STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1905

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.C.R. No. 50

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 50 entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO PROVIDE UPDATED STATISTICS AND FACTS RELATING TO THE DECLINE OF PALILA ON MAUNA KEA AND INVESTIGATE THE FACTORS CAUSING THE DECLINE OF THE PALILA POPULATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Land and Natural Resources to investigate the causes of and provide updated facts and statistics relating to the continued and unabated decline of the endangered Palila bird population on Mauna Kea, Hawaii island.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai‘i Forest Industry Association, Albatross News, Animal Rights Hawai‘i, Game Management Advisory Commission of the County of Hawai‘i, and eight individuals.

Your Committees find that the Palila bird, also known as the finch-billed Hawaiian honeycreeper, is a rare and critically endangered species that can only be found on certain slopes of Mauna Kea. Your Committees further find that despite the spending of millions of dollars to construct fences and eradicate sheep and goats in an effort to help save and protect the Palila bird, the Palila population has nevertheless continued to decline and has fallen below seven hundred as of 2021. Your Committees find that a study and investigation is necessary to determine why current efforts have not resulted in the recovery of the Palila bird so that new strategies can be developed to help preserve this endemic species that is unique to Hawaii. Therefore, this measure requests the Department of Land and Natural Resources to further investigate and identify the factors causing the decline of the Palila population.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 50, and recommend its adoption.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair