Haleakala National Park officials received the go-ahead to remove feral pigs, goats, dogs and axis deer with firearms and traps within a fenced area to be built in the newly added Nuu parcels on the mountain’s southwestern flank.

The regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service in November issued a “Finding of No Significant Impact” for the park’s environmental assessment and plans to remove the feral animals in the upper elevations of Nuu to restore the habitat of the endangered uau, the Hawaiian petrel, the national park announced Friday.

“With the signature of the Finding of No Significant Impact document, everything is now in place to proceed with the project, ” said Steve Robertson, Haleakala’s chief of resources management, on Friday.

The plans outlined in the environmental assessment call for the eradication of the habitat-damaging animals and non-native plants inside 2,115 acres of mostly national park land that will be fenced. The natural habitat restoration will involve directing the feral animals outside the fence line and lethal methods, including aerial shooting, of those that remain inside the enclosure.

Per a recommendation from the Humane Society of America, lead-free ammunition will be used.

Traps and snares will be used as “a last resort” if there are animals that cannot be removed by other methods, the report said. It is necessary to remove all of the unwanted animals from the area.

“Leaving a few animals does not achieve the goal of protecting and restoring native resources and would result in a larger number of animals killed in the future, after the remaining animals reproduce,” the report said.

The fencing will be 7 miles long on 1,885 acres in the national park’s Nuu parcel and 230 acres in the state Kahikinui Forest Reserve. Robertson said that the fencing should be completed by January 2018.

“We will proceed with removing the animals after that,” he said Friday. “We have funding available for removing the animals from the fenced area.”

The national park and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are funding the $830,000 project to protect and restore habitat for native species in Nuu, which was acquired by the national park in 2008.

Feral animals trample landscapes, consume and uproot vegetation and can cause erosion, according to the report. Feral dogs prey on adult uau and nests and are a safety hazard to people. The report notes that the native plants and animals evolved with few predators, which makes them particularly vulnerable to feral animals.

The Finding of No Significant Impact and other documents related to the environmental assessment may be found at parkplanning.nps.gov/hale.