Sustainable Hawaiʻi: Progress and Hope in A Challenging World · 2018-05-16 · Earth Day, Kona,...

Sustainable Hawaiʻi: Progress and Hope in a Challenging World – Earth Day 2018 Suzanne Case, Chair, Department of Land and Natural Resources

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Sustainable Hawaiʻi:Progress and Hope inA Challenging World

Suzanne Case, ChairDept. of Land & Natural Resources

Earth Day, Kona, April 21, 2018

Photo: Christian Kahahawai

Thank you all for celebrating Earth Day 2018. I think we all acknowledge we’re in a challenging world, but I also want to focus on progress and hope from my perspective in DLNR the past three years – and in particular by focusing on what we’ve been able to accomplish through Governor Ige’s Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative.

Slide 2 What is “Sustainable”?

“using a resource in a way to ensurethe resource is not depleted or permanently damaged”

“Sustainable” is a word that is often overused, or means different things to different people. A common dictionary definition is “using a resource in a way the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged.” From a science and monitoring angle, I look at whether the graphs are going in the right direction or not.

Slide 3

Hawaiʻi is extraordinarily proud to have hosted the 2016 World Conservation Congress, the first ever in the United States, and by all account the most successful World Conservation Congress to date.


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4/29/18 4

At the opening ceremony of the 2016 World Conservation Congress, Governor David Ige announced to the global conservation community ambitious targets of his Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative, to foster environmental stewardship from mountain to sea.

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4/29/18 5

Governor Ige’s

DLNR’s strategic focus is to implement Governor Ige’s Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative: in watershed protection, marine management, and biosecurity, as well as supporting local food production and 100% renewable energy. This initiative is in line with the goals of Aloha+ Challenge, the Malama Honua worldwide voyage, and the United Nations Sustainable Development goals, and focuses on what we need to do now, in the next few years, to accomplish these broad goals for Hawaiʻi.


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Slide 6 30x30

Watershed Protection

Protect 30% of Hawaiʻi’s priority

watershed forests by 2030

Photo: Nate Yuen

Governor Ige’s Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative aims to protect 30% of Hawaii’s priority watersheds by 2030. This ambitious goal seeks to protect 253,000 acres of native forest, through fencing and invasive species control.

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Our native forests make up the fundamental fabric of our watersheds. It takes a complex native forest structure to soak up rain and mist.

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Which gathers in streams and underground rock layers


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Slide 9

WATERSHED

Photo: TNC Maui/A. Cohan

And is stored in reservoirs for distribution through municipal water pipes to our taps.

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Our forests have always been threatened by destruction, particularly since Europeans introduced hooved animals to Hawaiʻi two hundred years ago, which through grazing and rooting systematically destroyed large swaths of our lowland forests.

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Feral sheep and goats on Mauna Loa © 2015 All Hawaii News

Just as they do now


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Slide 12

The reason we have forests at all now is because over a hundred years, our territorial foresters drew a line in the sand to halt this destruction.

Slide 13

Where hooved animals can graze, nothing can grow. Here, forest in the Waianae mountains is protected from goats on the left, and destroyed by goats on the right. We call this a browse line – the line up to which hooved animals -- goats, sheep, deer, cattle and pigs can graze and dig, and no further.

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They eat the bark of trees, which then die.


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Another browse line – the bare ground on the right was once as forest as rich as that on the left.

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And another – here, protected forest on the left, and forest destroyed by pig rooting on the right.

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When forests are degraded, they lose the rich layers of canopy and understory and ferns and mosses that capture rain and mist and allow clear water to seep slowly into streams and underground aquifers. Instead, mud from eroded lands washes down into streams


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Slide 18

Photo: Save Honolua Bay

and into the ocean, smothering our reefs – here, at Honolua Bay on West Maui.

