Forestry & Wildlife

HILO – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announces the release of “Saving ʻŌhiʻa, Hawaii’s Sacred Tree,” a new half-hour documentary on Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, the disease that is killing ʻōhiʻa lehua, Hawaii's most widespread and important native tree. 

HONOLULU -- Grants from the State of Hawai‘i Land Conservation Fund support efforts by state agencies, counties, and nonprofit land conservation organizations to acquire land and protect resources for public benefit.  The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), through its Legacy Land Conservation Program, seeks applications from these partners for grants to preserve — forever — land that has natural, environmental, recreational, scenic, cultural, agricultural production, or historic value, including park and trail systems that provide access to such land.

(HONOLULU) - Are you a part of the community that cares for our lands and waters?  While natural resource managers and conservation professionals prepare to gather in Honolulu this week for the annual Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference, they represent only a part of the larger community of stewards.  Community-based and civic stewardship groups are crucial to the well-being of our communities, yet many of their activities are not understood or even recognized.  

(Honolulu)- DLNR Chair Suzanne Case has notified Hawai‘i County Mayor Harry Kim of the State’s termination of a grant agreement with the County that would have provided $1.33 million in matching funds from the State Land Conservation Fund for the acquisition of over 300 acres of private property that formerly reached the Waiʻōpae coastline immediately south of Vacationland at Kapoho, Puna. 

LIHU‘E -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announces the opening of the black-tailed deer hunting season on the island of Kaua‘i.  Rules and conditions regulating game mammal hunting in Title 13, Chapter 123 will be in effect.

(Honolulu) – Each day for ten days a group of twenty teenagers gather in the morning for their latest lessons on the preservation of O‘ahu’s coastal, wetland, and forest areas. This is the second year of Kupu Kōkua Camp, a partnership between the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) and the non-profit Kupu which trains thousands of young people each year in conservation, sustainability and environmental education.

(Hilo) – The flow from fissure #8 is slowly creeping to the State of Hawai‘i’s Pohoiki Boat Ramp adjacent to Hawai‘i County’s Issac Hale Park.  During an assessment of eruption impacts today, steam and volcanic gasses from the nearby ocean entry wafted over the tall trees in the park’s now empty parking lot.  Stephen Schmelz, Hawai’i Island Branch Manager for the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) estimates the lava, if it maintains its current course and speed, could overtake Pohoiki and Issac Hale Park within the next few days.

(Honolulu) – Today the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s (DOFAW) Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program reached a major milestone. For the last two years a group of volunteers in Kailua have been gathering information on individual trees in Kailua. They measure and map each tree and their data provides valuable information about urban trees that helps resource experts better manage these important community assets.  In recognition of the first team of Citizen Foresters, DLNR/DOFAW presented them with a DLNR & YOU Citizen Conservationist award.

(Puna) – The East Rift Zone Eruption event has destroyed important populations of two of Hawaiʻi’s endangered plants. This loss highlights the importance of managing other threats to native species across the state and the need to increase resilience of such populations.

HILO – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announces the opening of the hunting season in the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a forest reserve (PWW), youth and disabled hunt and makai sections pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123, "Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting." DLNR-DOFAW also announces a special ungulate control program for the PWW mauka section pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123-9, "Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting."