or endangered species to re-establish themselves in their historic ranges.

Copies of the proposed rule published yesterday in the Federal Register are available at certain libraries, including the Kahului Library and Hawaii State Library, and on the World Wide Web at www.access.gpo.gov/ su_docs/fedreg/frcont02.html, or call the agency, 808-541-3441.

The Molokai Library in Kaunakakai has computers with Internet access.

Written comments may be submitted to the Field Supervisor, Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, 300 Ala Moana, Room 3-122, Box 50088, Honolulu, HI 96850.