An analysis of long-term radar studies on Kaua‘i has revealed massive declines in populations of the island’s two endangered seabirds, the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) announced today. The study, due to be published online in the scientific journal Condor on June 5th, shows that between 1993 and 2013 populations of the ‘A‘o (Newell’s Shearwater) declined by 94% and Ua‘u (Hawaiian Petrel) by 78%.

Work to restore the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park to its true wilderness character continued during a three-day law enforcement operation this week. A dozen officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) and the Dept. of Public Safety’s Sheriff Division arrested eleven people for being in a closed area without a permit in the Kalalau area of the park. A twenty-year-old man, who could not produce an identification, was handcuffed and flown out of the park and booked on charges at the Kaua‘i Police Department. So far in May, a total of 28 people have been arrested for failing to have the permit required for traveling past the two-mile marker on the famed Kalalau Trail. During law enforcement efforts over the past two years more than 200 people have been arrested.

With the goal to ensure a peaceful and safe family atmosphere this Memorial Day weekend at Ahu O Laka, the Kaneohe sandbar, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is reminding everyone of the no-alcohol rule that will be in place this weekend, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Memorial Day.

A fish with a lot of “fingers” will be hands-off starting June 1. The season for moi, or Pacific threadfin, will be closed from June through August in Hawaii waters.

An observable phenomenon this weekend on shorelines and low-lying areas in Hawaii heralds the arrival of the highest ‘king tides’ of the year, that will occur over a couple days around May 26, June 23, and July 21. The Hawaii Sea Grant Center for Coastal and Climate Science and Resilience, and Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System together at the University of Hawaii have been tracking unusual high tide levels and are advising that the state will likely continue to experience unusually high tide levels throughout the summer.

Oʻahu landowners are invited to attend a Landowner Acquisition and Easement workshop on Saturday June 3, 2017 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Palehua Ranch in Honouliuli.

State and county wildfire fighting crews today continued to work to establish a control perimeter around a fire that is burning between the 800 to 1,500-foot elevation at the western edge of Waimea Canyon, amid grassland and haole koa shrubs.

The main parking lot at Ha‘ena State Park will be closed all day on Friday, May 19 to complete an ongoing maintenance project, as well as tree trimming and removal of ironwood trees adjacent to the parking lot.

The most recent aerial surveys of ohia forests on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, Moloka‘i,and Lāna‘i paint a good-news, bad-news picture. The good news is there are no confirmed cases of this fast-spreading fungal infection in ʻōhiʻa forests on any island other than the Big Island. The bad news is, the area of mortality thought to be caused by ROD has increased 50% on Hawai‘i island compared to DLNR’s previous survey in 2016.

Seventeen people were arrested at the Kalalau Section of the Napali Coast State Wilderness Park, during a pair of law enforcement sweeps earlier this week. Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) arrested people without valid permits for being in a closed area. They believe among the 17, were three people who’d been illegally residing in Kalalau Valley for long periods of time.