David Farmer vs. Harmon - Witness Laura Thielen, Director, Dept. of Land & Natural Resources

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

LAURA THIELEN

Kalanimoku Building
1151 Punchbowl St.
Honolulu, HI 96813

Website: http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/

Email: dlnr@hawaii.gov

Chairperson, State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

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July 26, 2007

Laura Thielen to head Hawaii's DNLR

By Dan Nakaso, Advertiser Staff Writer

Laura H. Thielen — a lawyer, former member of the state Board of Education and current executive director of the state Office of Planning — was announced yesterday as interim chairwoman of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Thielen, the daughter of state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-50th (Kailua, Kane'ohe Bay), starts work on Monday but still must be confirmed by the Senate next session.

"She's a known quantity," said Gov. Linda Lingle, who used an appearance at the 2007 Hawai'i Conservation Conference yesterday to announce Thielen's appointment. "People know, whether she's on the Board of Education or at the state Office of Planning, she is a very effective and articulate advocate for the issue that she's dealing with. ... I think that will be a help to her during her legislative process as well."

Thielen replaces interim director Allan Smith, whom Lingle appointed on May 1 after Smith's predecessor, Peter Young, failed to win Senate confirmation for a second four-year term as the DLNR director.

Young continued to assist Smith at the DLNR as a deputy until last week and has formed a consulting business aimed at private-public partnerships, he said yesterday.

Young also led the 30-member search committee that sent the names of Thielen and another candidate to Lingle for consideration. The other person is considered as a possible candidate as the department's deputy director for land, Lingle said.

Thielen has focused on land use and environmental issues as a lawyer in Ohio and with the law firm of Gerson Grekin Wynhoff & Thielen in Honolulu. She also has been a consultant to nonprofit groups and state agencies including the attorney general's office, University of Hawai'i Foundation, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawai'i Justice Foundation, state Department of Health, Hawai'i Commission on Access to Justice and Hawai'i Foster Parent Association. She also has been a managing attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Hawai'i.

Yesterday, Thielen said DLNR is plagued with problems that need to be fixed, such as allegations of mismanagement, impropriety and harassment, and special favors at the Bureau of Conveyances, which is under the DLNR. Thielen called the Bureau of Conveyances a "chronic issue that needs to be resolved. It is a very serious issue that affects many people in Hawai'i."

Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, was a member of the selection committee that forwarded Thielen's name to the governor and said: "We have a great working relationship with her. We look forward to working with her at DLNR and hope she can continue some of the conservation success that Peter Young initiated."

Mikulina called the job of DLNR director "an increasingly challenging role. There's going to be more conflict, or perceived conflict, with sustainability in protecting the environment and commercial and private interests that want to build closer to the ocean at a time when the ocean's coming up closer."

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One Million Acres of Hawaii Watersheds to Be Conserved

VOLCANO, Hawaii, May 27, 2008 (ENS) - A new partnership of public and private landowners has been created to protect watersheds and natural resources across more than one million acres on Mauna Loa, Kilauea and Hualalai on the island of Hawaii.

The Three Mountain Alliance watershed partnership will consist of nine partners who will cooperate under a Memorandum of Understanding and a recently completed management plan.

Three Mountain Alliance partners include the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Public Safety, the National Park Service at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Kamehameha Schools, the U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, and the U.S. Agriculture Department's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

The Three Mountain Alliance will focus on protection of native habitat and species and will benefit the community by managing upland, forested portions of the watershed that provide essential groundwater, water filtration, and flood reduction.

The Three Mountain Alliance Management Plan summarizes joint goals and programs such as habitat and watershed protection, compatible economic use, compatible recreation and ecotourism, education, awareness and public outreach, and cultural resource protection.

"Partnerships such as the Three Mountain Alliance are the most effective way to address threats to the landscape such as invasive weed species that occur across land ownership boundaries," said Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando. "The park is able to accomplish much more with partners than we could on our own by sharing scarce staff and resources to accomplish joint objectives."

Laura Thielen, who chairs the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said, "Land-based activities have a direct effect on nearshore waters and corals and fisheries. For this reason, partnerships are critical to support healthy ecosystems, on land and in the ocean."

