Hawai`i Tropical Forest Recovery Act
Concepts, Recommendations and Action Items

 

GUIDING CONCEPT 3

STEWARDSHIP OF THE FOREST
Emphasize stewardship of Hawaii's forest resources by expanding existing programs to control introduced pest species and prevent the entry of new pests to Hawaii; restoring native forests and creating habitat for threatened and endangered species; assisting private landowners of rural and urban forests; reforesting; managing game; and managing fire.

 

RECOMMENDATION 5: Expand existing programs to prevent the entry of new invasive, introduced species and increase active management to reduce forest damage by established introduced pests in key forest areas, such as essential forest bird habitat and natural areas with high native ecosystem values, while maintaining healthy game populations in other forest areas.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. Develop a prioritized inventory/list of established and potential pest species, plant and animal pathogens, weeds, invertebrates, and vertebrates in Hawaii’s forests to guide management actions and funding. Convene a series of workshops with statewide representation.
2. Implement the 1994 Alien Species Action Plan.
3. Increase human and financial resources committed by all agencies and organizations to work with private landowners and local communities to expand management of pest populations and to establish secure, sustained yield hunting areas.
4. Increase research on the most aggressive alien plant and animal species as described in the Hawaii Conservation Biology Initiative’s 1992 and 1993 reports.
5. Support the efforts of the Hawaii Animal Control Research Consortium to find the most effective, humane, and culturally sensitive means of protecting native forests from problems associated with pigs, goats, sheep, and axis deer.
6. Support increased research for control methods for introduced small predator species which can impede forest restoration efforts.
7. Increase the capacity of the existing biological control program to identify effective agents for at least ten priority weeds concurrently.
8. Implement an alien Species Awareness Program to reach all visitors, residents, and trade partners to enlist their help in controlling the spread of alien pests.

 

RECOMMENDATION 6: Protect and restore native forest ecosystems through adequate support of existing state, federal, and private organizations' natural resource programs in an effort to contribute to healthy forest ecosystems and the recovery of plant and animal species listed as threatened and endangered.

1. Programs necessary to preserve and protect native forests in Hawaii's national parks, refuges, natural area and forest reserves should be "base funded" on a sustained basis.
2. Increase funding for USDI Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge.
3. Provide funding to support acquisition and management of additional national wildlife refuges in Hawaiian forest lands.
4. Increase funding to complete recovery plans and management programs for federally listed species.
5. Increase permanent funding of DOFAW for the ongoing protection and management of native forests and to complete the Natural Area Reserve System.
6. Ensure data collected by USDI National Biological Survey is incorporated in the Hawaii Heritage Program to facilitate statewide access to current information regarding native forest species.
7. Support programs that encourage private landowners to manage their land for the protection of native ecosystems and threatened and endangered species.

 

RECOMMENDATION 7: Expand research and support for comprehensive game management efforts to enhance hunting opportunities.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. Establish new hunting areas on private and state-leased lands by increasing funding to the Wildlife Revolving Fund.
2. Develop new cooperative agreements with private landowners for public hunting areas.
3. Improve hunting access to land-locked state forest reserves and natural area reserves through legislative action for funding condemnation, easements, or cooperative agreements with landowners.
4. Where feasible, use public hunting as first and primary techniques of game control in state natural area reserves and forest reserves.
5. Increase permanent funding for law enforcement of hunting laws.
6. Expand existing Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Hunter Education program that directly involves community members in the development of the training.
7. Develop and carry out game research to support comprehensive game management programs to enhance hunting opportunities. Pursue potential partnerships with local community members to collect game management information.

 

RECOMMENDATION 8: Establish koa and other hardwood reforestation projects on formerly forested lands to restore a full range of values and purposes, from commercial forests to natural ecosystems.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. Develop and implement a balanced management program for state-managed public lands based on statewide, public process conducted on an island-by-island basis to obtain accurate data on the human concerns, desires, and expectation for natural resources.
2. Develop a process for the cultural desires of native Hawaiians and local communities to be integrated into the plantation planning and management process.
3. Integrate local community groups into the plantation planning process and into actual participation in plantation establishment and management on state and federal forest plantations.
4. Establish a financial assistance program that will encourage landowners to establish forest plantations, manage for natural forest values, and select the most preferred species based on site and qualities desired.
5. Provide expanded capacity for seedling production of both common and less common species that have potential for use in forest plantations. Expand the state tree nursery to investigate propagation technology of at least the top twenty likely plantation species, with the long-term objective of expanding to fifty species. Recommend planting seedlings that originate from seed collected on-site. Establish seed zones for the principal native species used in plantations and begin establishing koa seed orchards.
6. Develop and implement models of koa growth and yield that make it possible to predict yield estimates for a variety of sites. Encourage research that will enable prediction of koa productivity based on site descriptors.

 

RECOMMENDATION 9: Emphasize stewardship of non-federal rural and urban forests through direct technical and financial assistance and management measures designed to keep Hawaii's forests in a healthy, sustainable condition.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. The State of Hawaii should provide a legal mechanism to allow the Urban and Community Forestry program to continue.
2. Through cooperative partnerships, develop and implement a program for forest landowners and resource specialists to train them to be forestry paraprofessionals with skills to write forest stewardship plans.
3. Congress should fund the Stewardship Incentive Program at the fully authorized level.

 

RECOMMENDATION 10: Utilize existing fire management expertise in a coordinated effort to share knowledge and resources for prevention, pre-suppression and suppression, and vegetation management activities. Enhance existing fire suppression capabilities, including private sector resources.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. Increase and regularly revise existing fire prevention and management programs.
2. Provide personnel with training and certification.
3. Organize and develop staffing requirements to meet suppression objectives.
4. Equip fire fighting forces with sufficient resources.
5. Preplan fire facilities and structures such as fuel breaks and/or firebreaks in management areas to serve a dual purpose of habitat protection and defensible space for fire-fighting activity.
6. Integrate fire protection measures in all natural and cultural resource planning and management activities.
7. Improve existing fire plans to include private sector resources.
8. Increase community awareness through education focused on known user groups.
9. Improve the capability to use prescribed fire as a management tool.

 

RECOMMENDATION 11: Make necessary amendments to the Hawaii's endangered species act to allow responsible reforestation and long-term stewardship of native forests on public and private lands, increase compatibility with the existing federal endangered species act, and encourage regional habitat conservation planning.

 

SPECIFIC ACTION ITEMS:

1. Convene a workshop of all interested and affected entities to develop a consensus for legislative amendments to the state's endangered species act to encourage reforestation and long-term stewardship of native forest on public and private lands.

 

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Concept Links

• Concept 1: Working Relationships
• Concept 2: Traditional and Community Use
• Concept 3: Stewardship of the Forest
• Concept 4: Incentives
• Concept 5: Training and Education
• Concept 6: Research and Demonstration
• Concept 7: Planning, Inventories and Monitoring
• Concept 8: Economic Development
• Concept 9: Innovative Funding

 

 

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