For me, to be honest with you... yeah, I was willing to let you folks try and everything with Prohunt. I tried to steer the club members to see where you guys are coming from. I said you gotta talk story, you gotta find out what they are gonna do. I hit a road block, but I have been shut down. Me and Eddie Misaki, we close, we don’t see eye to eye on everything but we try to work together and make things work instead of fighting against each other. We give and take.

I’ve been hunting about 60 years in the forest. No matter what, to me you both got to protect the forest and you need to protect the plants. For me, I don’t believe in eradication, it’s not even in my dictionary. I do believe in animal control though. I see that the goats destroy the forests, much more than the pigs. The goats I’ve seen them eat, they are overpopulated, they eat the mountain down to bare dirt. You have to bring the numbers down of the goats.

- Ron Rapanot Senior, Moloka‘i community hunter, President, Molokai Hunter’s Association

As a student of hula and `oli for many years, the day I visited the upland forest of Pu`u Kukui (on Maui), this wao akua, the words of the chants came alive. To see the beauty and smell the fragrance of plants that are only spoken of, it’s instilled a deep appreciation for those people who are on the ground doing the conservation work to keep our forests alive.

- Nalani Podlewski, Maui resident, hula practitioner
 

I want to personally thank The Nature Conservancy for their efforts to protect our native forests and the South Slope of Moloka'i. The feral goat population (and probably the deer) on the western slopes of Moloka'i have been completely out of control for many years. The recent dry conditions (in the last 10 years) have accentuated their impact tremendously. One need only look at the reef below our houses to see the sedimentation into Kawela Stream. A trip to the eroded ridgelines above our homes is even more astounding. When I saw the devastation of our landscape, I realized how much damage we had allowed to happen and had to do something about it. We are owners and stewards of the common lands.

We have a moral responsibility to care for our common lands and the boundary reef that they impact. In addition, we have a responsibility to ourselves related to water quality and sedimentation. Government regulatory agencies will hold us responsible for mitigating the negative impact of erosion from our lands. The Environmental Protection Agency is now conducting sedimentation surveys to establish TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), sedimentation standards for Kawela Stream and many other bodies of water across the nation. Land owners are required by law to meet the established TMDL criteria. Once the standards are set, we will be held accountable for meeting them. To do that, we will have to manage the feral animal populations on our lands and find ways to reduce erosion and sedimentation. We should be very grateful that we have a willing and able partner in this task, The Nature Conservancy. I am a hunter, but I choose the reef versus preservation of invasive and destructive species. Eradication of the goats on Molokai will benefit all other components of the ecosystem here. The work the Conservancy is doing to protect and improve the watershed is critical to the long term future of Molokai.  I fully support the Conservancy and want their help to clear out feral animals and protect our island's precious natural resources.

- Ray Foster, former president, Kawela Plantation Homeowner's Association, longtime Moloka'i resident

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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Photographer/Org (prickly pear cactus); Photo © Photographer/Org (cheetah); Photo © Photographer/Org; Photo © Photographer/Org (scientist).