Maui ranch plans nene habitat
Advertiser Staff
WAILUKU, Maui — Peter and Kathy Baldwin of Pi'iholo Ranch are seeking an agreement with the state to allow the reintroduction of nene on their 773-acre spread in Upcountry Maui.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 31, 2002
Under the "safe harbor agreement," the Baldwins would commit to maintaining or improving nene habitat on their ranch for a 10-year period, establishing and maintaining a nene release pen, controlling predators around the pen, and growing native plants known to be a source of food for the birds.
Nene, an endangered species that was once extinct on Maui, can be found at Haleakala National Park.
Peter Baldwin, a former president of Haleakala Ranch, started Pi'iholo Ranch with his wife after retiring in 2001. They run the property as a working cattle ranch and eco-tourism operation offering horseback riding tours.
The Maui safe harbor agreement would be the second such arrangement between a private landowner and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. A similar agreement was approved in 2001 for the reintroduction of nene on Pu'u O Hoku Ranch on Moloka'i, where 55 of the birds have been released.
Nene, Hawaiian geese, are believed to have disappeared from Maui by the end of the 19th century, and today are found primarily within the boundaries of Haleakala National Park, where they were reintroduced in 1962. The Department of Land and Natural Resources is establishing a population in West Maui through a reintroduction program at Hana'ula that began in 1995.
Biologists expect the Pi'iholo Ranch project to eventually be able to support a population of 75 birds.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources will conduct the actual reintroduction of nene raised at the Maui Bird Conservation Center. The ranch will provide food and water to the geese while they are in the release pen, and help monitor the population on ranch land.
The department's chairman, Peter Young, said the safe harbor agreements provide landowners with assurances that they will not be penalized with additional endangered species restrictions in the future because of their efforts.
A public hearing on the Maui safe harbor agreement will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Mayor Eddie Tam Memorial Complex in Makawao.
The agreement is available for review online at www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/pubs/index.html, at the Ma-kawao Public Library, and at the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Forestry offices in Kahului and Honolulu.
