Division of Forestry and Wildlife

(South Kona, Hawai‘i)  It’s a long and rough four-wheel-drive road to reach a black sand beach at Manukā Natural Area Reserve (NAR) on Hawai’i Island.  That doesn’t deter some 30 people – Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund staff, representatives from federal and state agencies and volunteers – from making the trip for nine consecutive Earth Days with a singular mission in mind. That’s to remove plastic debris, derelict fishing equipment and nets and the typical trash produced by all of us.

LIHU‘E, KAUA‘I --  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife on Kaua‘i will be opening Nounou Forest Reserve for a trial archery animal control of feral pigs. 

(Volcano, Hawai‘i) –The eleven young ‘Alalā living in the Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve on the Island of Hawai‘i continue to thrive, showing increased natural behaviors, foraging on native plants, and even challenging the occasional ‘Io, or Hawaiian Hawk.  Conservationists are cautiously optimistic about the birds’ continued success in native habitat and are working together with researchers at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo to analyze vocalizations of these rare birds.  Foraging and other social behaviors are also being studied to determine if historically seen activities are increasing now that the group has access to the surroundings in which they evolved.

HONOLULU — The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife would like to thank all the wildlife artists who submitted amazing art entries for the 2018-19 Hawai‘i Wildlife Conservation and Game Bird Stamp Art Contest. A committee reviewed all submissions and two winners were chosen last month.

(LIHUE, KAUA’I) – Monitoring teams are observing more albatross on Lehua Island than they have in a long time. There’s also no sign of rats consuming plants or seabird eggs, something that was commonplace a year ago. These are exactly the kind of early indicators project partners might hope to see – signs of a recovering island ecosystem, due to the removal of introduced, damaging (invasive) rats. But there is still work to do!

(Hilo, Hawai‘i) – In Mrs. Wines’ fifth grade classroom recently, 21 students were hard at work drawing pictures of ʻAlalā, the Hawaiian crow that’s been extinct in the wild for nearly two decades.  Their drawings are part of their assignment to come up with Hawaiian names for the next set of 12 birds scheduled to be released later this year.