(Lihue) – In 1968, Hawai‘i had its first official Arbor Day plant and tree sale or giveaway, building on more than a century of recognizing this internationally designated holiday. It was on Kaua‘i and for the past 50 years the annual celebration of trees and plants has continued, expanding across the state with a multitude of tree and plant giveaways and sales. This week thousands of plants are being readied for sale with lots of help from ample rain.

(Hilo) – The Hawaii Ant Lab has won the 2018 Conservation Innovation Award by the Hawaii Conservation Alliance. The Ant Lab is a collaboration of the University of Hawaii’s Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, and was established in response to the Little Fire Ant invasion.

(Honolulu) – A recent land acquisition involving federal, state and private-sector partners will result in Oʻahu residents gaining new outdoor recreational opportunities, while protecting Central O‘ahu’s aquifer and improving habitat for native species, many of them endangered.

(Hilo) – The DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) is asking for help in identifying two men they’d like to question in connection with the recent apparent poisonings of several East Hawai‘i streams. Hundreds of dead Tahitian prawns were found in the streams shortly after the men were picked up on surveillance cameras at the Hawai‘i Tropical Botanical Garden.

(Honolulu) – The wreckage of a Robinson R44 helicopter was airlifted out of waist deep water in Kaneohe Bay just before noon today.  Two DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) officers assisted a rigger from Pacific Helicopters in getting straps and ropes around the chopper, which had turned on one side during or after the accident.

(Hilo) – Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD), the fungal disease that’s impacted hundreds of thousands of acres of native ‘ōhi‘a forests in Hawai‘i, is the actual reason for the ʻŌhiʻa Love Festival today at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. Now in its second year, more than a thousand people honored ‘ōhi‘a and the many people working to stop the spread of ROD and find effective treatments for it. The festival goes beyond the disease.

(Maunakea) – Two weeks before the hunting season for game birds opens in Hawai‘i, hunters, researchers and staff from the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) traipsed across the rugged terrain on Maunakea’s north slopes to gain a better understanding of game bird density, variety and populations.

(Lihu‘e)  – School children from Kalaheo Elementary School and Island School helped release ten fledgling ‘A‘o (Newell’s Shearwaters) over the last two days during the annual E Ho‘opomaika‘i ‘ia na Manu ‘A‘o (A Cultural Release of the Native Newell’s Shearwater) event at Lydgate Park.  The young seabirds had been rescued by people then rehabilitated by Save Our Shearwaters (SOS). Before they started their journey back out to sea, Kupuna Maureen Fodale offered a pule (Hawaiian prayer).

(Honolulu) - A wastewater system improvement project by the Department of Land & Natural Resources Engineering and State Park divisions is currently being conducted at the Keaīwa Heiau State Recreation Area. The project started October 1st and is expected to take several months with an anticipated completion in March 2019 or earlier. The contractor is RHS Lee Inc. Project cost is $186,200.

(Hilo) – Later this month, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) will conduct animal control activities specifically for trapping mouflon/feral sheep hybrids, feral goats, feral sheep, mouflon and mouflon/feral sheep hybrids within in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve (Unit A), Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve (Unit K), Palila Mitigation Lands, and the Kaohe Game Management Area (Unit G) on Hawai‘i island.  Aerial shooting is required for compliance with a federal court order mandating the removal of sheep and goats from critical habitat for palila, a bird endemic to Hawai‘i.