Department of Land and Natural Resources

 

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES
News Release

DAVID Y. IGE GOVERNOR

SUZANNE D. CASE CHAIRPERSON

For Immediate News Release July 22, 2016 

REVISED DRAFT HONUAULA HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN
SUBJECT OF PUBLIC HEARING ON MAUI

WAILUKU —   The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), pursuant to Chapter 195D, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, will hold a public hearing to receive testimony on the Revised Draft Honuaʻula Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The hearing will be held July 27, 2016 starting at 5:30 at the J. Walter Cameron Center, 95 Mahalani St, Wailuku, HI 96793.

Honuaʻula Partners LLC (Honuaʻula) proposes to complete a HCP and obtain an associated 30-year incidental take license from the Board of Land and Natural Resources for a 670-acre master-planned community in the Kīhei-Mākena region on the island of Maui due to the project’s potential to result in the incidental take (a legal term including, but not limited to, any type of harm or harassment) of endangered species. The HCP has been prepared in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the DLNR DOFAW staff.

The project includes construction and operation of a master-planned community including residential units, commercial spaces, and a golf amenity and has the potential to result in incidental take of species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act and state endangered species statutes. Species potentially affected are the endangered Nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), Blackburn’s sphinx moth (Manduca blackburni), and ʻāwikiwiki plant (Canavalia pubescens).

For Blackburn’s sphinx moth a habitat‐based approach was employed to quantify take. Mitigation for these species and ʻāwikiwiki includes establishing a native plant preservation area with conservation easement and associated habitat enhancement and management and plantings of ʻāwikiwiki. Mitigation also includes establishment of host plants for Blackburn’s sphinx moth offsite at the Kanaio Natural Area Reserve and the Auwahi restoration area, and contribution of funding to DLNR DOFAW for Nēnē recovery.

The revised draft HCP notice was published in the June 8, 2016 Office of Environmental Quality and Control’s Environmental Notice and is currently available for a 60-day public review and comment period. Copies are available for review at the Division of Forestry and Wildlife office in Honolulu or as a link provided in the Office of Environmental Quality Control’s June 8, 2016 issue of the Environmental Notice, and copies will be available at the public hearing.

Anyone wanting to attend the hearing who requires auxiliary aids (taped materials or sign language interpreter) please contact the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 325, Honolulu, HI 96813; (808) 587-0166. If you are unable to attend the hearing and wish to provide testimony, please send comments to the aforementioned address, attention Kate Cullison or send to [email protected]. Comments should be received by August 8, 2016. 

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Media contact:

Deborah Ward
DLNR Communications specialist
Phone: (808) 587-0320