Posted on: Monday, September 13, 2004

Wildlife grants go to 17 projects in Hawai'i

Advertiser Staff

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded $638,500 for 17 projects in Hawai'i under a program to bring hunters and conservationists together to protect natural resources.

Conflicts between the two interests can arise when difficult-to-manage game populations such as pigs and deer occupy habitats of native plants and animals, the service said. The agency's community initiative program, now in its third year, provides funding for communities to implement strategies to allow protection of endangered species and continued presence of game animals, where appropriate.

One example of this is the $50,000 awarded for conservation work within the Wai'anae Kai-Makaha watersheds. The project, coordinated by Hoa 'Aina O Makaha, will employ local experts to integrate hunting concerns with those of endangered species management.

Another is the $32,500 given to the Nature Conservancy to improve firebreaks at the Honouliuli Preserve, reducing the likelihood of wildfires moving into the habitat of the O'ahu 'elepaio bird and other species, while improving access for bow hunters. A similar Nature Conservancy project received $40,000 for improvement of 20 miles of road at Kawela, Moloka'i, to create firebreaks for native habitat and improve hunter access.

The state Division of Forestry and Wildlife received a total of $154,000 to repair and maintain plant exclosures in conservation management units on Kaua'i; to update natural resources information in hunter education classes; for protection of seven plant species in the remote bogs of the Alaka'i area of Kaua'i; and to repair a portion of the Mo-kihana-Wai'alae Trail on Kaua'i to improve access for hunters and conservationists.

The Hawaiian Silversword Foundation received a total of $97,800 for three Big Island projects, including protection of the mamane forest in North Kona, home to the endangered palila bird; fence construction at Kanakaleonui koa forest; and pig control at 'Ola'a.

Other projects to receive funding are:

• $55,000 to Pono Pacific Inc., for completion of rare-plant exclosures in the game management area at Pu'uanahulu on the Big Island.
• $9,663 to Big Island Bird Hunters, for fencing to restore m'amane-naio habitat and for game bird management at the Pohakuloa game management area.
• $50,000 to Maui Pineapple Co., to install an 8-foot fence to keep deer and other mammals from the Honolua Plantation and protect Pu'u Kukui.
• $26,795 to the University of Hawai'i Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit, for botanical and entomological surveys of Maui's Makawao Forest Reserve.
• $65,000 to the National Tropical Botanical Garden, for predator-control planning on Kaua'i and the Big Island.
• $10,000 to the Hawai'i Nature Center, to coordinate pig hunting in the north Ko'olau mountains on O'ahu.
• $48,000 to the Lana'i Institute for the Environment, to improve roads and trails for hunter and conservation management access on east Lana'i.