"Coordinated on-the-ground management of threats such as invasive animals, weeds and fire is critically needed to maintain healthy watersheds on the slopes of Kilauea, Mauna Loa and Hualalai to sustain the future quality and quantity of fresh water and benefit Hawaii’s people as well as native plants and animals," said Roger Imoto, the Division of Forestry and Wildlife's branch manager for Hawaii Island.

Kamehameha Schools is the largest private landowner currently involved in the partnership, but other agencies and large, private landowners with a management interest in the landscape will be invited to join the Three Mountain Alliance.

Peter Simmons, Kamehameha Schools regional assets manager, points out that "large landowners such as Kamehameha Schools have a responsibility to show leadership in caring for their lands because these areas are critically important to the life, health and well being of the native Hawaiian ecosystems and human communities that inhabit them."

A unique aspect to the Three Mountain Alliance is the involvement of the state’s Kulani Correctional Facility and its inmates in conservation work such as fencing and native reforestation.

"The Department of Public Safety and Kulani Correctional Facility are very excited to participate with this innovative partnership through our inmate programs such as the conservation workline and the native plant horticulture program," said Beryl Iramina, warden at Kulani Correctional Facility.

"By participating in the partnership, our inmates receive education and work training opportunities," she said. "Inmates can also give back to the community through our community service programs helping Three Mountain Alliance partners protect and restore important watershed lands."

The Three Mountain Alliance plans for the near future include initiating an education and restoration project in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Keauhou Ranch lands with local students and teachers using native plants grown by Kulani inmates.

The Alliance intends to develop a watershed management plan for the upland forests of Kau and Kapapala with the community. There are plans for control of wild cattle in several state-owned forest reserves, protective fencing of dry forests in upland Kona, and joint invasive weed control projects.

The Three Mountain Alliance is one of nine partnerships throughout the state that are members of the Hawaii Association of Watershed Partnerships. The Three Mountain Alliance Management Plan can be found at the Hawaii Association of Watershed Partnerships Website www.hawp.org

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-27-092.asp

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June 3, 2008

Forest Legacy Program Protects 16,000 More Acres on Big Island

Hawaii’s success unmatched nationwide

HONOLULU, HAWAI'I — June 3, 2008 — Another 16,000 acres of native forestlands along the Big Island’s Kona coast will be permanently protected through funds provided by the Federal Forest Legacy Program, the State announced today. The properties include:

9,000 acres at Kealakekua Heritage Ranch

4,022 acres at Honomalino, part of The Nature Conservancy’s Kona Hema Preserve

3,128 acres of McCandless Ranch

The latest projects are the result of a cooperative effort between the landowners, the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), local conservation partners and the USDA Forest Service. The parties agreed to protect the properties from future development in an effort to protect valuable — and vanishing —native forestlands.

The State of Hawai‘i is one of the most successful Forest Legacy participants in the nation," said John Henshaw, Pacific Rim’s Forest Legacy Manager. “Out of the 38 participating states, Hawai‘i has done the best job of utilizing federal dollars—using only 22% of federal money to protect over 46,000 acres valued at more than $51 million. This success can be directly attributed to the program’s ability to work in partnership with landowners to meet their needs as well as long-term land conservation objectives.”

The Forest Legacy Program (FLP) was established in the 1990 Farm Bill to protect environmentally important forest areas that are threatened by conversion to non-forest uses and to promote forestland protection through the use of conservation easements and fee-simple purchase.

All three Kona properties contain diverse koa, ‘ōohi‘a, and tree fern stands that provide habitat for various native bird species, including the ‘apapane, ‘i‘iwi, ‘elepaio and ‘amakihi.

All three properties have been protected through conservation easements — voluntary, legally binding agreements that limit certain types of uses or prevent development on the property now and in the future, while protecting the property’s ecological or open-space values. The conservation easements were negotiated to meet the objectives of the landowner as well as protecting the property’s long-term conservation value....

