HI HR99

Requests the Department of Land and Natural Resources provide additional protections to the Mauna Kea summit area from 6,000 feet (Saddle Road) to 13,796 feet elevation due to environmental and cultural significance.

Calls for prohibition of new development on the Mauna Kea summit to prevent adverse effects to fragile cultural and natural resources and to comply with the State's constitutional obligation to protect the public trust and Native Hawaiian customary and traditional rights.

Identifies the summit as sacred to Native Hawaiians as a wao akua (place where gods reside) and a place of worship for the snow goddess Poliahu and other deities, with numerous shrines indicating ongoing religious and cultural use.

Highlights rare and endangered species on the summit including the Palila bird (entire world population in the mämane-naio forest), endemic insects like the Wëkiu bug, and 21 rare moss and lichen species, some found nowhere else on Earth.

Requires certified copies of the resolution be sent to the Governor, Office of Mauna Kea Management, University of Hawai'i President and Board of Regents, Board of Land and Natural Resources, and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.