HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	126
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging the Department of Land and Natural Resources to protect THE endangered Hawaiian stilt by requiring an ENVIRONMENTAL impact statement for the proposed maintenance dredging of Hawaii Kai Marina.

     WHEREAS, Kuapa Pond was once a five hundred twenty-three-acre fish pond and wetland and was home to the now-endangered Hawaiian Stilt, the Ae‘o; and

     WHEREAS, Kuapa Pond was dredged decades ago to create the Hawaii Kai Marina, but no measures were taken at that time to mitigate the impact on Hawaiian water birds; and

     WHEREAS, the small island known as Rim Island No. 2 in the Hawaii Kai Marina is the last wetland in what was formerly Kuapa Pond; and

     WHEREAS, endangered Hawaiian Stilts have returned to feed and nest on Rim Island No. 2 after an absence of forty years; and

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association is seeking permits for further maintenance dredging of the Hawaii Kai Marina which includes a plan to fill the Rim Island No. 2 wetland with dredge spoil material; and

     WHEREAS, using Rim Island No. 2 in this manner threatens the only secure nesting site for Hawaiian Stilts in the area from Pearl Harbor to Kailua; and

     WHEREAS, it is the State's policy to protect endangered island wildlife; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources has been or will soon be asked to process a dredging permit for the marina maintenance dredging; and

     WHEREAS, there has not been a full public identification and review of available alternatives and mitigation measures to protect the endangered Hawaiian Stilts now feeding and nesting on Rim Island No. 2; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is urged to require preparation of an environmental impact statement for the dredging and filling of Rim Island No. 2 in accordance with chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources; the Chairperson of the Hawaii Kai Marina Community Association Board of Directors; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Region; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch, Honolulu District; and the President of the Hawaii Audubon Society.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Endangered Hawaii Stilt; Hawaii Kai Marina; Environmental Impact