STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1274

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 36

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Water and Land, to which was referred S.R. No. 36 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT ILIAHI, HAWAIIAN SANDALWOOD,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the Department of Land and Natural Resources to:

 

     (1)  Establish a comprehensive program for protecting native Iliahi trees;

 

     (2)  Invest in efforts to replant Iliahi trees so that these endangered native species thrive once again in Hawaii; and

 

     (3)  Prohibit the export from the State of raw or unprocessed timber of any native Iliahi tree species.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Conservation Council for Hawaii, Diamond Head Scenic Byway Committee, Hawaiian Alliance, Kanehili Cultural Hui, Forest Agriculture Research Management Center, and twenty individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaiian Reforestation Program.

     Your Committee finds that Iliahi, or Hawaiian Sandalwood, is an endemic and endangered native Hawaiian tree.  The Iliahi species have many medicinal and ornamental uses, and the wood of Iliahi trees has been prized and harvested for centuries.  Iliahi wood was exported from Hawaii in great amounts during the early 1800s, nearly making these native species extinct.  According to testimony, Hawaii has one-quarter of the world's sandalwood trees.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting a reference that urged the Department of Land and Natural Resources to prohibit the export from the State of Iliahi timber because the Department does not have the legal authority to prohibit exports of a product.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water and Land that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 36, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 36, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water and Land,

 

 

 

________________________________

LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair