HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

45

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the department of land and natural resources to promote the recovery of native plant species by ENCOURAGING the establishment of native tree farms on former sugar lands and non-native forested areas.

 

 

WHEREAS, much of Hawaii was once covered in native lowland forests, containing such valuable and ever-scarce koa, 'ohi'a, kauila, and sandalwood; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii's forests have been under siege since the earliest natives first landed on Hawaii's shores; and

WHEREAS, when Captain Cook arrived, he noted that forests began at middle elevations, the lower areas having already been deforested in slash-and-burn agriculture; and

WHEREAS, harvesting of sandalwood in the 1800s was probably the first major incursion by humans into the upper-elevation forests; and

WHEREAS, great areas of forest were left devastated and open for more destruction by the goats and cattle introduced in the early 1800s; and

WHEREAS, it has since become apparent to many that, within a mere fifty years, the forests' destruction is negatively affecting climate, rainfall, and flows of mountain streams; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to promote the recovery of native plant species by encouraging the establishment of native tree farms on former sugar lands and non-native forested areas; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Native Tree Farms; Former Sugar Lands; DLNR