Comment on FR Doc # 2012-19487

Regarding the US Fish & Wildlife Service Critical Habitat Designation on Maui Docket # FWS –R1-ES-2011-0098 To whom it may concern We are submitting our comments regarding this designation with the purpose of stating we are very much against this and view this as a “taking” from the private land owner of value and rights to use our land as intended. We are an original member of Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership (LHWRP) and have been very active in conservation when it comes to our family’s ranch lands We have spent about $500,000 on conservation improvements including about 3 miles of high fence and native forest reforestation with the intent to stabilize & control erosion, improve pasture grasses, and control the feral goats. Now the majority and the best of this land is in the C.H. designation and it suspiciously follows a major part of our high fence line. We have been told that the designation will have no effect no ranch operations but it will. Coming from the perspective of the land owner this will obviously have long reaching effects on the value and future of our family’s land and operations not to mention jeopardizing putting further resources into our own conservation efforts. The area within our high fence apox 900 acrea much of now in the C.H. designation area is being reforested with native koa to bring back the forest, stop the erosion, restore health to the mountain, and help recapture ground water for lower pastures. This also would allow future generations of our family to responsibly selective harvest of koa to provide some additional income for the ranch. If this C.H. designation is allowed to go through in its present state we have no assurance that future generations will be able to make this happen. Ranching in Hawaii has a long and rich history but regulations like this threaten this way of life. Nobody knows the land and what it needs more than the rancher that works and lives on it day to day. We question if those that