THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	154
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

urging the State to prohibit the introduction of biocontrol agents that might threaten economically important forage grass species.

WHEREAS, Hawaii's beef cattle production is a major agricultural industry in the State and contributes over $48,000,000 to the state economy each year; and

WHEREAS, the beef cattle industry contributes to the economy through job creation, business and property taxes, purchasing of goods and services, and the sale of animals and meat products, which in turn helps to improve the State's food security; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's rangelands represent approximately twenty percent, or 750,000 acres, of the total land mass in the State; and

WHEREAS, these rangelands also play a vital role for all communities of the State through the ecosystem services which flow from these lands such as stabilizing soils, enhancing the watershed capacity, sequestering carbon, cycling nutrients, and suppressing noxious weeds; and

WHEREAS, ranchers effectively are grass farmers that utilize cattle to manage the ground cover to minimize bare soil and erosion, maximize water infiltration, improve soil health, and decrease the spread of noxious weeds while generating operating income that pays for their resource management to continue; and

WHEREAS, without ranchers and the land stewardship they provide, these rangelands would be left unmanaged and become inundated with noxious weeds and an increased fire fuel load; and

WHEREAS, today the State's beef cattle industry is dependent on many forage grasses that were intentionally introduced into the State to support livestock production and that remain necessary, not only to help feed the communities across the islands of the State, but also to provide important manageable and sustainable ground cover, which is functionally important for the ecology of Hawaii's rangelands; and

WHEREAS, these important forage grasses are increasingly being labeled as "invasive" and targeted for control or eradication by individuals and organizations without due regard for the adverse impact that this eradication would have on ranchers and in turn the stewardship role they play; and

WHEREAS, livestock grazing is the single most important and practical tool to manage introduced forage grasses at the landscape scale to reduce the threat of fire along the wildland urban interface; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the economic and environmental contributions and the importance of ranching and beef cattle production; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature also recognizes the importance of high-quality forage grasses for the beef cattle industry to remain viable to continue to steward the land that ranchers consider their kuleana (responsibility) to care for and enhance; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the State is urged to prohibit the introduction of biocontrol agents that might threaten economically important forage grass species; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State is urged to provide for the protection of Hawaii's rangelands and important forage grass species that sustain beef cattle production through funding policies, initiatives, and directives to state agencies to incentivize livestock grazing for the management of forage grasses and other vegetation on lands managed by the State and private sector that are currently undermanaged; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, and mayor of each county.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaii Rangelands; Forage Grasses; Beef Cattle Industry; Biosecurity