Honolulu Advertiser

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THE KAHO`OLAWE ISLAND RESERVE COMMISSION

The Legislature created the Kaho`olawe Island Reserve Commission (KIRC) to manage the Kaho`olawe Island Reserve while it is held in trust for a future Native Hawaiian sovereign entity. The KIRC uses the federal funds designated for State responsibilities in the restoration effort. The KIRC is administratively attached to the State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Hawaii Revised Statutes §6K sets forth the composition of the KIRC. One member shall be selected by the Governor of the State of Hawaii from lists submitted by Native Hawaiian organizations, one member shall be a reprsentative of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, one member shall be the Chair of the Board of Land and Natural Resources of the State of Hawai`i, one member shall be a representative of the County of Maui, one member shall be a member of the Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana, and two members shall be selected by the Governor form a list submitted by the Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana. The Chair of the KIRC shall be selected from among the members by the Governor. The membership of the KIRC is:

• Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli, M.D., Chairperson (Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana)
• Craig Neff, Member (Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana)
• Dr. Chuck Burrows (Native Hawaiian Organizations)
• Milton Arakawa, Member (County of Maui)
• Laura H. Thielen (Chair, Board of Land and Natural Resources, State of Hawai`i)
• Robert J. Lu`uwai, Member (Protect Kaho`olawe `Ohana)
• John D. Waihe`e, Member (Office of Hawaiian Affairs)

http://www.kahoolawe.hawaii.gov/aboutkirc-overview.shtml

http://www.kahoolawe.hawaii.gov/commission.shtml

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COMMISSION ON WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The Commission

The Commission consists of seven members, five of whom are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate. The remaining two are the Chairperson of the State Board of Land and Natural Resources, who serves as Chairperson of the Water Commission, and the Director of the State Department of Health. The members are unpaid and serve a limited term.

Laura H. Thielen, Chairperson

Laura H. Thielen is the Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Ms. Thielen graduated from Punahou High School and attended the University of Colorado, attaining a bachelor of arts in Political science. She furthered her education with a law degree from Case Western Reserve School of Law and a master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University....

http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/cwrm/aboutus_commission.htm

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April 11, 2007

State Workers Cleared of
Ka Loko Criminal Responsibility?

Attorney general sees "no evidence" against them

By Tina Shelton

Nearly a year after the fatal breach of Ka Loko dam, there is a clear indication no state employee will be criminally prosecuted in connection with the deadly disaster.

Mark Bennett, the Attorney General of Hawaii, told KHON2 News, “There is no evidence of any kind that I have seen that any employee of the state of Hawaii is criminally responsible for the deaths of anyone."

Ka Loko's failure last March killed 7 people.

State attorney general investigators and hired experts have poured over Jimmy Pflueger's land to learn whether un-permitted construction triggered the collapse.

Pflueger's lawyer, William McCorriston, took the mic at a senate hearing and took a shot at the state land director, sitting just feet away.

“Why do we provide the Director of Land and Natural Resources,” William McCorriston asked, “who some might say is criminally responsible for nonfeasance, not doing his job with regard to dam inspections, with absolute immunity?”

Dam inspections fall under the land department, and McCorriston says like the leader of FEMA after Hurricane Katrina, DLNR Chief Peter Young should go.

KHON2 News asked Peter Young about that.

“Mr. McCorriston is trying to deflect attention away from his client,” Young said. “We trust the judicial system.”

The attorney general, also watching while McCorriston testified, went farther in defense of Young and his land department.

"There's no evidence that any state employees are guilty in the homicide of these individuals," Bennett told KHON2 News.

Yet Bennett says the decision whether to prosecute Pflueger or others is still pending.

“I believe when we get to the middle of this year,” Bennett said, “we will be very close to a final decision of whether to take this case to a grand jury or not.”

The legislature must fund the continuing criminal and civil liability investigations. McCorriston was making his case to those lawmakers.

“Why do these few people have a special pass,” he asked. “Why do they get a whitewash of their responsibility?”

Although they allowed McCorriston to vent, there's no indication lawmakers will turn down the attorney general request for $2 million to continue his investigation.

However, Judiciary Chairman Clayton Hee told KHON2 News his committee might examine whether the immunity from certain liability afforded to the state land director and dam inspectors, should be withdrawn.

http://www.khon2.com/home/ticker/5815366.html

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March 31, 2005

State land director goes on defensive

By Derrick DePledge, Honolulu Advertiser

Peter Young, the director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, strongly defended his leadership yesterday and told legislators that calls for financial and management audits are rooted in misunderstandings.

At hearings before state House and Senate committees, Young said the department has long been a focus of criticism and has been limited by a lack of money and staff. But he said the Lingle administration is committed to protecting the state's natural and cultural resources.

Last week, environmental and cultural groups demanded substantial changes at the department over the next few months or said they would call for Young's resignation. The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs has also said the department has not been actively considering Hawaiian issues.

