Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 7, 1 July 2008 — After dramatic decade of public comment, calls for conservation management linger [ARTICLE]

After dramatic decade of public comment, calls for conservation management linger

By Liza Simon Public Affairs Specialist Public meetings on the government's phone-book sized draft management plan for the remote stretch from Nihoa Island to Kure Atoll, proclaimed Papahānaumokuākea Marine Nahonal Monument by a 2006 executive presidential order, have been small and rather quiet. This marks a sea change over the last eight years, ever since another presidential order in 2000 designated a marine reserve in the archipelago. The subsequent debate on how to best care for the Northwestem Hawaiian Islands, its coral reef eeosystem and habitat for rare and endangered creatures and its sacred Hawaiian sites triggered more than 57,000 citizens' comments during the earlier infonnation-gathering process and also pitted enviromnental groups, govermnent agencies and connnercial fisheries against one another in thorny legal battles that led to court-ordered shut-downs of some fishing businesses. "The current monmnent management plan is a conservation victory stemming from the public eall for a true pu'uhonua in the Northwestem Hawaiian Islands," said Marti Townsend, a spokesperson for KAHEA, the Hawaiian Enviromnental Allianee. But at a lune 17 public meeting in He'eia, Townsend was quick to add that many people, including members of her group, feel that the plan ean be improved to better meet the goals of wildhfe protection. "The plan makes no menhon of a separate U.S. Navy enviromnental impact statement that proposes live-fire training exercises and bal]istic-missile testing within waters aiound Nihoa Island," said Townsend, ieferring to the monmnent' s southemmost tip. The 2006 monument proclamahon exempts military activities from the regulation by the three co-trustee agencies, although the Navy is required to be responsible

for mitigating any hannlul environmental impacts resulting from its actions, according to the Nahonal Enviromnental Policy Act, said Townsend. KAHEA is urging monmnent co-trustees to take a stand against the portion of the Navy's EIS that deals with the marine wilderness of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The three co-trustees charged with managing the monmnent are the state of Hawai'i and U.S. Interior and Commerce departments. Others who testified at the recent meetings have called formore assmanee that the draft monmnent management plan for continued tomism at Midway Atoll be carefully scrutinized. It increases the eap on overnight visitors to 50 from 30 and allows for the continued day-only stops by cruise ship groups allotted fom visits annually. O'ahu resident Eve Anderson said at the He'eia meeting that she liked the plan's proposal to promote edueahonal tours on Midway, but she said more attention should be paid to the island's deteriorating buildings and to developing "alternative ways to learn about Midway from afar." But Midway tourism is kept in eheek by limited airplane access to the island by small charter planes only, said Barbara Maxfield of the Department of Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Meanwhile, Midway visitors are encouraged to participate in enviromnental activities such as cleaning out invasive species, Maxfield added. Making sure that scientists eomply with the pennits that allow them to work within the monmnent waters was also on the minds of some who have eome out to the recent meetings. Some have called for a moratorimn on the nmnber of pennits issued, while others have raised questions about possible violations of cultural protocols by researchers doing scientific work within areas considered sacred Hawaiian sites. Wai'anae Harbor Master Wilham Ailā said that oversight of scientific pennits has increased under current

monmnent management. The draft plan reiterates the criteria for scientific research to contribute infonnation, whieh is key in making management decisions, said Ailā, a member of the volunteer Hawaiian Cultural Working Group, whieh provides recommendations to the monmnent co-tmstees. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has a pennanent seat on the sevenmember monmnent management board and is involved in reviewing pennit applications for cultmal appropriateness. KAHEA's Marti Townsend said her group would like for members of the cultural working group and other citizens' groups to also be given a pennanent role in advising monmnent managers on research pennits and other monmnent issues. "The (draft management) plan is revolutionary in many ways because it opens the way for so mueh public participation, but we want to make sure that there is lasting accountability for the regulations," she said. This gets no argument from Aulani Wilhehn of the Department of Commerce's Nahonal Oeeanie and Atmospheric Administration. "The original driver to protect the Northwest Hawaiian Islands had to do with (cmbing) commercial fisheries. This led to massive public input and more attention to other types of threats to wildhfe. The management plan ean only be made better if people stay engaged and continue to look for ways to protect the resomces," Wilhehn said. View the draft monmnent management plan at public libraries or online at www.papahana mnokuakea.com. Mail public comment to: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Box 50167, Honolulu, HI 96850 or email pmmn_imnp_connnents @ fws.gov before nhdnight of Iuly 8. The U.S. Navy has completed work and closed the official public connnent period on the Hawai'i Range Complex EIS/Overseas EIS mentioned above. The EIS ean be viewedatwww.govsupport.us/hrc.Ē

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