New management plan proposed for forest system

BY ERIN MILLER

WEST HAWAII TODAY

emiller@westhawaiitoday.com

Puu Makaala Natural Area Reserve, described by state officials as one of the best remaining forest ecosystems in Hawaii, is the subject of a new management plan.

The plan’s draft environmental assessment, released Friday, anticipated a finding of no significant impact. The plan was prepared for the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

“The overall management goal is to protect, maintain and enhance Puu Makaala’s unique natural, cultural and geologic resources,” the draft document said. “The purpose of the actions proposed is to manage threats to the integrity, diversity and functioning of the reserve’s forests so that the unique natural and cultural resources and watershed are protected, maintained and enhanced.”

Puu Makaala, located in South Hilo and Puna, is 18,706 acres, established in 1981 to protect native wet forest. The proposed plan is an update of the 1989 management plan.

Feral pigs and other ungulates — sheep, goats and cattle — and nonnative, invasive weeds are the main threats to biodiversity and the watershed in the reserve, the document said. The plan calls for maintaining nine existing fenced units, building another 17 miles of fencing, as well as the possibility of special public hunts, trapping and snaring to remove the feral animals from the fenced areas. Fencing will be completed as funds become available; installing fencing is expected to cost roughly $100,000 per mile, or about $1.7 million total.

Chemical, manual and biocontrol measures will be considered, the plan said, for removal of invasive plants.

Comments on the plan are due by Feb. 7. Comments may be sent to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 1151 Punchbowl St., Room 325, Honolulu, HI 96813.