Gov. Linda Lingle has said she has confidence in Young, who serves as both the director of the department and the chairman of the state's Board of Land and Natural Resources.

"I firmly believe that through misunderstandings, you have moved forward with this resolution and hearing," Young told House lawmakers, referring to a resolution recommending an audit of the department and the board. "As you have seen, DLNR is moving forward under trying conditions.

"As you have seen, over the years — even decades — DLNR has been the subject of ongoing criticism. Any suggestions that criticism of DLNR is new are simply not true."

In a House hearing room jammed with department administrators, environmentalists, boaters, tour-group operators and cultural activists, most people who testified supported an audit but many noted that the department has not adequately responded to the recommendations of previous audits.

Several people said the department's broad mission — overseeing land and water use, state parks, forestry and wildlife, historic preservation and ocean recreation — can lead to conflicts and inefficiency. Many also agreed with Young that the department has not had enough money or staff.

"The DLNR suffers from a chronic lack of funding," said Suzanne Case, the executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i.

Case said another audit may not be as useful as an in-depth fiscal resource analysis that would show what level of state money and personnel is necessary to protect natural resources.

Total spending on the department, which includes money from user fees and the federal government, has increased during the Lingle administration. But state general-fund spending — the amount more directly controlled by the governor and the Legislature — dropped this fiscal year and has stayed at about $25 million for the past decade, according to the department.

Several speakers described Young as open and accessible and said the criticism against the department was not personal.

"We shouldn't be looking at this as an indictment, but an opportunity," said Carol Wilcox, an author who has dealt with the department in the past.

Young said he is meeting with the environmental and cultural groups and OHA and believes that an audit is not necessary, although he said he would cooperate if lawmakers ordered the review.

State Rep. Brian Schatz, D-25th (Makiki, Tantalus), told Young that "an audit is not equivalent to an attack."

But, before the hearing, state Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-50th (Kailua, Mokapu), described the treatment of Young as a "hatchet job" and said the fault lies with the Legislature. "We should be audited for failing to give the department the support it needs in our budget," she said.

The House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee is expected to vote on whether to recommend the financial and management audit tomorrow. The Senate Water, Land and Agriculture Committee voted yesterday to recommend a follow-up audit of the department's management of boating facilities and a new audit of its conservation and resources enforcement division.

The new audits would still need approval by other committees and by the full House and Senate.

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March 23, 2005

Overhaul sought at land board

By Gordon Y.K. Pang, Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Several environmental and cultural groups said yesterday they want drastic changes at the Department of Land and Natural Resources in the next two months or they will seek the resignation of Land Board Chairman Peter Young.

It was the latest in a string of attacks in recent months on Young's management of the embattled agency. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has also voiced concerns about the DLNR's direction, with several of its members calling for Young's resignation. A House committee meets Monday to discuss whether to order a financial and management audit of the department.

Critics say it's important the public know about the problems some have had with Young because the DLNR is entrusted with the management of more than 1.3 million acres of conservation land, one-quarter of the land in the state, making it the state's largest landowner. The department also is responsible for managing historic sites, water resources and ocean recreational concerns, wildlife, hunting and natural area reserves.

"This is the public's resources," said Donna Wong, executive director of Hawai'i's Thousand Friends. "It's your streams, it's your mountains, it's the watershed, all the important public parks. They need to be managed."

Young said he and the Lingle administration are committed to the state's natural and cultural resources and that both budget and staffing at the department have increased since he arrived in early 2003. The overall DLNR budget increased from $60 million under the final Cayetano administration budget to $70 million in fiscal year 2004. Position counts also have increased, he said.

Late yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle issued a statement backing Young's leadership. "I continue to have full confidence in Peter Young's ability to oversee the management and stewardship of Hawai'i's natural and cultural resources," Lingle said.

Representatives from the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and Hawai'i's Thousand Friends said yesterday that under Young, the DLNR has placed private landowners above the public trust and so mismanaged the agency several upper-level staffers have resigned.

The most controversial of the resignations involved former land director Yvonne Izu, who resigned after refusing to support the administration's proposal to transfer many of the functions of the state Water Commission, which falls under the DLNR umbrella, to the four counties. She said the plan, which has made no progress at the Legislature, amounted to dismantling the agency. Environmental agencies have agreed.

