HILO — An agreement signed Friday by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Kamehameha Schools will protect and aid the recovery of 32 federally endangered species on the Big Island.
The safe harbor agreement is the largest of its kind: a 50-year deal covering a 32,207-acre property owned by Kamehameha Schools on the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa.
Jason Jeremiah, director of Kamehameha Schools’ natural and cultural resources department, said the agreement targets seven federally endangered animal species, one threatened animal species and 25 endangered plant species.
The endangered fauna include the Hawaii creeper, the ‘akepa and the ‘akiapola‘au (two species of Hawaiian honeycreeper), the ‘io (Hawaiian hawk), the nene goose, the alala (Hawaiian crow) and the ‘ope‘ape‘a (Hawaiian hoary bat), along with the threatened ‘i‘iwi (scarlet honeycreeper).
“Protecting these species is one of our highest priorities,” Jeremiah said.
The agreement, Jeremiah said, allows Kamehameha Schools to adopt land management practices to encourage the recovery of the listed species without incurring additional regulations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Such deals exist because some landowners did not want to encourage endangered species to flourish on their lands for fear of incurring additional land-use restrictions, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At the beginning of the agreement, the presence and distribution of endangered species on the property is documented and established as a baseline. When the agreement term ends, the property owner is allowed to return their property to that baseline if they so choose.
Jeremiah said Kamehameha Schools has done habitat restoration and conservation work on its more than 360,000 acres of land for the past 25 years. While the agreement will not necessarily substantially change how KS already manages the land, it will allow the trust to increase the scope of its work without fear of additional oversight.
“Partnerships like this are the foundation of conservation,” said Mary Abrams, field supervisor for the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, in a statement Friday. “This agreement will promote habitat improvement across the whole landscape in a way that not only benefits the protected and endangered species that live there, but also improves the entire watershed.”
The land listed in the agreement is bordered by several state- and federal-managed parks and reserves, which already provide protection to the endangered species.
Gov. David Ige praised the deal in a statement Friday.
“This safe harbor agreement encourages landowners to improve their habitat and restore their forests for endangered species to flourish,” Ige’s statement read. “I thank Kamehameha Schools for leading the way for Hawaii landowners to restore native landscapes.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com