(HONOLULU) –Invasive species have devastating effects on Hawaiʻi’s agriculture, food self-sufficiency, freshwater quality and quantity, human health, and on the health of native species and ecosystems. February 1st marks the start of Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Awareness Month.
Forestry & Wildlife
(HONOLULU) – Wetland birds on Oʻahu have good reason to be celebrating World Wetlands Day on Tuesday, as wetland habitat at Kawainui marsh on O‘ahuwill soon be improved through a new restoration project.
(Hilo) – The palila, an endangered, native Hawaiian forest bird, is receiving assistance next month from the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW). DOFAW will conduct trapping of mouflon/feral sheep hybrids, and staff hunting and/or aerial shooting from helicopters for feral goats, feral sheep, mouflon and mouflon/feral sheep hybrids within palila critical habitat in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve (Unit A), Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve (Unit K), Palila Mitigation Lands, and the Kaʻohe Game Management Area (Unit G) on the island of Hawaiʻi.
(Honolulu) – Researchers with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Islands Coastal Program (USFWS) have discovered the endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bee, (Hylaeus anthracinus) is being threatened by invasive ants. These findings are the subject of a new paper being published in the open-access journal, NeoBiota.
(Honolulu) – The Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry, a program of the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), is proud to support Arbor Day Hawaiʻi 2021 through its community forestry grant program.
(HONOLULU) – State botanist Susan Ching and her team spend their lives propagating, planting, and protecting Hawai‘i’s rarest plants. Today, Ching was sweeping up the mess left by vandals who broke into a DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) greenhouse at Waimano, likely on Friday night. The dirt all over the floor, the broken containers, and the gaping hole vandals cut to gain entry are fixable.
(HONOLULU) – The illegal burning of Christmas trees at Ahu O Laka (Kāne'ohe Bay sandbar) is not only a violation of State of Hawai‘i Administrative Rules (HAR), this year, it was exacerbated by non-compliance with COVID-19 mandates. Photos on social media sites show large numbers of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder without masks, as tree-fueled fires burn in the background.
(Kaunakakai, Moloka‘i) – Surveys and investigations by the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) staff suggest that recent instances of deer dying on Moloka‘i are due to severe drought conditions. DOFAW began receiving reports earlier this month of deer being found both on roadways and on private lands in West Moloka‘i.
(Lāhainā) – Hawai‘i’s rich collection of unique, native plant species has added a new member to its ranks: a new species has been described for the first time. Only one individual of the new species, named Cyanea heluensis, is currently known from a remote location in West Maui. While exploring the steep slopes of Helu above Lahaina, botanist Hank Oppenheimer and colleague Jennifer Higashino found a single large plant in the deep shade of a healthy ʻōhiʻa forest.
(LĪHU‘E) – For the first time, the more virulent of two fungal pathogens known to cause Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death has been confirmed in the Kōke‘e area along Miloliʻi Ridge Road within Nā Pali Kona Forest Reserve. During helicopter surveys this month, one tree was flagged as highly suspect for the infection that leads to Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death.