Kaua’i residents can have their say at a public hearing tomorrow on whether 76 plants here and on Ni’ihau should have new federal protection. The hearing, conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, will be broken into two sessions
Kaua’i residents can have their say at a public hearing tomorrow on whether 76 plants here and on Ni’ihau should have new federal protection.
The hearing, conducted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, will be broken into two sessions – 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m., both at Radisson Kaua’i Beach Resort’s Pakalana Room.
Both sessions will include 60-minute question-and-answer presentations by officials explaining proposed critical-habitat designations for areas where the plants grow. Formal public testimony will be accepted.
About 60,600 acres of mostly state and private land are included in the proposal. The largest areas – approximately 38,130 acres – are in northwestern Kaua’i. They include Alakai Wilderness Preserve, portions of Koke’e State Park and Waimea Canyon State Park, several state natural areas and forest reserves, and land owned or leased by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Smaller areas proposed for the federal designation are scattered through the rest of Kaua’i and the northwest corner of Ni’ihau.
The 76 plants that officials said would benefit from the critical habitat zone are among 255 threatened or endangered plant species in the Hawaiian Islands. They were listed under the Endangered Species Act between 1991 and 1999.
Critical habitat wasn’t declared then because of the threat of vandalism or because the designation wouldn’t help the plants, according to officials. That decision has been challenged in federal court.
