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| ILWU pensioners, including retirees and former workers at the sugar plantation, fill Pahala Community Center for their annual Christmas party. Photo by Emie Peralta |
THREE HAWAI`I ISLAND PLANTS ARE INCLUDED in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly status appraisal of plants and animals that are candidates for Endangered Species Act protection. Exocarpos menziesii, Sanicula sandwicensis and Phyllostegia stachyoides are three of 22 species from the state of Hawai`i added to the list, which now has 146 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection. The 22 species include 18 Hawaiian flowering plants and four ferns found on one or more of the Hawaiian Islands. All are being negatively affected by nonnative animals and plants.
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| Sanicula sandwicensis is one of three Hawai`i Island plants being considered as an endangered species. |
The Service is now soliciting additional information on these species and others that may warrant ESA protection to assist in preparing listing documents and future revisions or supplements to the Candidate Notice of Review.
Candidate species are plants and animals for which the Service has enough information on their status and the threats they face to propose as threatened or endangered, but for which a proposed listing rule is precluded by other, higher priority listing actions. The annual review and identification of candidate species helps landowners and natural resource managers understand which species need most to be conserved, allowing them to address threats and work to preclude ESA listing.
Although candidate species do not receive ESA protection, the Service works to conserve them and their habitats using several tools: a grants program funds conservation projects by private landowners, states and territories; and two voluntary programs – Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances – engage participants to implement specific actions that remove or reduce the threats to candidate species, which helps stabilize or restore the species and can preclude ESA listing.
All candidate species are assigned a listing priority number based on the magnitude and imminence of threats they face. When adding species to the list of threatened or endangered species, the Service addresses species with the highest listing priority first.
More information can be found online at fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/cnor.html.
Candidate species are plants and animals for which the Service has enough information on their status and the threats they face to propose as threatened or endangered, but for which a proposed listing rule is precluded by other, higher priority listing actions. The annual review and identification of candidate species helps landowners and natural resource managers understand which species need most to be conserved, allowing them to address threats and work to preclude ESA listing.
Although candidate species do not receive ESA protection, the Service works to conserve them and their habitats using several tools: a grants program funds conservation projects by private landowners, states and territories; and two voluntary programs – Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances – engage participants to implement specific actions that remove or reduce the threats to candidate species, which helps stabilize or restore the species and can preclude ESA listing.
All candidate species are assigned a listing priority number based on the magnitude and imminence of threats they face. When adding species to the list of threatened or endangered species, the Service addresses species with the highest listing priority first.
More information can be found online at fws.gov/endangered/what-we-do/cnor.html.
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| Kupono Palakiko-Leffew, at left, joined other Hawai`i seniors Patrick Keamoai-Strickland and Preston Dudoit for the Life Champion Senior Bowl. Photo from Ka`u Trojans |
KA`U HIGH SCHOOL’S VERY OWN Kupono Palakiko-Leffew represented the Trojans to play in the inaugural Life Champion Senior Bowl, which was held at Kamehameha’s Paiea Stadium Saturday.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation and state Department of Education played no part in this event. Instead, it was brought together by Hawai`i Football Club president Keala Pule with a goal to land scholarships for seniors across the islands.
The senior bowl, the state’s only showcase for seniors, was watched by over 200 colleges across the country through scoringlive.com and welcomed by about 1,500 fans across the state.
The event brought 86 seniors to play from across the state’s five leagues and even a player from Guam. Coaches split the players into two teams. The players of each team were given freedom to choose a name together. Through this, the teams were known as Aztec Coqui Frog Bags and Shmoney Squad.
Palakiko-Leffew gained yardage in the first quarter alongside quarterback Jordan Taamu. The teams were pretty much tied for the duration. By the end of the fourth quarter, with the score 28-28, a sudden-death overtime decided the final score. Within the first play of overtime, the Aztec Coqui’s Keanan Luis scored the final touchdown, settling the game at 35-28.
As described by one of the players, “The experience was great, and even though we’d only known each other for a few days, we all became a family.” The players were together since Wednesday, staying in the same building, practicing together and getting to know each other. (Story by The Ka`u Calendar newspaper intern Kaweni Ibarra.)
The senior bowl, the state’s only showcase for seniors, was watched by over 200 colleges across the country through scoringlive.com and welcomed by about 1,500 fans across the state.
The event brought 86 seniors to play from across the state’s five leagues and even a player from Guam. Coaches split the players into two teams. The players of each team were given freedom to choose a name together. Through this, the teams were known as Aztec Coqui Frog Bags and Shmoney Squad.
Palakiko-Leffew gained yardage in the first quarter alongside quarterback Jordan Taamu. The teams were pretty much tied for the duration. By the end of the fourth quarter, with the score 28-28, a sudden-death overtime decided the final score. Within the first play of overtime, the Aztec Coqui’s Keanan Luis scored the final touchdown, settling the game at 35-28.
As described by one of the players, “The experience was great, and even though we’d only known each other for a few days, we all became a family.” The players were together since Wednesday, staying in the same building, practicing together and getting to know each other. (Story by The Ka`u Calendar newspaper intern Kaweni Ibarra.)
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| Jim Robo |
THE CHAIR AND CEO OF THE COMPANY that is buying Hawaiian Electric Industries for $4.3 billion prefers large solar installations to rooftop solar, reported Duane Shimogawa in Pacific Business News.
Jim Robo, of NextEra Energy, said large, utility-scale solar projects are cheaper and more cost-effective than rooftop solar. “This is a scale business, and scale matters, which leads to lower cost,” he said. “Energy costs are very expensive here. It’s important to not be dogmatic about one or the other. What’s in the best interest for customers? That’s what we need to figure out.”
