Some hunters on Moloka'i are taking aim at a plan by The Nature Conservancy to hire a foreign company to conduct feral animal control activities in Hawai'i later this year.

The nonprofit conservancy is in discussions with Prohunt New Zealand Ltd. to bring hunters, dogs and a helicopter to four islands for six to eight months. If hired, the company would hunt in select, remote areas and conduct monitoring programs that would be used to prevent goats, pigs and other hoofed animals from further damaging forests and watershed lands.

But on Moloka'i, where one-third of the population relies on subsistence farming, fishing or hunting, the notion of allowing "outsiders" to engage in hunting activities is raising hackles.

"We are sensitive about our food source. We don't hunt for recreation on Moloka'i," said Native Hawaiian advocate and longtime hunter Walter Ritte Jr. of Ho'olehua. "On Moloka'i, we need this food source. It's our culture, it's our survival."

Moloka'i hunters have been working with the conservancy since the early 1990s to find a balance between the need to preserve pristine forests and the needs of the community to put food on the table. There has been agreement to fence off certain areas and reduce the feral animal population while leaving enough game to satisfy hunters.

Ritte, 61, said the relationship between hunters and the Nature Conservancy has been a good one, "but this is a brand new, in-your-face concept of bringing in outside hunters to solve the problems."

Another hunter, Shannon Kaulili, 30, of Kaunakakai, said he's worried there won't be enough game left to hunt once Prohunt has come and gone.

"My main concern is that it's outside people, and that they are going to come through and take everything out and then pretty much leave. We can do the same job and take the meat and not take everything out," he said.

Evelyn Wight, strategic communications manager for The Nature Conservancy, said her organization knew the proposed project "would raise a lot of questions," so it brought the plan to the hunters working group it has dealt with in the past and attempted to make a community presentation on Jan. 23, but "we were shouted down."

Since then, the conservancy has been providing information "on a more personal level" to hunters, landowners and other parties. Those people generally have been supportive after learning about the program, she said.

Wight stressed that talks with Prohunt about work in Hawai'i are preliminary and that no contract has been signed. She said if the deal goes forward, the conservancy would insist the company work with local hunters and that meat from hunting operations be distributed to residents.

Failure to step up conservation efforts would allow the ecological damage to continue, she said. "The consequence of that is not immediate, but the forest would continue to erode, weeds would continue to grow and the watershed would continue to be eaten up. Eventually over time, it's all gone. By then it's too late," she said.

Much of Moloka'i has been ravaged by hoofed animals, which devour shrubs and groundcover, and trample native plants and trees. Wild pigs are especially destructive, tearing up the forest floor with their rooting behavior. The resulting erosion contributes to drought and sends sediment into the ocean, where it can smother nearshore reefs.

Wight described Moloka'i's southern slope as "one long stretch of brown dirt" that, over time, has been nearly denuded by animals. Only 18 percent of the island's native forest remains, she said.

Prohunt is working for The Nature Conservancy to eradicate wild pigs from Santa Cruz Island off the California coast and has vast international experience. To save time and money, the organization wants to bring the company to Hawai'i when it wraps up its work in California in the next few months.

The Nature Conservancy wants to use Prohunt for monitoring and ground hunting projects in the upper portions of Pelekunu Valley, including the leeward cliffs, the upper reaches of Kamakou, and on private lands above and below the fence on the island's southern slope.

The project areas account for less than 10 percent of Moloka'i and include pristine forest that shelters rare native species. The Kamakou rain forest supplies more than 60 percent of the water used on the island.

While in Hawai'i, the Prohunt crew would also visit Maui, Kaua'i and the Big Island, but in some sites would be doing only consulting and monitoring, Wight said. She said she has not seen the same kind of resistance from hunters on those islands, where there is a greater proportion of recreational hunting.

Rumors that Prohunt would wipe out Moloka'i's game are false, she said. Total eradication of feral animal populations is virtually impossible on the island and across most of the state because of the large tracts of open land, and it is also undesirable, Wight said. "A lot of people in the state are subsistence or recreational hunters who want to be able to have that opportunity," she said. "We are looking for ways to make preservation possible within the huge variety of needs in Hawai'i."

The conservancy is hoping that Prohunt's visit will be a catalyst for startup of a local company offering the same kind of wildanimal management services.

"It is not our intention for Prohunt to take over any of our animal-control activities. We have our own staff who are experts. We do want them to come so we can learn from them and train our own staff and share information," Wight said.

Moloka'i hunter Ritte said the conservancy should have come to the community before approaching Prohunt. "We're not too concerned about the plan itself. It's that they went and implemented it without consulting the community. That's a total no-no on this small, little island. You have to go through a process," he said.

Retired fireman and hunter Bobby Alcain, 57, of Honouli Wai on Moloka'i's East End, supports The Nature Conservancy's proposal and said the agency "has always been mindful of native rights and the local people, and they hire Moloka'i people."

"They won't be eliminating all the game. ... It's just in specific areas," he said. "If anything, (local hunters) are going to gain more than they lose."

Alcain said the conflict is a result of "mostly miscommunication" and hurt pride. Moloka'i residents are fiercely protective of their lifestyle and are wary of any new proposals that might affect the rural island, he said. "The biggest mistake The Nature Conservancy made was talking to Prohunt before addressing the community," Alcain said.

Fisherman, farmer and hunter Kanoho Helm, 26, of Kalama'ula, said he also sees the value in a program to protect the forests and improve game management. "... And they can bring something to the table that the people over here can learn from," said Helm, who worked for The Nature Conservancy for three years before quitting in 2006.

Although he supports the Prohunt plan, Helm said he is not bothered by the heated debate. "That's the way of our island. It's a good thing, because it shows concern for our lifestyle."

Hunters are paired with a single dog that herds animals into the open; Hawai'i pig hunters customarily use a pack of dogs to corner their quarry.

"Ground sweeps" systematically move hunters across the mountainside to more quickly and efficiently cover large areas.

A "sentinel" program uses a captured animal that is fitted with a radio telemetry collar and relocated by air so that it can be tracked as it attempts to return to familiar territory. Sentinel tracking can tell researchers whether animals can scramble across natural barriers, such as cliffs; where fencing would be effective; where the animals' home range is; and where the herd congregates.

A helicopter transports hunters and dogs into remote areas, but aerial hunting will not be allowed in Hawai'i.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.