(HONOLULU) – Two additional hearings have been scheduled for Maui and Moloka‘i for people to comment on a proposal to protect nearly 100 unencumbered state land parcels across Hawai‘i as part of the State Forest Reserves, Natural Area Reserves, and Wildlife Sanctuaries systems.
Natural Area Reserves
(Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve, Hawai‘i Island) – Native hawaiian honeycreepers face multiple threats from predation, habitat loss, and disease. Their declining populations contribute to Hawaiiʻs unfortunate reputation as the “Extinction Capital of the World”. However, the decades-long reforestation of Puʻu Makaʻala provides an outstanding example of the value of native forest restoration and endangered species protection.
(HONOLULU) – DLNR is seeking comments on a proposal to protect nearly 100 unencumbered State land parcels across Hawai'i as part of the State Forest Reserves, Natural Area Reserves, and Wildlife Sanctuaries systems.
(Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve, Hawai‘i) - The fate of several types of Hawaiian honeycreepers hangs in the balance, with the possibility of at least two species going extinct in the very near future.
(HILO) – Less than 24-hours after the current eruption of Mauna Loa began, Steve Bergfeld, the Hawai‘i Island Branch Chief with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) worried most about the Pu‘u Maka‘ala Natural Area Reserve (NAR) on the southeast side of the mountain. At that time lava flows were headed into the northeast rift zone of Mauna Loa.
(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.
(Honolulu) – Individuals wishing to collect foliage, fruit, trees, or other items from State Forest Reserves can now apply for permits through an easy-to-use online system. The new platform, developed by the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), covers both personal-use collections and commercial harvesting.
(HILO ) – Two trucks, an utility task vehicle (UTV), and a tilt trailer stolen from a DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) base yard last November, have all now been recovered. Today a joint task force from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) and the Hawai‘i Police Dept. (HPD) recovered the $18,000 UTV from a property in the Puna district.
(HONOLULU) – A roughly 300-acre parcel mauka (upland) of the Hawaiʻi Loa and Niu Valley subdivisions has been officially designated as a new Hawai‘i State Natural Area Reserve (NAR). Governor David Ige signed an Executive Order on February 3, creating the Pia Valley NAR.
(LĪHU‘E) – Almost four years after Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) was first detected in a lower-elevation forest in northeast Kaua’i, the fungus known to exclusively infect ʻōhiʻa has been found in a dead ʻōhiʻa in the pristine wilderness area of the Alakaʻi at 4,100-feet elevation.