Forestry & Wildlife

The DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announce the opening of the 2019-2020 Game Bird Hunting Season at the Kahua/Ponoholo Ranch Cooperative Game Management Area on Saturday, December 21, 2019. 

(Lihue) – Kaua’i Mayor Derek S. K. Kawakami, who has “two furry children at home,” like many other dog lovers was so moved by the recent rescue of a dog named Orange, he proclaimed today as, “Botanist to the Rescue Day.” All seven members of the county council signed a companion recognition certificate.

 (Honolulu)-Artists are welcome to submit entries to the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) in the annual art contest depicting game mammals and game birds for the 2020–2021 hunting stamp.   

 (Hilo) – Staff with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Natural Area Reserve (NAR) System are excited about a recent find. In late October they discovered an endangered Hawaiian Petrel (‘ua‘u) burrow and a baby chick inside in the Pu‘u O Umi NAR on Kohala Mountain on Hawai‘i Island. This provides the first documentation of a new ‘ua‘u colony endemic to the Kohala district.

(Honolulu) – Last year, the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) acquired more than 2,800 acres of forest land and former agricultural lands in the Helemano area of Central Oʻahu.  This area is now in the process of being placed in the State’s Forest Reserve System and DOFAW has begun developing a plan for the Helemano Wilderness Area with the assistance of local planning firm Planning Solutions, Inc. (PSI). 

 (Honolulu) – An aerial survey of some 20,000 acres of forest on O‘ahu has resulted in the fourth detection of Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) in an ʻōhiʻa in the Moanalua Section of the Honolulu Watershed Forest Reserve above Tripler Army Medical Center.

(Nakula Natural Area Reserve, Maui) – In late October, thirteen critically endangered kiwikiu (Maui Parrotbill), were brought to the leeward slope of Haleakalā in the state’s Nakula Natural Area Reserve (NAR). Over the past decade more than a quarter million native trees were planted in this NAR and the adjacent Kahikinui Forest Reserve to repair decades of habitat destruction caused by overgrazing by hooved animals like goats, cows, and sheep.

(Lihu‘e-Koloa Forest Reserve, Kaua‘i) - When botanist Adam Williams put on his orange t-shirt this morning he knew he’d be rappelling. As a certified arborist with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), Williams is accustomed to climbing trees and down cliffs in search of rare plants.

(Lihu‘e) --  For the past two years the Wailua Management Road (Loop Road) in the Lihu‘e Koloa Forest Reserve has experienced severe damage and continues to pose a public safety hazard.  This road leads to the Blue Hole area. Due to unforeseen circumstances, construction has not started, but that is about to change.

(Li‘hue) – Off-leash dogs and feral cats are responsible for the massacre of between 140 and 150 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (ʻUaʻu kani)  on Kaua‘i during this year’s nesting season.  The shoreline burrowing seabirds are easy prey for both dogs and cats. In the most recent incident, earlier this week at least 35 birds were found dead.