Hawaiian sandalwood
Hawaiian sandalwood
Don’t ignore stakeholders
My name is Larry Rose and my 10 acres in South Kona is both a home and a source of inspiration and material for my woodcarving art.
I just read House Concurrent Resolution 147 forming a task force to regulate the harvesting of Hawaiian sandalwood on private land. None of the 12 members of the task force to be appointed by the chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural resources is required actually to be a landowner with sandalwood trees. Some of the hundreds of property owners in Ka‘u, South Kona, North Kona and the Kohala District having native dry land forest (including sandalwood) should be included on the task force, or at least have someone representing their interests.
In my own personal experience, there are more than 150 small lots of 100 acres or less just between the Ocean View subdivision and the Kona Paradise subdivision in South Kona with sandalwood growing in abundance on them. The consequences of ignoring a large number of the stakeholders stewarding sandalwood on our island, even though they usually don’t know they have sandalwood to steward, could be serious.
I hope Chairperson William Aila of the Board of Land and Natural Resources appoints someone who can help represent our concerns and also help to conserve this important native species.
Larry Rose
South Kona