Invasive species land-access bill is headed for Senate vote

A bill granting state agents access to private property to eradicate invasive species is headed for a floor vote in the Senate.

Coqui frogs and little fire ants are among the targeted animal species to be prioritized if the bill becomes law. Sponsors said albizia trees are the main species of foliage to be exterminated. State officials would give landowners at least five days’ notice before beginning eradication.

Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee Chairman Gil Keith-Agaran said invasive species have been a problem on Maui, where some lessees of property have refused to cooperate with eradication efforts.

“I think invasive species are just too serious an issue not to do something like this,” he said.

The economic burden of invasive species could become heavy for the state. According to research by the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, the cost of little fire ant infestation alone in Hawaii could reach into the billions of dollars over the course of a decade.

“The state has all kinds of invasive species,” Sen. Karl Rhoads (D, Downtown-Nuuanu-Liliha) said. “The time that it’s easiest to stop is when they’re first getting established. If it’s hard to get onto private land to stop them, then it just gives them a foothold.”

Rep. Nicole Lowen (D, Holualoa-Kailua-Kona-Honokohau), who introduced House Bill 606, said her community is struggling to control populations of newly introduced fire ants. “They’ve come across issues where they’re treating their property but their neighbors aren’t willing to do the same on theirs,” she said.

Little fire ants are widespread throughout South and Central America. The pests were first noticed on Hawaii island in 1999 and have become established on the island’s windward coast, gradually migrating leeward.

Little fire ants were first detected on Oahu in 2013, having hitched a ride along with a shipment of hapuu logs from the Big Island, according to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council website.

Rhoads mentioned the rapid spread of coqui frogs on the Big Island, a species with a notoriously loud mating call.

“It wasn’t that long ago there weren’t that many. Now, if you go spend a night in Hilo, it’s just deafening,” he said. The frogs are originally from Puerto Rico.

Lowen also highlighted Hawaii island’s coqui frog dilemma: “Coqui frogs, as far as I can tell … at least for Hawaii island, the state has basically given up the fight.”

The Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit organization that specializes in animal welfare, opposed the bill because of concerns it might affect cat populations.

Peter Wolf, cat initiatives analyst for the group, wrote that the policies outlined in HB 606 “are not only direct threats to cats — owned and unowned alike — but also likely to have a chilling effect on sterilization programs used to effectively and humanely manage ‘feral’ cat populations throughout the Hawaiian Islands.”

Lowen disagreed. “The motivation behind this introduction or its passage has nothing to do with cats. Whether or not the Department of Land and Natural Resources considers feral cats an invasive species, that is not in statute anywhere. We have far larger invasive species concerns than cats,” she said.

Lowen clarified, “I also agree with laws that protect pets and ensure that people who own them keep them humanely.”

Hawaiian Electric Co. submitted testimony in strong support of the measure, citing albizia trees as its main concern. “Tropical Storm Iselle brought down many Albizia trees, blocked roadways, and caused millions of dollars in damage to homes and important electric utility lines,” the company said in written testimony.

Fast-growing albizia trees are originally from the Molucca Islands in Indonesia and were brought to Hawaii in 1917, according to the Lyon Arboretum website. Their branches grow long and are infamously brittle.

Lowen said there are other invasive species that have more of a presence on conservation land, but said species invading residential areas are the main focus of this legislation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill on March 29 by a vote of 3-0, with two abstentions. The measure now goes to the full Senate.