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Saturday, August 08, 2015

Ka`u News Briefs Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015

Before becoming chief of  Hawai`i Department of Land & Natural Resources, Suzanne Case headed The Nature Conservancy, which preserved Kamehame hawksbill nesting site. Photo by David Rayner
SUZANNE CASE, CHAIR of Hawai`i’s Department of Land & Natural Resources, was a keynote speaker at the 23rd annual Hawaiian Conservation Conference held in Hilo this week. Case, who spent early childhood years on the Big Island, talked about The Nature Conservancy’s success in preserving Kamehame, the hawksbill turtle nesting site on the coast makai of Pahala. She also mentioned preservation of some of the most pristine native forests in the state along waterways and in the mountains and valleys between Wood Valley and Na`alehu. Case helmed TNC prior to her nomination by Gov. David Ige to head DLNR and her confirmation by the state Senate in April.
Suzanne Case Image from BIVN
     Case talked about her new responsibility at DLNR and the importance of bringing people with different points of view together to solve problems. On Mauna Kea, she noted that the state plans to transfer 10,000 acres on the mountain from University of Hawai`i to the direct stewardship of DLNR and promised to involve numerous stakeholders.
      Case also said she wants to improve DLNR’s relationship with hunters. “We need to focus on ways to enhance hunting that don’t need to conflict with forest conservation,” Case said. She wants to provide more hunter access to game management areas, create adaptive game management plans and “have real dialogue with hunters and support things that they want. If we work together on a wide variety of things, we can move forward in a truly non-confrontational approach and try to find solutions for everyone.”
      See bigislandvideonews.com for footage of her talk.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

HAWAI`I DEPARTMENT OF LAND and Natural Resources is seeking public input on its updated Hawai`i State Wildlife Action Plan, which lays out strategy and plans of DLNR and its partners to address conservation needs of Hawai`i’s native wildlife over the next 10 years. 
      The Action Plan reviews the status of the state’s native terrestrial and aquatic species, over 10,000 of which are found nowhere else on earth, and presents strategies for long-term conservation of these species and their habitats.
      The plan is being updated to continue coordinated and comprehensive planning and implementation of conservation strategies and actions to manage and restore native wildlife.
Completion of the plan will also enable DLNR’s ongoing participation in the national State Wildlife Grant Program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which provides over $450,000 per year for projects to conserve native wildlife. This plan identifies projects, strategies and priorities for Department funding under this grant program.
The state seeks input on its Wildlife Action Plan.
Image from DLNR
      A copy of the 2015 draft plan is now available for review on DLNR's website, and a copy can be downloaded at http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/wild-life/files/2015/07/SWAP-2015-Pub-draft.pdf.
      The 2015 plan contains a comprehensive description of the wildlife resources of the state and an explanation of the major threats and challenges facing native wildlife. It identifies species of greatest conservation need and their habitats and includes the strategies for addressing the conservation needs of those species and their habitats.
      The 2015 SWAP builds on conservation successes since 2005 and calls for expanding and strengthening partnerships that have been developed to implement the plan. The 2015 plan is a progression of the 2005 first edition of this plan, then called the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy and continues collaborative efforts among resource managers, biologists and concerned individuals statewide that began with the 2005 plan.
      The deadline for completing and submitting the plan to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is Oct. 1.
      DLNR has scheduled statewide meetings to provide information about the plan and gather input from interested parties. On Hawai`i Island, meetings are 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19 at DLNR Division of Forestry in Hilo and on Thursday, Aug. 20 at Waimea Community Center.
      Deadline for public comments to be submitted is Aug. 31. Written comments may be submitted to 
Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 
1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 325, 
Honolulu, HI 96813. Email comments may be submitted to John.P.Vetter@hawaii.gov.
      See http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/wildlife/hswap/ to find out how to get involved in the process and sign up to receive updates and announcements about how to participate in updating the plan and how to get involved in implementing the 2015 plan.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hurricane Hilda is now in the Central Pacific.
Map from NOAA
HURRICANE HILDA CONTINUED to strengthen as the Category Four storm entered the Central Pacific. At 11 a.m. this morning, Hilda was 865 miles east-southeast of Hilo and is expected to weaken to a tropical depression, due to cooler ocean temperatures and wind shear, before reaching the vicinity of Hawai`i next week. 
       To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

AS HAWAI`I FACES ANOTHER POTENTIAL tropical cyclone, Gov. David Ige, Karen Armes, Acting Regional Administrator for FEMA Region IX, and Major General Arthur J. Logan, Director of Emergency Management, signed the 2015 Hawai`i Catastrophic Hurricane Plan yesterday.
      “The Catastrophic Hurricane Plan provides strategies for joint state and federal actions before, during and after a catastrophic event,” explained Doug Mayne, Administrator of Emergency Management. “The two-year planning process we underwent places us in a great position to collaborate with our federal partners, state and county agencies, nonprofits, the private sector and local communities to ensure we minimize suffering from the impact of a catastrophic hurricane.”
      Hawai`i Emergency Management Agency initiated coordination efforts with the National Weather Service and emergency management partners for Hurricane Hilda, which is currently moving toward Hawai`i.
      To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.

Hilo hosts the statewide Orchid Show today and tomorrow.
Photo by Cindy Orlando
THE STATEWIDE ANNUAL ORCHID SHOW, where Ka`u growers and enthusiasts are often participants, continues today and tomorrow at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium, today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Hilo Orchid Society, the show stages the largest and most comprehensive orchid show and sale in the state of Hawai`i. The Big Island is often called The Orchid Island and is the capital of orchid growing in the U.S. Ka`u is famous for its orchids at Hawaiian Flowers on South Point Road.
      For more on the show and the organization, see hiloorchidsociety.org.

LEGAL HAWAIIAN GOVERNMENT HOLDS Kanaka National Elections next month. Elections take place Sept. 12 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at OCEAN VIEW Swap Meet and Old Pahala Clubhouse.
      For more information, email meridianwoman@yahoo.com.

PARTICIPANTS LEARN ABOUT THE VITAL role of `ohi`a lehua in native Hawaiian forests, the many forms of the `ohi`a lehua tree and the lehua flower tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. Visitors will be able to identify the many differences of the most prominent native tree in the Kahuku Unit of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on this easy, one-mile or less walk.
      Call 985-6011 for more information.

HAWAI`I ISLAND ARTIST and interpretive guide Kent Olsen presents Kilauea’s Night Skies: An Artist's Perspective at After Dark in the Park on Tuesday. Drawing on insights and perspectives developed through years of work in the medical imaging design field, as an interpretive guide at Mauna Kea Observatories and as a certified commercial guide at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, Olson will present the night skies over Kilauea Volcano in a way that is sure to provide a new perspective and may just change the way attendees see everything.
      Utilizing the current lava lake within Halema`uma`u Crater as a point of reference, participants journey from the depths of the quantum realm to the edge of the cosmos.
      “Kent boldly attempts to describe the natural world in a way that makes the scale of the seemingly infinite something you just might be able to wrap your head around,” Park Public Affairs specialist Jessica Ferracane said.
      The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

BUSINESS SPACE IS AVAILABLE for rent at the open location where Kama`aina Kuts and Styles by Elise are located in Na`alehu. Call Corrine at 937-1840 for more information.

See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf
and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf.
See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_August2015.pdf.