HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	57
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

urging the department of land and natural resources to manage wildlife to sustain game populations, provide greater public access to Land for hunting, and improve management to support hunting.

     WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife have not adopted a plan for wildlife management that addresses game as a resource for food and recreation; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that active game management to produce game for subsistence and recreational hunting should be a goal of wildlife management; and

     WHEREAS, interpretations of wildlife management vary considerably among biologists and other wildlife experts but the following three concepts are common among definitions of wildlife management:

     (1)  Efforts directed toward wild animal populations;

     (2)  Relationship of habitat to wild animal populations; and

     (3)  Manipulation of habitats or populations to meet some specified societal goal; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature affirms that managing game for subsistence and recreational hunting is a goal of wildlife management; and

     WHEREAS, the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife are responsible for conducting habitat and wildlife population inventories and evaluations, determining public priorities for wildlife resources, and directing management efforts to pursue goals that recognize public priorities, including priorities regarding the manipulation of habitat and wildlife populations; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that many people confuse game management with wildlife preservation; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that conservation is an effort to maintain and use natural resources wisely with the goal of ensuring that those resources remain available for future generations; and

     WHEREAS, the wise use of resources may vary from actively managing wildlife populations by hunting to protecting and preserving populations and habitats; and

     WHEREAS, in situations where wildlife populations are in danger of extinction, the preservation of wildlife and habitat can require leaving natural systems undisturbed by humans; and

     WHEREAS, game management is also a component of conservation and usually involves controlling, directing, or manipulating wildlife populations or their habitats; and

     WHEREAS, wildlife managers often seek to increase, decrease, or stabilize wildlife populations so that wildlife may be removed on a regular and continuing basis; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife are urged to actively manage wildlife to sustain game populations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife are also urged to provide greater public access to land for hunting; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its Division of Forestry and Wildlife are further urged to improve evaluation and management efforts on each island to support hunting; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, and the Mayor of each county.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Urging DLNR to support hunting.