Hawaii Launches Major New Conservation Program

Posted: 18-Mar-2009; Updated: 08-Apr-2009

Hawaii's state bird--the endangered nene--may benefit from the state's new CREP. (Photo: Thereasa Mavros/iStockphoto)

Hawaii is like nowhere else on earth. Not only thousands of unique plant and animal species but entire ecosystems are found only on these remote islands, where, far from the mainland, flora and fauna evolved in isolation. With this natural wealth come conservation challenges that are also unique, as well as urgent. All good reasons for a major new $67 million conservation plan to help protect irreplaceable natural resources.

On January 22, 2009, the USDA Farm Service Agency and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources announced approval of the Hawaii Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Like all CREPs, it is a state-federal partnership program that provides resources for landowners who agree to improve water quality and restore wildlife habitat under long-term contracts. But there’s more: Hawaii’s CREP has innovative measures to address state-specific needs, like protecting the islands’ limited and vulnerable freshwater supply and biodiversity-rich coral reefs.

Farmers and ranchers on the six main islands—Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kauai and Oahu—can enroll up to 15,000 acres in 15-year contracts. They get funding to restore native forests along mountain streams, wetlands and other rare native habitats, like dryland forests. A major focus of the new CREP is unique provisions to address invasive, non-native species that imperil Hawaii’s native species. Other CREP goals are to increase groundwater recharge and to help protect Hawaii’s fragile near-shore coral reefs from polluted runoff.

Hawaii is the nation’s endangered species capital, with 329 species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Many of the state’s endangered and other rare plants and animals are endemic—found nowhere else on the planet—and many live primarily on private lands. One is the endangered state bird—the nene or Hawaiian goose (Branta (=Nesochen) sandvicensis)—which nests and forages for food in wetlands, riparian areas and farm and ranchland pastures.

The state is also a global hotspot for introduced or non-native species. After millennia of isolation, Hawaiian species lack the natural defenses to fend off non-native species like aggressive feral hogs. The CREP includes special provisions that encourage landowners to install fencing and take other management measures to control non-natives.

Hawaii's new Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is the first in the nation to address coral reef conservation. (Photo: Robert Hunt/iStockphoto)

The new CREP also addresses Hawaii’s water quality and quantity challenges. The state has a limited supply of freshwater. Small, seasonal streams run straight down steep, forested mountainsides, across the lowlands and out to sea. Destruction of riparian habitat and deforestation on steep mountainsides leave the islands vulnerable to heavy mudflows and nutrient-laden runoff during storms. An estimated one million tons a year of sediment are deposited in Hawaii’s marine waters, damaging near-shore coral reefs that harbor diverse fish and marine life. The CREP aims to restore wetlands and riparian vegetation, which will reduce erosion and filter and slow surface water runoff before it enters streams. This will allow more rainwater to seep into Hawaii’s groundwater, recharging freshwater supplies.

To meet Hawaii’s unique and important natural resource needs, Environmental Defense Fund worked with Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and local farmers and ranchers to help design and gain approval of this pioneering CREP. After six years, Hawaii’s CREP is now being launched.

The program will invest substantial state and federal resources—up to $53.6 million from USDA and $13.4 million from Hawaii. That’s an exciting opportunity for Hawaii’s farmers and ranchers to improve water quality, restore critical wildlife habitat, increase the freshwater supply and help protect Hawaii’s imperiled coral reefs.

For more information, see the USDA Hawaiian CREP fact sheet [PDF] or the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources press release [PDF].

Terry Noto
CCI Consulting Attorney