State and county wildfire fighting crews today continued to work to establish a control perimeter around a fire that is burning between the 800 to 1,500-foot elevation at the western edge of Waimea Canyon, amid grassland and haole koa shrubs.
Natural Area Reserves
Today, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Coca-Cola Company and the Ko’olau Mountains Watershed Partnership announced plans for a new replenishment project designed to help restore and recharge the Waiawa watershed which supplies the majority of O’ahu’s drinking water
DLNR is issuing this statement in the Kaʿena Point albatross killings, expressing concern over the plea bargain of Christian Guiterrez, 19, the adult accused of participating in these crimes.
A new study provides the first rigorous population estimate of an enigmatic endangered bird species found only on Kauai, the Puaiohi or Small Kauai Thrush: 494 birds. Scientists have long believed that the species was very rare, but it had heretofore eluded a precise count due to its secretive demeanor and the rugged, inaccessible terrain it inhabits deep in Kauai’s Alakai Plateau.
Botanists surveying a remote area on Maui found something they didn’t expect – a species of fern previously unknown to science. Named after the mountain on which it is found, Athyrium haleakalae was recently announced and described in a paper by Kenneth Wood and Warren Wagner of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) and the Smithsonian Institution, respectively
Reintroduction efforts for the ʻAlalā, the native Hawaiian crow, began in December of last year with the release of five ʻAlalā into a Hawai‘i Island State Natural Area Reserve. Sadly, three birds did not survive, and the remaining two were brought back into captivity.
The Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) Kaua‘i branch, of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is considering a revision to the Līhu‘e-Kōloa Forest Reserve Management Plan to update management priorities, tactical goals and action items, and estimated costs, and as part of the update, to provide for sustainable commercial management of existing non-native timber stands found within the forest reserve.
The popular 2.5 mile Waihe‘e ridge trail that climbs the windward slope of the west Maui mountains will be temporarily reopened tomorrow, Saturday February 11, following completion of a first phase of improvements for increased public safety through surface improvements, drainage upgrades, and vegetative management.
If you drive a car, fly in a plane, use air-conditioning to cool your home, or engage in other activity powered by fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gas, you may soon have new ways to offset your emissions locally, by supporting Hawaiian forest restoration.
Watch "The Endangered Forest Birds of Hawaii," to learn about extraordinary efforts underway to save rare, endemic birds from extinction.