HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

178

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO PRESERVE PUEO HABITAT AREAS ACROSS THE STATE AND CONDUCT AN EXTENSIVE PUEO HABITAT INVENTORY.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, Honouliuli Ewa Plain Pueos, the Disappearing Sacred Guardians of Native Lands on The Ewa Plain, are listed by the State of Hawaii as an endangered species on the island of Oahu; and

 

WHEREAS, pueo, the Hawaiian owl and "bird of wisdom", have a special place in Hawaii's mythology, known for offering guidance and protection, and have silently sailed over the Hawaiian Islands for well over one thousand years; and

 

     WHEREAS, pueo, scientific name Asio flammeus sandwichensis, are an endemic species of owl, which evolved in the Hawaiian Islands with no fossil record before the Polynesians arrived in the islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are Pueo Awards, Pueo Scholars, Pueo Programs, Pueo Pride, the University of Hawaii-West Oahu pueo mascot, and yet, the real pueo that once thrived in great numbers has been forgotten; and

 

     WHEREAS, throughout Hawaii, streets, areas, and valleys bear the pueo's name, with many such places having an intriguing legend attached to them, and yet, our society and culture today might let this great, beautiful, endangered species, which is greatly loved in the islands, die off; and

 

     WHEREAS, the guardian pueo belongs to heaven and earth, and it was believed that after the death of an ancestor, the spirit could still protect and influence the remaining family acting through the body of the pueo; and

     WHEREAS, the pueo was revered by the ancient Hawaiians as an aumakua, or ancestral guardian of many Hawaiian families and was associated with skill in battle, and that an encounter with the pueo is considered to be an omen; and

 

     WHEREAS, pueo truly fly without as much as a whisper of sound, the owl's lethal talons and beak are hidden in a cloak of soft, attractive thick feathers, their eyes, big and round, seem human but deeply penetrating; and

 

     WHEREAS, the pueo, unlike most owls, is mostly active during the day and loves to fly at high altitude above open, grassy areas, and is often seen hunting at dawn and sunset, hovering over their prey before diving down for the kill; and

 

     WHEREAS, pueo nest right on the ground, in grassy areas, laying three to six eggs over a few months with the eggs hatching at different times, and the young may fledge from the nest on foot before they are able to fly, depend on their parents for approximately two months, and are vulnerable to feral cats, dogs, rats, and mongoose; and

 

WHEREAS, the pueo once flew in great numbers in the late 1800s on Oahu, but is rarely seen any more on the Ewa Plain due to its need for an established habitat protection plan specifically for the pueo; and

 

     WHEREAS, pueo can also benefit from State and privately-supported management activities designed to conserve other endangered birds, and can benefit from game bird management as densities of pueo occur on lands where game birds also are common; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is urged to preserve pueo habitat across the State and conduct an extensive pueo habitat inventory; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, and Commander of Navy Region Hawaii.

 

 

 

Report Title: 

PUEO HABITAT AREAS