Posted on: Thursday, March 22, 2001
Agency scolded over plant habitats
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
A trio of environmental groups said yesterday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service isn't going far enough to protect threatened and endangered plants in its critical habitat proposals for 100 species in Maui County.
Leaders from the Conservation Council for Hawai'i, the Sierra Club and the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund urged the federal agency to "follow with the law'' and designate additional areas essential for the survival of the plants.
The Maui County designations were announced late last year, the result of a lawsuit by these same environmental groups, plus the Hawaiian Botanical Society.
A federal judge in 1998 forced the service to comply with the Environmental Species Act and propose critical habitat rules for 245 threatened and endangered plants in Hawai'i.
Critical habitats are areas considered essential for the recovery of threatened or endangered species and that may require special management.
Such a designation does not create a preserve or close areas to private or state use but does limit the federal government from financing, authorizing or carrying out any action that adversely modifies or destroys the habitat.
More than 54,000 acres were proposed for critical habitat in Maui County, including about 33,600 acres of mostly state and private lands on Maui, 512 acres of state lands on Kaho'olawe, roughly 4,800 acres on Lana'i and more than 15,200 acres on Moloka'i.
Only 10 people testified at two critical habitat hearings Monday in Wailea, with some speakers supporting extra protections and others objecting to governmental intrusion and regulation. Another hearing was held last night on Moloka'i, and one more is scheduled for tonight on Lana'i.
Marjorie Ziegler, Earthjustice resource analyst, said there is a lot of misinformation about the critical habitat process.
"Critical habitat is not a federal land grab. It does not mean that the areas designated as critical habitat will become natural preserves,'' she said.
Ziegler said designation comes into play only in projects involving federal agencies and their dollars. "This is especially important in Hawai'i because of the significant federal presence here, such as military training, federally funded highway and sewage plant and airport construction,'' she said.
The organizations said there were numerous omissions in the service's proposal, leaving thousands of acres without critical habitat protection. Omitted areas include historical, but not currently occupied, rare-plant habitats as well as preserves and sanctuaries such as Mo'omomi, Pelekunu and Kamakou Preserves on Moloka'i, and Waikamoi and Kapunakea preserves, Pu'u Kukui Watershed Management Area, the upper part of the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve and Haleakala National Park.
"The fact that some essential habitat areas are currently managed to benefit listed plants does not mean they do not need the vital protection that critical habitat designation confers,'' said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Sierra Club, Hawai'i Chapter.
The service also chose to exclude some plants' critical habitats to avoid opening up the potential for vandalism by identifying the locations and because some of the plant species are believed to be extinct.
