Alert

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.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife will briefly close the Keanae Arboretum for two days, on Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30, 2017. This closure will allow a contractor to safely remove trees that recently fell across the trail within the arboretum. The arboretum will reopen on Friday March 31.

The popular 2.5 mile Waihe‘e ridge trail that climbs the windward slope of the west Maui mountains is again closed through April 7 to allow completion of improvements for increased public safety through surface improvements, drainage upgrades, and vegetative management.

A project to replace three (3) bridges along the Mohihi-Camp 10 Access Road in the Kokee State Park has finished two months ahead of schedule. The road and bridges will reopen for public use by four-wheel drive vehicles on Friday March 24, 2017

Local and national non-profit and non-governmental organizations are offering $50,000 for information about the killings of five Hawaiian seals, with the February suspicious death of seal R4DP near ‘Ele‘ele on Kaua‘i making the matter even more urgent. Since 2011, these groups have offered $10,000 rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people involved in the killing of Hawaiian monk seals.

An oft-spotted, fifteen-year-old endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, known as R4DP was found dead on a beach near ʻEleʻele on February 23, 2017. Officers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) and from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) are investigating the female seal’s death as suspicious, as it had injuries “inconsistent with any natural cause of death associated with wild monk seals.”

Nearly every time Larry Pacheco of the DLNR Division of State Parks arrives at one of the locked gates leading into ‘Iao Valley, he ends up informing people who are walking up the road…ignoring multiple signs that indicate both ‘Iao Valley State Monument and Maui County’s Kepaniwai Park are closed.

The popular Manoa Falls hiking trail will be closed all day, on Monday, February 13, while state forestry crews remove a 100-foot fallen Albizia tree, and aging composting toilets at the trailhead.

The popular 2.5 mile Waihe‘e ridge trail that climbs the windward slope of the west Maui mountains will be temporarily reopened tomorrow, Saturday February 11, following completion of a first phase of improvements for increased public safety through surface improvements, drainage upgrades, and vegetative management.

The Kalalau trail will be closed to day-hikers on Thursday, January 19, for a rockfall mitigation project (weather permitting). The project site is located between Hāʻena and Hanakāpīʻai stream. Overnight hiker/campers with a valid camping permit will be allowed access on the trail with intermittent pedestrian controls at the work site. They may experience short delays. Day-hikers will not be permitted on the trail during this period. The closure notice is also posted on the State Parks website at https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dsp/