THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	62
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

requesting the department of land and natural resources to update facts and statistics relating to the decline of palila on Mauna kea and to conduct further investigations on the decline.

WHEREAS, within the Mauna Kea conservation district live a number of rare, threatened, or endangered plants, animals, and arthropods found nowhere else on the planet, among those protected are the last of the finch‑billed Hawaiian Honeycreepers, the palila; and

WHEREAS, approximately ninety-six percent of the entire palila population lives on the southwestern slope of Mauna Kea where the widest and most intact belt of māmane forest exists; and

WHEREAS, palila survival relies on the māmane forest, as the māmane tree produces pods with highly‑nutritious seeds that are the main food source of the palila; and

WHEREAS, in 1979 the Department of Land and Natural Resources was sued on allegations that the Department was "taking" palila by maintaining sheep and goats in Palila Critical Habitat causing damage to māmane forests; and

WHEREAS, Palila Critical Habitat encompasses all of Mauna Kea from six thousand to ten thousand feet elevation; and

WHEREAS, between 1979 and 1986, federal courts ordered the eradication of sheep and goats from Palila Critical Habitat; and

WHEREAS, millions have been spent on fencing and eradication of sheep and goats on Mauna Kea since the order; and

WHEREAS, twenty-two thousand sheep have been eradicated, with only a remnant few remaining in Palila Critical Habitat and

WHEREAS, thousands of residents and visitors have lost a significant source of recreational and subsistence hunting, as well as the resulting economic stimulus, since the sheep and goat eradication on Mauna Kea; and

WHEREAS, in 1980 there where thousands of sheep and six thousand palila in Palila Critical Habitat; and

WHEREAS, long after the eradication of the sheep and goats and full recovery of the māmane, the population of the palila has continued to decline, its population plummeting to one thousand on Mauna Kea; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to update facts and statistics relating to the palila decline on Mauna Kea and to conduct further investigations on the decline; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to annually report its updated facts and statistics, as well as the findings of its investigations twenty days prior to the convening of each legislative session, beginning with the Regular Session of 2021; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Department of Land and Natural Resources; Palila; Decline; Eradication