Slide 19

So our goal is to protect a core of the most important of these forested watersheds. 20% of Hawaiʻi’s total 4 million acres of land is priority watershed, and we aim to protect 30% of that by 2030. This is actually about 6% of the total public and private land area Hawaiʻi, but it is the land most critical for the core of human need – water. While we of course want to protect 100% of our priority watersheds, it will take time and resources, and we think 30% by 2030 is doable if we maintain a consistent effort and investment. We’re a little over halfway there.


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These lands are on state, federal, county and private lands, with all landowners working collaboratively through watershed partnerships.

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State watershed dollars typically matched 1:1 (or more) -- over $18 million in the past five years in non-state leveraged and matched funds.

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Each project is a key step in implementing broader watershed management plans. Compliance and permitting have been completed for each project that is ready to implement.


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Slide 23 20,000 acres priority watershed

protected since 2015

We essentially create small islands of protected units in the forest so that we can contain the threats. We’ve collectively protected 20,000 acres of priority watershed since 2015.

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The State focuses on its share of forest protection through capital and operating watershed protection and management projects. Update: The 2018 Legislature awarded $7.08m so almost all of these requests were funded.

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One example is the beautiful Waiawa ridge in the Koʻolau Mountains above Honolulu, where our project will protect forests providing water to Oʻahu’s critical Pearl Harbor aquifer.


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Slide 26 Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death

One very significant threat to our forests is Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, which continues to spread on Hawaii island – now detected in over 75,000 acres, but has not been detected on any other island.

Our ongoing efforts focus on research to identify and control the fungus, public outreach, and survey and monitoring to find new outbreaks.

Slide 27

The bad news is that Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death has now been confirmed in Kohala in the northern forests of Hawaiʻi Island. This is the area of greatest concern for the potential for wind-blown spread of the fungus to east Maui forests. We are working with the Carnegie Institute to conduct additional aerial surveys on both Hawaii and Maui islands using cutting-edge spectroscopy and LiDAR technologies. Surveys will be flown this month and complement earlier surveys from 2016 and 2017. We use helicopters for quarterly staff surveys and transporting crews to sites for survey and management. We are working on additional plant pathology lab technician capacity for diagnostics and ROD


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research and to continue preliminary genetic resistance work.; as well as geo-spatial data management to interpret aerial surveys (both DLNR helicopter surveys and Carnegie data), ground surveys, and laboratory results.

Slide 28

As part of the Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative we have worked with staff, partners and community groups to plant over 250,000 trees, and are working on projects to plant trees to offset carbon emissions.

Slide 29

We have implemented the Lehua Island Restoration Project, undertaking a complex and bold initiative to rid the island of the introduced non-native rats that prey on chicks and native plants. While a few rats remain, we can already see signs of nesting seabirds and native plants rebounding.


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As part of our efforts to ensure we track down every last rat, we are now training up conservation detector dogs, similar to those used in Hanalei to detect avian botulism, to find any remaining rats on Lehua Island.

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KAHUKU, HAWAI‘I (COMPLETED)

KA IWI MAUKA, O‘AHU(COMPLETED)

HELEMANO, O‘AHU (IN PROGRESS)

PUA‘AHALA, MOLOKA‘I(IN PROGRESS)

TURTLE BAY, O‘AHU (ONGOING)





















The Legacy Land Conservation Program continues to be an extremely popular source of competitive grant funding that protects treasured lands and resources for public benefit. provided matching funding to protect important natural and cultural lands statewide including Turtle Bay, Helemano, Kānewai Spring, Ka ʿIwi mauka above Sandy Beach, Pupukea mauka, upper Kūkaʿiau, Puʿukua, Makahanaloa, Waipā, Wai ʿOpae, Kaluaʿaha Ranch, and Kahuku in Ka‘ū Pending transactions include: Helemano Wilderness Park, a DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife initiative that will provide much-needed recreational benefits for our O‘ahu residents and visitors, and Pua‘ahala Watershed Acquisition, to protect a makai to mauka corridor of coastal and native forest resources on south Moloka‘i.


