Department of Land and Natural Resources

(LĪHU‘E) — The annual plum harvest begins Saturday, July 4 at Kōke‘e State Park on Kaua‘i. Permits to harvest will be available, as it has been in past years, starting on Independence Day at the park’s headquarters.

Free harvest permits are available at the park’s headquarters must be completed there and then returned to the headquarters’  drop-box after harvesting.  Plum picking is permitted between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. in designated areas.

While plum season is a cultural staple on Kaua‘i, the stone fruits are not native to the island. The Hawaiian Journal of History notes  plums were brought to Kaua‘i in the 1930’s and planted on lands  that later became Kōke‘e State Park.

Each person can   take up to five pounds of plums each day for personal consumption. Other conditions are specified on the plum harvesting permit. A short pole with a net will make harvesting easier.

For years, including this one, the crop has been on the decline due to weather, over harvesting, and damage to trees. Optimum harvesting hasn’t happened  since the 1950’s and in 2014, the DLNR Division of State Parks personnel that Kaua‘i hadn’t seen a good crop in more than five years.

Plum pickers are reminded to help prevent forest fires and to pick up their litter.

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Media Contact:

Giovonni Parks

Communications Specialist

Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources

[email protected]

808-587-0396 (Communications Office)