> Local News > News

Email: "Conservancy moves ahead with hunt for feral animals"
*To:		<--TO Email REQUIRED!
*From:		<--FROM Email REQUIRED!

HONOLULU — The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii has moved forward with its plans to hire professional hunters to track and thin the population of wild pigs, goats and deer within select environmentally sensitive areas on Molokai, Maui and Kauai.

When the conservancy announced its plans to hire New Zealand-based Prohunt to test a new feral animal control program called the Forest Recovery Project last year on privately owned conservancy lands, it was met with protests and continuing complaints by the Molokai Hunters Association.

In response to the community outcry, the conservancy limited its program to 4,600 acres of the steep southern slopes of Pelekunu Valley and remote upper regions of the Kamakou watershed, said Ed Misaki, the Molokai program director.

Conservancy officials have said they have also been working with Landcare Research of New Zealand to conduct demonstration projects. Those include a combination of scientific research, animal monitoring and ground hunting with helicopter support. The intent is to gather information on animal movements and to test fencing and natural barriers, such as Molokai’s cliffs.

Wild non-native animals are blamed for tromping through the forests and creating mud paths that can lead into the ocean as well as clear areas of native plants, leaving them susceptible to invasive weeds.

Conservancy officials have said that local hunters have not kept pace with the problem.

Mark White, Maui director of the Nature Conservancy, said the project worked better than expected in East Maui, where since this fall, nine animals have been monitored with tracking collars. Figures on the number of animals killed were still being compiled.

A group, including three local hunters, used global positioning satellite technology to cover as much of the 6,500-acre Waikamoi preserve as possible, he said.

“For me, it worked better than expected,” White said. “It is an experiment. I think we did a pretty good job, and I am confident that the vast majority (of invasive animals) were removed.”

Nature Conservancy of Hawaii spokeswoman Evelyn Wite said the animal-control project involves combining several time-tested techniques. For example, the project has used a helicopter to transport up to several teams of hunters and dogs and find feral animals quickly without getting tired out. They do not shoot or spot the animals from the helicopters, she said.

“The project is very low-key in terms of impact on any local hunting activities,” Wite said of the Molokai experiment. “The purpose of the hunting is specifically for conservation in some very remote and sensitive areas. The goal is ultimately to find no or very few of the animals in the areas that we’re trying to protect.”

This experiment is important since goats will consume natural plants down to the dirt, contributing to erosion. Only about 15 percent of Molokai’s natural forests remain intact on the island. The island of Kahoolawe lost 12 feet of topsoil because of uncontrolled goats, Wite said.

However, some local sustenance hunters feared the program would also decimate the game they often rely on for food. Community activists also complained that the conservancy has moved forward with its plans without properly consulting local hunters.

Molokai Hunters Association secretary and longtime Native Hawaiian activist Walter Ritte Jr. predicted potentially dangerous confrontations between local and professional hunters.

“We have been upfront and vocal about them coming in and initiating programs without any community input,” Ritte said. “And the Hawaiian community, by law, has to have input. . . . We don’t know what’s going on as a community. And for me, that’s illegal.”

Misaki said the Nature Conservancy conducted 30 public meetings and spoke to hundreds of Molokai residents over the last year in order to reach the compromises.

Wite said most people, once the details were explained to them, were in favor of the proposal or neutral.

Ritte said the conservancy board held one large public hearing last year that ended after a board member got into a yelling match with hunters. Talking to a few people here and there does not constitute public meetings, he said.

“We all want the same thing for Molokai — to sustain our lifestyle, protect our water supply and to have healthy forests and reefs,” Misaki said.

On Maui, the organization said it killed and tracked animals on its preserves at Kapunakea in West Maui as

well.

The conservancy is an international organization with more than 117 million acres worldwide and 11 private preserves in Hawaii totaling 32,000 acres. The conservancy has been in existence for 20 years in Hawaii. It is made up of a coalition of more than 100 businesses.

In Maui County, the conservancy manages preserves at Kapunakea and Waikamoi on Maui; Kanepuu on Lanai; and Pelekunu, Kamakou and Moomomi on Molokai.

Wite said the conservancy is almost halfway through the overall project, which started on Maui this fall. The forest recovery project goes to Kauai next. Wite said she was uncertain when the Kauai phase of the project would begin.

• Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com

 

Subscribe to The Maui News

Share: