The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has cut in half the acreage of Kauai and Niihau it is proposing as critical habitat for 83 threatened and endangered plants, it announced yesterday. Isle critical-habitat
land plan cut in half
By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.comThe agency now proposes designating 52,549 acres on Kauai and 357 acres on Niihau as being critical to the survival of native plant species on the brink of extinction.
In its original proposal, released in January 2002, the service asked that 99,211 acres of Kauai and 697 acres on Niihau be named critical habitat, prompting howls from some Kauai residents, especially hunters who felt the designation would end their ability to hunt on the lands.
"Now that we have published this final rule, I want to particularly thank the people of Kauai for their active involvement in its development," said Anne Badgley, Fish and Wildlife Pacific regional director.
The final Kauai rule was published in the Federal Register yesterday and takes effect in 30 days. All the Hawaiian Islands have had preliminary rules and economic impact studies published regarding critical-habitat designations for endangered plants. Only Lanai's rule has been made final.
Kauai's critical-habitat areas are 70 percent state and federally owned and 30 percent private.
"In some cases we learned that an area had been developed or a land use had changed, making it inappropriate habitat for the plants," said Paul Henson, Fish and Wildlife field supervisor for the Pacific islands.
And the hunters' comments were heard. "The final rule eliminates some public hunting areas (formerly) proposed as critical habitat because they don't provide the best habitat for these plants," Henson said.
Jeff Mikulina, Sierra Club of Hawaii director, said Fish and Wildlife is navigating between the conservation community, which sued to force the agency to draw up critical habitats, and private property owners, who are wary of federal regulations. Mikulina said, "We hope that the decision was based on the best science for the plants, not because of political pressures."
The final critical-habitat rule, including maps and a description of each habitat unit and the plants it contains, can be found in the Federal Register, at the Fish and Wildlife Web site at pacificislands.fws.gov or by calling the Honolulu office at 808-541-3441.
Fish and Wildlife Service/Pacific