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Many of these transactions are heavily matched by federal funding from U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service programs, the counties, and private donors.

Slide 32 30x30

Effective MarineManagement

30% of Hawaiʻi’s nearshore waters

effectively managed by 2030

At the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, Governor Ige announced his commitment to effectively manage 30% of Hawaii’s nearshore waters by 2030. Again, ultimately we of course want to effectively manage 100% of our coastlines, but we have a long way to go.

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Opihi Catch since 1900

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60

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100

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1900 1950 1953 1985 1986

Hawaiʻi’s marine resources continue to decline, and a new study comprehensive just published by Dr. Alan Friedlander reports that overfishing is driving this decline.


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Slide 34

Unsustainable practices particular for food fish are driving this decline. We need to ensure pono fishing in Hawaiʻi for our future.

Slide 35 Definition of “effective management”

(principles and concepts)

1) Collaborative science and monitoring

1) Active management (state-wide, regional, place-based)

2) Better enforcement

Note: A strong base of scientific evidence suggests that the health and function of at least 30% of nearshore reef areas are necessary to sustain productivity.

Balancing sustainable use, fishing, recreation, restoration, and conservation measures

“Effective management” of our near-shore fisheries requires collaborative science and monitoring, active management on state, regional and local scales, and better enforcement.

Slide 36

Honolulu StarAdvertiser

In 2015 we assed emergency, then permanent rules, limiting commercial take of sea cucumbers, heading off a significant emerging threat to Hawaiʻi’s reefs from foreign-driven over-harvest.


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4/29/18 37

We worked with community groups to establish in 2016 the long-sought Hāʿena, Kauaʻi, Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area.

Slide 38

Ke Ola Magazine

We worked with community groups to establish in 2017 the long-sought Kaʻūpūlehu, Kona, Hawaiʻi, “Try Wait” ten-year community-based fishing rest area.

Slide 39 Coral Bleaching Recovery Plan

Identifying Management Responses to Promote Coral Recovery in Hawaiʻi

Photo: Molokini craterCredit: Darla White, Maui DAR

Produced in collaboration with scientists and partner organizations, Hawaiʻi’s first ever statewide coral bleaching recovery plan guides our efforts for effective marine management.


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Slide 40

Marine scientists have created the first consolidated statewide marine monitoring data set, making Hawaiʻi one of the most data rich marine environments in the world.

Slide 41

Friedlander et al., in prep

These data sets provide us a detailed view of how Hawaiʻi’s marine areas compare to each other statewide – are they in relatively good shape or very poor? For example, Kahoʿolawe conducted thorough near-shore monitoring, confirming the two-mile managed fishing area as the highest fish biomass in the state.

Slide 42

DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources stablished a new state coral nursery to provide “insurance” for lost or damaged reef using large native corals grown using fast-growth protocol, which is particularly important for rare, threatened and endangered corals.


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Slide 43

Our pilot project to use oysters to clean up the water in Pearl Harbor has proven successful, and we are in discussions to expand it.

Slide 44

David Doubilet

A key target for effective marine management is the restoration of our herbivore fish populations, particularly uhu or parrotfish, which eat algae off corals and help reefs threatened by coral bleaching recover rather than be overrun and smothered by invasive algae. New data show that parrotfish biomass at the Kahekili Herbivore Replenishment Area on Maui has increased to more than four times since the herbivore protection area was established in 2009!


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Slide 45

And on behalf of the State of Hawaiʻi, Governor Ige supported expansion of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Slide 46 Hawaiʻi

Interagency Biosecurity Plan

Implement biosecurityplan for stronger

invasive species policy, infrastructure and capacity by 2027

The third prong of Governor Ige’s Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative is to implement the Hawaiʻi Interagency Biosecurity Plan by 2027 to improve our protections against invasive species introductions and spread through better policy, infrastructure and capacity.

