(HONOLULU) – Lesley Macpherson of the DLNR Division of State Parks has witnessed five monk seal births. On April 14, she documented her sixth, as she recorded veteran mother RN58 give birth to PO5, the fifth pup born on O‘ahu this year. 

(HONOLULU) – Kaniakapūpū, the summer palace of King Kamehameha III, lies within a restricted watershed in a densely forested part of Nuʻuanu. The site is closed to people, with the exception of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners or permitted caretakers. 

(HONOLULU) – One of the most dramatic and troubling impacts of accelerating climate change is the expansion of mosquito range into upper elevation Hawaiian forest. Avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive mosquitoes, is driving the potential extinction of four native honeycreepers: ‘akikiki, ‘akeke‘e, kiwikiu, and ʻākohekohe. Kiwikiu and ‘akikiki have fewer than 200 birds remaining and could go extinct in the next two years. A single bite from an infected mosquito can kill.

(HILO) – A newly released study by federal and university researchers provides “encouragement and guidance” for land managers wanting to reestablish ʻōhiʻa stands wiped out by the fungal disease, Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, or impacted by other disturbances like volcanic activity and wildland fires. 

(HILO) – A third attempt to plant an illegal garden in a state park, was foiled Sunday by officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE). Four people were cited on a variety of charges, including unlawful introduction of plant life on public property and altering geological features by digging into manicured grass.

(HONOLULU) – The Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) approved the U.S. Navy’s application to install eight new 2-inch groundwater monitoring wells as part of the ongoing response to identify possible migration of fuel in the area beyond the Red Hill lower tunnel at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.  

(HONOLULU) – As limu lovers across Hawai‘i celebrate 2022 as “The Year of the Limu,” as proclaimed by Gov. David Ige, little urchins growing in tanks at the DLNR Anuenue Fisheries Research Center on Sand Island, munch on hatchery-grown seaweed.