HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	69
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO SUBMIT A PETITION TO LIST THE PUEO AS A THREATENED OR ENDANGERED SPECIES UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT.

WHEREAS, the Hawaiian short-eared owl, Asio flammeus sandwichensis, commonly known as the pueo, is an endemic subspecies of the short-eared owl; and

WHEREAS, the pueo was established in the Hawaiian Islands after the arrival of the first Polynesians and is now endemic to all major islands of Hawaii except Ni‘ihau; and

WHEREAS, the pueo is revered by Hawaiians as an ‘aumakua (ancestral guardian) of many Hawaiian families, and an encounter with the pueo was considered to be an omen; and

WHEREAS, in Hawaiian mythology, the pueo is the "bird of wisdom," known for offering guidance and protection; and

WHEREAS, in the late 1800s, pueo once flew in great numbers on Oahu; and

WHEREAS, according to The Pueo Project, a study by the Department of Natural Resources and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, currently, the number of pueo on Oahu has declined to an estimated eight hundred seven individual birds; and

WHEREAS, pueo nest on the ground, in grassy areas, laying three to six eggs over a few months; and

WHEREAS, pueo eggs and young pueo are vulnerable to feral cats, dogs, rats, and mongooses; and

WHEREAS, in addition to being vulnerable to many predators, loss of habitat has contributed to the reduction in the pueo population; and

WHEREAS, chapter 13-124, Hawaii Administrative Rules, lists the pueo on Oahu as endangered; and

WHEREAS, protections for the pueo under state law and administrative rule are limited to prohibiting persons from exporting, possessing, processing, selling, offering for sale, delivering, carrying, transporting, shipping, harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capturing, or collecting pueo and removing, damaging, or disturbing the nests of pueo; and

WHEREAS, without federal protection, the pueo will be at risk of extinction; and

WHEREAS, protections provided under the Endangered Species Act can help the pueo population increase to a healthy and sustainable level; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i, Regular Session of 2021, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to petition the United States Secretary of the Interior, through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, to petition for the pueo to be listed as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources and Program Manager of the Endangered Species Recovery Committee.

Report Title:

Pueo; Hawaiian Short-Eared owl; Department of Land and Natural Resources;