Young said many of the duties now shouldered by the commission would best be handled by the counties, but that the shift in responsibilities does not constitute a dismantling of the commission.

The environmental groups want Izu's and other key positions filled immediately and for Young to lobby more vigorously for increased DLNR spending.

Alan Murakami, litigation director for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said Young reversed a decision of the Hawai'i Island Burial Council to preserve a burial site that contains the remains of Hawaiian royalty. He said the decision allowed a wall to be built halfway up the hill where the remains were interred, rather than at the base, thus making way for five additional houselots.

Young said his decision was based on the recommendation made by the burial council as well as discussions he had with representatives for descendants of those buried in the area.

Murakami also said that because the burial sites program is understaffed, hundreds of sets of remains that have been unearthed statewide "are still located in storage lockers and closets across the state."

Young said the administration has transferred about half of the sets of remains to the custody of Kamehameha Schools, on whose property the 'iwi were found, for them to inter, and is working on others.

OHA administrator Clyde Namuo, who was not part of yesterday's press conference, said the issue of the staff shortages in the burial sites program was also raised when he and OHA Chairwoman Haunani Apoliona met last week with Young and Bob Awana, Lingle's chief of staff.

OHA trustees also were concerned, Namuo said, that they were not included in discussions, or even consulted, before the granting of easements on ceded lands — which are managed by the DLNR but from which OHA receives revenues. Namuo said Awana and Young were "very reassuring" that OHA's concerns would be addressed and that there would be better communication.

Young, during his later press conference, spoke of partnerships the state has struck with non-profit organizations including the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Nature Center to protect the environment and educate the youth about natural resources. Leaders of both organizations stood by Young and acknowledged his support.

Young's opponents remain skeptical. "You hear public-private partnerships are a good idea and they may be, but you can't rely on the private entities all the time to manage the public's assets," Wong said.

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March 27, 2005

EDITORIAL

DLNR audit needed to resolve dispute

The Honolulu Advertiser

Recently, criticism of Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Peter Young's stewardship of the agency has been growing.

It ratcheted up last week when representatives from the Sierra Club Hawai'i Chapter, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. and Hawai'i's Thousand Friends undertook an extraordinary public airing of their complaints. They accused Young of putting private landowners above the public trust and so mismanaging the department that several upper-level staffers have resigned.

Gov. Linda Lingle says she has full confidence in Young. Leaders of the Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Nature Center stood by him at a press conference he held in response to the criticism and acknowledged his support of the environment.

Most of us pay scant attention to the daily workings of government unless we have a personal interest in the matter.

But we all need to pay attention if there are problems affecting the DLNR. The department manages more than 1.3 million acres of conservation land, one-quarter of the land in the state, making it the state's largest landowner. The department also is responsible for managing historic sites, water resources and ocean recreational concerns, wildlife, hunting and natural area reserves.

DLNR's responsibilities are too important for this dispute to linger.

A legislative committee will meet tomorrow to decide if an audit of the department is in order. For the sake of the department, the public resources it manages and public confidence, the answer must be yes.

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Laura Thielen is expected to testify regarding his business, professional and personal relationships with Peter Young, Greg Dunn, Hawaii Nature Center, Colbert Matsumoto, Jeffrey Watanabe, Chris Yuen, Cecil Santos, Larry Mehau, Judith Neustadter Fuqua, The Maui Planning Commission, Gale Norton, Judge Barry Kurren, Faye Kurren, The Nature Conservancy, Henry Paulson, The Peregrine Fund, Dr. Samuel M. Gon III, The Starr Foundation, Suzanne Case, The Nature Conservancy, Hawaii Chapter, Ed Case, Nainoa Thompson, Elisa Yadao, The Ocean Conservancy, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Judge Alan Kay, Daniel Case, Steve Case, Jeffrey Case, Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, Bishop Museum, Fred Kraus, Mark Polivka, Neil Abercrombie, Mark Sauder: Dan Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Stanley Hong, Peter Savio, Guido Giacometti, Grove Farm, Robert K.U. Kihune, Dee Jay Mailer, Edwina Clarke, Mary Lou Woo, J.C. Shannon, Colleen Meyer, David Farmer, James M. Cribley, Allan Smith, Houghton Freeman, and others to be named upon discovery.