LIHUE, KAUAI -- On Sunday May 22 and continuing today, State wildlife officials on Kauai are responding to the discovery of 34 dead Wedge-tailed shearwaters in the seabird colony at Spouting Horn, Lawai area on the south coast. Most of the kills were found near the parking lot end of Lawai road.
(HONOLULU) - They use technology like radar, acoustic monitoring devices and lasers. They reach into cliff-top burrows to monitor breeding birds and they partner with other organizations to protect the birds from introduced predators like feral cats that attack them. They exemplify partnership by forging relationships with numerous organizations, working together to save endangered seabirds on Kauai from extinction. For their efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recognized the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) with its 2015 Endangered Species Recovery Champions Award.
(LIHUE, KAUAI) – When Kawika Smith was a boy, his father would take him trekking through the mud and bogs of the Alakai Plateau. Now as the Kauai supervisor for the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s Na Ala Hele Trail Access program, Smith is overseeing the replacement of nearly three-miles of 20-year-old boardwalk that carries hikers above the mud and water. Joined by every Na Ala Hele program staff member from around the state, this is a monumental undertaking.
(HONOLULU) – A spike in shark bites off Maui in 2012 and 2013 prompted the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), with additional support and funding from the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System (PacIOOS), to commission a two-year-long study of shark spatial behavior on Maui. The research was conducted by a team from the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB).
HONOLULU – People with mobility disabilities will again be able to join tours at the ʻIolani Palace State Monument. A new custom inclined platform lift will replace an old lift that has been inoperable. The new lift is designed for larger carrying capacity, a higher number of trips each day, and improved reliability through a routine maintenance program.
(HONOLULU) – Government and non-government organizations from across the state today, announced a collaborative effort to raise awareness about the threat of wildfire and drought to Hawaii’s natural resources and to private and public property. Wildfire & Drought Look Out!, is a continuing campaign to keep people across the state informed of current fire and drought conditions, provide tips on protecting life and property from wildfire, and to provide information and education on how to deal with prolonged drought.
HONOLULU – A year-long project to renovate and repair the more than a century-old ironwork fence and plastered wall, that bounds the four sides of the ʻIolani Palace State Monument grounds, has been completed by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of State Parks. Gates at the ground’s multiple entrances were also included in the renovation project as were the ironwork fence and brick wall enclosing the Royal Tomb Site on the palace grounds.
KAHULUI – Makena State Park will be closed for public safety on Monday May 9, while an early morning helicopter salvage operation is underway, weather conditions permitting, to fly out a vessel that grounded on an inaccessible part of the park shoreline. The park will reopen as soon as this operation is completed.
(HONOLULU) – All seven members of the Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources (Board), in a decision released today, directed retired Hawai‘i island Judge Riki May Amano to proceed as the contested case hearing officer for the Conservation Use District Application (CDUA) for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) at the Mauna Kea Science Reserve.
(HONOLULU) – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and its Division of Boating and Recreation (DOBOR) announced today its decision to select the “no-action” option in a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed Keauhou Bay Offshore Moorings project.