HONOLULU – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and the City and County of Honolulu invite NFIP insured renters, home and business owners affected by the April 13 flooding event on O‘ahu, to attend an informational session conducted by a NFIP General Adjuster:

Effective immediately, the DLNR Division of State Parks has closed its Lava Tree State Monument and Mackenzie State Recreation Area until further notice.  Gates to these parks will be locked and closure signs posted. This action was taken after consultation with Hawaii County Emergency  and Parks and Recreation which recommended the closures due to earthquake activity in the Puna area.

(HILO) – Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) are seeking information about the person or persons who butchered a 250-pound green sea turtle at Onekahakaha County Beach Park in South Hilo. A DOCARE officer estimates the turtle’s shell as at least 80 centimeters in size. Officers report that the turtle’s front two flippers were amputated and it appeared the suspect(s) was interrupted and left the scene without the turtle.  

(HONOLULU) – Following a series of statewide public hearing on proposed changes to rules regulating activities within Hawaii’s Forest Reserve System, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife is reminding everyone that input and comments on the rules will be accepted until May 11, 2018. The rule changes are in response to evolving natural resource concerns and the needs of managers and forest users.

LIHU‘E – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announces an open fishing season for rainbow trout in the Koke‘e Public Fishing Area (PFA) on Kaua‘i, beginning Saturday, June 16, 2018.

HONOLULU -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources will tentatively begin work in mid-May on a nine-month project in Manoa Stream at, and downstream of the Woodlawn Drive bridge. The purpose of this maintenance improvement project is to help prevent build-up of sediment under, and downstream of the bridge. A community information meeting about the project will take place on Monday, May 7, 2018, at 6:30 p.m. at the Noelani Elementary School cafeteria, 2655 Woodlawn Drive in Manoa.

(HONOLULU) – An organic farm on O‘ahu and an ethnobotanical garden on Hawai‘i Island are the newest awardees for state funding from the DLNR Legacy Land Conservation Program. The program provides grants to community organizations and government agencies that strive to purchase and protect land that shelters exceptional, unique, threatened, and endangered resources. Last Friday the Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved recommendations from the Legacy Land Conservation Commission and the Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) to award three million dollars in state grants for conservation that protects resources for public benefit.

(HONOLULU) – This afternoon maintenance and harbor workers from the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) will finish a four-day-long clean-up of the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, Hawai‘i’s largest small boat harbor. DOBOR had hoped to retain a private contractor to clean up masses of debris that washed down the Ala Wai canal and into the harbor during and after the major rain storm more than two weeks ago.  Bids from contractors were either too high or lacked the proper paperwork, so after two rounds of bidding the division decided to do the work itself.

(HONOLULU) – More than two years ago, workers from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources’ Ānuenue Coral Restoration Nursery on Sand Island Access Road embarked on a novel, first-of-its-kind endeavor, to “fast-grow” what are typically slow growing species of native Hawaiian coral species.