02/05/2026
Today we testified in opposition to HB1553.
HB1553 would require golf courses statewide to enter Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) and obtain incidental take permits for protected wildlife. While that may sound reasonable in theory, we’re deeply concerned it would have the opposite effect for Nēnē.
Over the past few years, we have surveyed every golf course in Hawaiʻi where Nēnē are present and work closely with course operators on golfer education, injury and mortality mitigation, and predator control. These courses also allow us regular access for monitoring, which is critical to effective conservation.
Here’s what the data show:
• Over 75% of Nēnē on Hawaiʻi Island hatched on golf courses
• One hole at Waikoloa Village Golf Course will hatch more Nēnē this year than the entire islands of Maui and Molokaʻi, plus Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge combined
These courses are a net positive for Nēnē and already work directly with us and DLNR to support the species. HB1553 risks changing that. Added regulatory and financial burdens could make some courses unable to afford rehabilitation costs or compliance under an HCP. Courses could respond by changing grass types, removing water features, eliminating native vegetation, or shutting down all together. All of this reduces habitat carrying capacity, and there is no alternative habitat available at the scale golf courses currently provide.
Even proposed carve-outs for wildlife rehabilitation miss the bigger picture. Wildlife rehab is costly and limited in capacity. While saving individual birds can feel good, it does not address the root causes of population decline. In contrast, predator control directly increases nesting success and gosling survival, allowing us to ensure that more Nēnē hatch than are lost. Every dollar spent on predator management produces far greater population-level benefits than rehabilitation alone.
There is also a serious incentive issue. If courses are allotted a certain number of “takes” under an HCP and incidental take permit, they may be less likely to report injured birds to avoid costly rehabilitation (estimated at ~$108 per day). That undermines early intervention, transparency, and trust.
We also regularly find injured Nēnē on golf courses that have not been seen there in some time. Our data suggest that some birds are injured elsewhere and use golf courses as refuge, not as the source of injury.
Golf courses are not perfect. Nēnē are injured and killed on them. But they are also producing the majority of the population and supporting predator control that benefits Nēnē and other native species like ʻAeʻo and ʻōpeʻapeʻa.
We look forward to continuing these discussions with legislators, agencies, and stakeholders to ensure conservation decisions are guided by population-level outcomes. Protecting Nēnē means investing in solutions that measurably increase survival and reproduction and allocating limited funding where it benefits native species as a whole.