Slide 47

This highly collaborative inter-agency initiative has now completed Hawaii's first interagency biosecurity planning process, utilizing expert review of biosecurity capacity gaps and input from impacted industries and the public. Example successes include: • Completed operational phase of

an interagency response to little fire ants on Oʻahu, with no new detections in Mililani in over two years.


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• Maintained the interagency

coconut rhinoceros beetle response, containing the infestation to south Oʻahu.

• Began funding biological control

development for invasive albizia trees.

• Provided field response and

research related to Rapid ʿŌhiʿa Death.

Slide 48

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We have launched a new public pest reporting tool at 643pest.org and on mobile devices to allow the public to report various types of invasive species and be connected to the appropriate responding agency.

Slide 49

Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald

We are collaboratively pursuing development of technologies with potential for achieving landscape-scale control of mosquitoes to mitigate human and avian disease transmission.


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Slide 50 Double

Local FoodProduction

100% increase in local agricultural production

by 2020

Efforts to double local food production have included restoration of water flows to taro farmers in a number of watersheds statewide.

Slide 51

4/29/18

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And streamlining of the permitting process for restoration of loko ʿia, Hawaiian fishponds.

Slide 52 100%

Renewable Energy

Complete transfer to clean, renewable energy by 2045

In 2015 Governor Ige signed into law pioneering legislation committing Hawaiʻi to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2045.


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Slide 53

The most serious, existential challenge to our planet is climate change. Dr. Charles Keeling began measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa Observatory in 1958. CO2 was at 315 parts per million. His measurements are now known as the famous “Keeling Curve”. As of Earth Day 2018, atmospheric C02 is at 411 parts per million.

Slide 54

In 2017, Governor Ige signed into law Act 32 committing Hawaiʻi to achieving the goals of the Paris Climate Accord, and establishing the Hawaiʻi Climate Commission. The Commission is underway, and in December delivered the comprehensive Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report.

Slide 55

Hawaii’s renewable energy goals include wind energy, solar for homes and businesses, geothermal power, wave energy, and sea water cooling. As part of this effort, we are nearing completion on a project for 100% renewable energy at Kahoʿolawe. We established an urban forestry cost-share grant program to help schools plant trees to cool their classrooms.


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Slide 56 Protect and More Efficiently Manage

our Fresh Water Supply

Protecting and more efficiently managing our fresh water supply is essential to a sustainable Hawaiʻi, natural and human. The Water Commission’s 2017 landmark mediated settlement of a water dispute in Waimea on Kauaʻi cut years out of the path to restoration of stream flows and provision of water for agriculture, homesteads, and renewable energy. And the 2018 first-ever Water Commission staff-initiated review of instream flow standards resulted in the establishment of establishment of meaningful new interim instream flow standards for four West Maui streams, ensuring protection of aquatic species and water for taro farming and fair allocation of water for off-stream agricultural and domestic uses.

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Provide State Lands for Public Use and Enjoyment

We are committed to stewarding state lands for public use and enjoyment for residents and visitors alike.


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At over 9 million projected arrivals this year, we need to address the challenges arising when the public overwhelms the outdoors. And now with social media, our visitors and residents have unprecedented access to information about the outdoors, even where off-limits due to danger or cultural or natural sensitivity or lack of trails or bathrooms or parking. No agency feels this tension more that State Parks – here, under the tourism article, a group celebrates jumping off Kapena Falls, where people have been seriously injured.

Slide 59

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And this from National Geographic Traveler Magazine. This 2018issue features a State Park on the cover (Ahupua’a o Kahana) and indicates Hawaii as the place to go in 2018. AND the photo highlights a closed area hike (Crouching Lion) where two people died in falls in recent years.


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We are tackling these pressures head-on. Repeated conservation enforcement pressure and clean ups have put Kalalau Valley and the Nā Pali coast in the best condition in years.

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Enforcement operations have also supported clearing and clean up at Makua, Diamond Head, Wailoa, and other state parks and other public places.

