Meetings set on critical
habitat in the islands

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Star-Bulletin staff

In the next few months, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will hold two kinds of meetings on its proposed critical habitats for endangered plants.

Informal question-and-answer sessions will allow residents to ask wildlife service officials how the proposed rules, intended to protect a total of 255 plant species, might affect them as landowners, hunters, etc., according to a release from the agency.

In separate, formal public hearings people can testify about the proposed rules for the official record. Input from the latter forum will be considered as the service finalizes its plans to protect the rare native plants.

Formal public hearings begin Monday on Molokai.

The plant critical habitat proposals were developed for each island and released over a five-month span beginning in January. Original public-comment periods were 60 days per island, but the service extended the deadlines to Sept. 30 for all islands except Lanai.

"We know it is a significant burden on the public to review so many different critical-habitat proposed rules," Paul Henson, field supervisor for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Islands office, in explaining the comment period extension.

The proposed rules cover 83 plant species from Kauai and Niihau, 61 from Maui and Kahoolawe, 46 from Molokai, five from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 47 from Hawaii and 99 from Oahu. Some species are found on more than one island.

In all, 821,610 acres of state, federal and private lands are proposed to carry the critical-habitat designation.

The effects of the designations have been publicly questioned by a number of private landowners, state Division of Forestry and Wildlife Director Michael Buck and U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink. Many landowners have said they are afraid the federal critical-habitat designation could restrict their use of their land.

Here are scheduled meeting times and places for the informal meetings:

>> Tonight: Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center, Lihue, 5-8 p.m.

>> Sept. 26: Maui Arts and Cultural Center, One Cameron Way, Kahului, 4:30-7:30 p.m.

>> Oct. 8: State Building Rooms B and C, 75 Aupuni St., Hilo, 5:30-8:30 p.m.

>> Oct. 9: Waimea Civic Center, Waimea, Hawaii, 5-8 p.m.

Here are scheduled meeting times and places for the public hearings:

>> Monday: Mitchell Pauole Center Hall, 90 Aiona St., Kaunakakai, 6-8 p.m. (An informal question-and-answer session will be held at the same location, 3:30-4:30 p.m.)

>> Sept. 12: Maui Arts and Cultural Center, One Cameron Way, Kahului, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (This hearing will accept comments on critical-habitat proposals for plants on Maui and Kahoolawe and regarding the Blackburn's sphinx moth on Maui, Hawaii, Molokai and Kahoolawe. It will be preceded by a question session, 3:30-4:30 p.m.)

Oahu meetings and Big Island and Kauai public hearings have not yet been scheduled.

In addition to plant critical-habitat proposals, the agency also has proposed 99,433 acres of critical habitat for the Blackburn's sphinx moth on the islands of Maui, Hawaii, Molokai and Kahoolawe. Comment on those proposals is open until Dec. 30.

Proposed critical habitat rules and fact sheets are available online at pacificislands.fws.gov, under endangered species, or by calling Fish and Wildlife at 808-541-3441.