Critical habitat dissatisfaction voiced
| • | Map: Final boundaries of critical habitats |
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's critical habitat designations for the Big Island are drawing mixed reviews from conservationists and landowners.
The designations mandated this month are the last of seven designations mandated by a 1998 federal court order.
The critical habitat designations for 255 species of endangered plants, four invertebrates and one bird — the O'ahu 'elepaio — cover hundreds of thousands of acres of rain forest, dryland regions and the areas in between on all the major Hawaiian islands and some of the small offshore rocks.
They protect, among other things, tiny shrimplike cave creatures on Kaua'i, tall fan palms on one of Moloka'i's north coast islets and the state's largest native insect, the Blackburn's sphinx moth, on several islands.
The Big Island designation covers 208,063 acres and includes habitat of 41 of the island's 58 endangered species. Some of those species not covered have habitat established on other islands and for some, "we couldn't find appropriate habitat," service spokeswoman Barbara Maxfield said.
David Henkin, the Earthjustice attorney who helped force the service to designate critical habitat on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Conservation Council for Hawai'i and the Hawaiian Botanical Society, said the process has provided many native species with needed protections.
But not all.
"Clearly we're much better off today than we were five years ago when we brought the case. For many of these endangered species, they probably have in place the protection they need. Unfortunately, many others are left clinging to life because of an arbitrary decision by the Fish and Wildlife Service," Henkin said.
For example, he said, Tetramolopium arenarium, a smaller relative of the sunflower with white and maroon flowers, is an exceedingly rare plant formerly found in the dryland forests of Maui and Hawai'i. It is extinct on Maui, and Henkin said the Fish and Wildlife Service chose not to designate critical habitat for it in its only remaining habitat.
Maxfield said the tetramolopium, which has no known common English or Hawaiian name, is within the Army's Pohakuloa Training Area, where the service concluded it is protected by the Army's Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan.
Henkin said his clients will need to study the designations before deciding whether to challenge parts of them in court. He said he believes that in many cases the Fish and Wildlife Service caved in to special interests and to threats.
The service said it agreed not to include as critical habitat lands owned by the Kamehameha Schools and the Queen Lili'uokalani Trust on the Big Island, and by two Maui ranches, after the landowners threatened to halt their conservation work if their properties were included.
Paul Henson, a Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Islands field supervisor, said the offer of continued conservation work by the private landowners was a critical factor in his agency's decision.
"We believe working cooperatively together we can do far more to recover the species. Regulations don't accomplish nearly as much," Henson said.
Similarly, the service decided not to designate thousands of acres of Army land in the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, citing both national security issues and the belief the Army's natural resources plan will "protect, conserve and enhance threatened and endangered species."
Henkin said that even if that's true, the service inappropriately excluded from critical habitat designation large sections of privately owned lands the Army had said it wants to acquire, but for which there is no military control or active conservation plan.
At the same time the Fish and Wildlife Service has been criticized by environmental groups for being too lax, and other groups — notably landowners and hunters — have expressed dismay throughout the process that designations would ultimately prevent use of their lands for development, hunting and other purposes.
Critical habitat refers to specific geographic areas that are essential for the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management considerations. These areas do not have to be occupied by the species at the time of designation.
A designation does not set up a preserve or refuge, and only applies to situations in which federal money or a federal permit is involved.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
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