The Waikoloa Dry Forest Recovery Project Seeks Comment on draft EA

Today the OEQC issued its Environmental Notice which contained notice of 30 day public comment period to the Draft EA of the proposed Waikoloa Dry Forest Recovery Project. See: OEQC Environmental Notice

The Waikoloa Dry Forest Recovery project seeks to restore and protect a native lowland dry forest habitat over 275 acres of open space south of the community of Waikoloa Village which included the installation of a proposed fence to exclude ungulates (wild cattle and goats) from the area. See: Draft Environmental Assessment For Construction of a 275 acre Fence Enclosure South of Waikoloa Village dated September 2009.


The Waikoloa Village Chapter of the Outdoor Circle with the assistance from the Hawaii Forest Stewardship Program will manage this native dry forest restoration project that contains a native lowland wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicense) forest with endangered uhiuhi (Caesalpinia kavaiensis) trees.

The 10-year project aims to restore native forest around a remnant patch of lowland wiliwili forest habitat, and establish new populations of 9 endangered plant species. The remnant forest patch lies ½ mile south of Waikoloa Village at approximately 1000 ft. elevation on the northwest flank of the island of Hawaii

The draft EA sets forth that the first step to controlling the large number of ungulates that roam throughout the project site is to erect a fence around the 275 acre boundaries. Without a properly constructed fence the remaining native vegetation has no future. The use of large scale fencing is now a common method for excluding ungulates and facilitates the recovery of degraded habitats even in a very short time period. The EA notes other successful fenced and researched dry forest areas such as the exclosure in Ka‘upulehu. This area was fenced in 1956 in recognition of its rich diversity of native species (Cabin et al. 2000). Other fence units exist at Pu‘u Wa‘a Wa‘a, West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery, Kipuka Owe Owe, Palamanui, the Koaia reserve, and Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) (Yvonne Yarber Carter, personal communication).

The Waikoloa Dry Forest Recovery project site is home to 10 endangered uhiuhi and approximately 80 living wiliwili trees. The surrounding area harbors at least 3 more uhiuhi trees and approximately another 100-120 wiliwili trees. A noticeable attribute, when walking through the area, is the vast number of wiliwili snags; over half of the trees in the area are dead.

The EA concludes no significant negative impacts are anticipated under this project, but numerous positive benefits are expected, including additional fire protection for the Waikoloa Village community; restoration of open space; native, threatened and endangered species habitat improvement; and control of weedy and invasive species.

Comments can be made to either:

Waikoloa Village Outdoor Circle, P.O. Box 38-4721, Waikoloa, HI 96738. Dave Faucette, 883-3362 (the consultant)

or

Dept of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 325, Honolulu, HI 96813 (the proposing and approving agency)