DLNR and HDOA announce plan for progress on pasture lands

The recently appointed leadership teams for the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture are working to resolve a long-standing issue on the management of pasture lands.

DLNR leases or permits ranching across approximately 100,000 acres while also managing other uses on these lands, including native forest protection and restoration, endangered species habitat, hunting, public trails, and customary and traditional gathering practices.

In 2003, the legislature passed Act 90 which established a process for determining whether certain lands could be transferred from DLNR jurisdiction to the HDOA, based on a review by the boards of both departments.

Since then nearly 40,000 acres, mostly plowed croplands, have been transferred to HDOA and the State’s Agribusiness Development Corporation as part of phase one.

DLNR Chair Dawn Chang said that the department is now ready for phase two, which includes farm and pasture lands.

“We thank legislators, as well as ranchers, for highlighting the importance of this issue,” said HDOA Chair Sharon Hurd in a news release. “With the Green Administration’s leaders of both boards (Chang and

Hurd also chair the Board of Land and Natural Resources-BLNR and the State Board of Agriculture-BOA), working together as a team, we have been meeting to find agreement and a plan for transfers, as well as a process for addressing multiuse areas.”

DLNR and HDOA made “major progress” by deciding that more than 50 leases and permits, representing more than 16,000 acres, have a mutual agreement to transfer to HDOA and will be put before the BLNR and BOA for approval, according to the news release.

Another 70 leases and permits are also being offered for transfer by DLNR and are under review by HDOA.

“This is a complex issue,” Hurd said. “A mandate to transfer all the lands to HDOA has unintended consequences for these stakeholders, as well as the agencies. We hope to chart a different course that has both progress and balance.”

Chang said that she’s directing the DLNR to focus on processing transfers that are a “win-win,” as well as negotiating with stakeholders on the multiple-use lands.

“We are putting all available lands on the negotiating table to see whether there are overlooked opportunities to support agriculture while safeguarding other public trust resources,” she said.