Marco Mangelsdorf, president of Hilo-based ProVision Solar, told PBN that “NextEra would be buying HEI with the idea of making money, not doing the ‘right thing’ to make this state some kind of renewable energy paradise.”Robo said modernizing the grid is another way to lower costs. He said using smart meters is part of NextEra’s plan, similar to what its subsidiary, Florida Power & Light Co., has done.
Another subsidiary, NextEra Energy Resources, has a track record in developing wind, solar and natural gas projects.
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| ILWU pensioners from left: Treasurer Warren Toriano, Advisor Margaret Cabudol, President Clyde Silva, Secretary Emie Peralta, Advisor Pauline Enriques, First Vice President Franco Longakit, Second Vice President Augusto Ballo and Advisor Raymond Kamei. |
ILWU PENSIONERS OF PAHALA held their 2014 Christmas Party yesterday at Pahala Community Center. The organization is made up largely of retired and former sugar plantation workers. Officers are President Clyde Silva, First Vice President Franco Longakit, Second Vice President Augusto Ballo, Secretary Emie Peralta and Treasurer Warren Toriano. Advisors are Margaret Cabudol, Pauline Enriques and Raymond Kamei.
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ON FRIDAY, HAWAI`I WILDLIFE FUND COMPLETED its 2014 marine debris season loading net and line into a container for shipment to Honolulu. The team loaded about 4.5 tons of net into a 40-foot container provided by Matson Navigation’s Ka Ipu `Aina program. Megan Lamson, Marine Debris Project Coordinator for HWF, said most of the net and line was recovered from the southeast Ka`u coast. The container will be shipped to O`ahu, where Schnitzer Steel will chop it into pieces, and then it will be burned at the Covanta H-Power plant. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program arranged this Nets-to-Energy partnership to keep material out of the landfill and create electricity with it. Since 2005, HWF’s tally for these net and line shipments is about 75 tons.
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| Hawai`i Wildlife Fund loaded 4.5 tons of derelict fishing net found this year along the Ka`u Coast onto a container for shipment to an O`ahu waste-to-energy plant. Photo from HWF |
Lamson said, “This container shipment is only a fraction of the total debris we’ve collected from the Hawai`i Island shoreline. This year, winds and currents brought in different proportions of marine debris – less net and line and a higher percentage of other floating debris, including fish traps, buoys, crates, tires, boat pieces and an extensive list of normal household items.”
While HWF works with other groups on the island gathering debris from multiple sites, their main focus is on the Ka`u Coast, where more debris washes ashore than any other place in the main Hawaiian Islands. The organization began this work in 2003 and in recent years has been removing an annual average of 15-20 tons for a total to date of about 173 tons.
HWF’s marine debris cleanup work is supported with a grant from NOAA. “We have other local partners that also help with in-kind donations and funding, and we have a large group of volunteers that are critical to the overall effort,” Lamson said. “The container loading, for example, would not be possible without the tractor assistance provided by JD Services, LLC.”
The next large cleanup event in Ka`u will be held Saturday, Feb. 7. To volunteer or for more information on HWF’s other activities, see wildhawaii.org or contact kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.
While HWF works with other groups on the island gathering debris from multiple sites, their main focus is on the Ka`u Coast, where more debris washes ashore than any other place in the main Hawaiian Islands. The organization began this work in 2003 and in recent years has been removing an annual average of 15-20 tons for a total to date of about 173 tons.
HWF’s marine debris cleanup work is supported with a grant from NOAA. “We have other local partners that also help with in-kind donations and funding, and we have a large group of volunteers that are critical to the overall effort,” Lamson said. “The container loading, for example, would not be possible without the tractor assistance provided by JD Services, LLC.”
The next large cleanup event in Ka`u will be held Saturday, Feb. 7. To volunteer or for more information on HWF’s other activities, see wildhawaii.org or contact kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com or 769-7629.
To comment on or like this story, go to facebook.com/kaucalendar.
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| Dick Hershberger portrays Thomas Jaggar tomorrow and every other Tuesday. Photo by Ron Johnson |
DARREN GOODMAN GLASS EXHIBIT opens today and continues through Saturday, Dec. 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Free; park entrance fees apply.
KA`U FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT RALPH GASTON invites members and prospective members to its meeting today at 6 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. Hawai`i Farm Bureau Federation is a nonprofit organization of farming families united for the purpose of analyzing problems and formulating action to ensure the future of agriculture thereby promoting the well-being of farming and the state’s economy.
KA`U RESIDENT DICK HERSHBERGER brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life tomorrow and every other Tuesday during A Walk into the Past. Participants meet at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center and walk to Jaggar’s underground workshop new Volcano House in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
A HAWAIIAN `UKULELE DEMONSTRATION takes place Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center lanai in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Oral Abihai shares his passion for making `ukulele from discarded or naturally fallen pieces of wood. Free; park entrance fees apply.
HANA HOU RESTAURANT’S KEIKI Christmas party is Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Na`alehu. The event features gifts for keiki, food for everyone and a visit from Santa.
HAWAI`I STATE LEGISLATURE’S Public Access Room presents a workshop about the legislative process Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Ocean View Community Center. Entitled We the Powerful, the workshop covers how the public can participate in the Legislature. The workshop will consider several questions: Do you want a say in which state laws get passed, or don’t? Do you want to make a difference? Would you like to find information and track activity on the Legislature’s website? Do you want to be part of finding solutions?
Suzanne Marinelli, coordinator at PAR, leads the presentation. PAR is a division of the non-partisan Legislative Reference Bureau.
For more information, call 974-4000 ext. 7-0478 or email par@capitol.hawaii.gov.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
For more information, call 974-4000 ext. 7-0478 or email par@capitol.hawaii.gov.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
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| See kaucalendar.com/Directory2014.swf. |