Slide 62

Interpretive signs in a collaboration between DLNR and HTA, with QR codes for further information in several languages, help visitors and residents alike understand, appreciate and mālama Hawaiʻi.


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Slide 63

For hunting programs on public lands, we have established the new Statewide Game Management Advisory Commission; established a long-sought shooting range on Hawaiʻi Island; secured new hunter access in Kaʻū; negotiated extensions of hunting area agreements on Lānaʻi and Kauaʻi; and launched online hunter education hybrid course option. In North Kona we are working through the Game Mammal Management program to: • Harmonize the dual mandates of

protection of Hawaii’s natives species and the promotion of subsistence and recreational hunting

• Inspire a conservation culture in our youth through hands-on education, passing on traditional knowledge, conservation science and outdoor skills while promoting safety

• Provide a multiuse recreational area (hiking, birding, volunteering, and hunting)


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Slide 64

DOCARE Training Academy: $500,000 in general funds to establish DOCARE training academy to train newly hired officers throughout the State of Hawaiʻi

DOCARE is pursuing a new DOCARE Training Academy. Currently, DOCARE lacks a centralized training venue to conduct both new hire recruit level training and in-service training for employees. As a result, there is no common core of knowledge, and employees have varying degrees of training depending on past law enforcement employment. We’re excited about this prospect for staffing up on officers committed to a career specifically in conservation and resource enforcement, and so is everyone we’ve talked to about this.

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DOCARE has been criticized for its inability to timely connect the public with Enforcement personnel. This is due to not having a Statewide Dispatch Center. DOCARE has received funding to begin to establish a staffed Statewide Dispatch Center to provide telephone call servicing, radio dispatch and response coordination. We have also increased evening and weekend enforcements by DoCARE to respond to illegal and unpermitted operations. DOCARE has also undertaken targeted enforcement and safety control actions for illegal public activity on state lands and waters driven by social media including


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raves, floatillas, illegal harvest, natural and cultural resource damage.

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S. Kawaihae

The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation has completed numerous improvements to small boat harbors and ramps throughout Hawaiʻi for enhanced public access to our nearshore marine areas.

Slide 67

BEFORE AND AFTER

In spite of all the challenges to our public trust resources in Hawaiʻi, the progress we’ve made brings us hope. Reforestation has proven possible – here, leeward Haleakala slopes show recovery of koa forests from 2013 to 2017.


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Slide 68

On the south slope of Molokaʻi, feral goats have denuded the vegetation, causing tremendous erosion that washed soil off the land and onto the reef.

Slide 69

After five years of feral goat control, the land shows new life – and even from native seed bank, here showing ‘ilima regrowing.

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Wet forest can naturally reforest after fencing to remove pigs. Here, pig damage at Puu Alii in 2012.


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Native sedges have recovered in wetland by 2014 following feral pig removal.

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And by a year later, in 2015 forest understory plants have regrown.

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On Lehua Island, native seabird chicks are able to hatch and live without being killed by rats.


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And twenty years after going extinct in the wild, the ʻalalā, native Hawaiian crow, has been reintroduced at Puʻu Makaʻala Natural Area Reserve in lush forest at 6000 feet elevation between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

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What ultimately gives us hope is the passion, talent, enterprise and dedication of the people doing this tough work day after day. And the next generation of students, interns, and professionals learning these tools in the growing “green jobs” sector.

Slide 76

You can learn more about Governor Ige’s Sustainable Hawaiʻi Initiative at https://governor.hawaii.gov/sustainable-hawaii-initiative/

https://governor.hawaii.gov/sustainable-hawaii-initiative/

https://governor.hawaii.gov/sustainable-hawaii-initiative/

Sustainable Hawaiʻi: Progress and Hope in A Challenging World · 2018-05-16 · Earth Day, Kona,...

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Transcript of Sustainable Hawaiʻi: Progress and Hope in A Challenging World · 2018-05-16 · Earth Day, Kona,...