Forestry & Wildlife

HILO --   The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announces the opening of the 2018 spring bearded turkey hunting season on Thursday, March 1, 2018. The spring season will run for 46 consecutive days through Sunday, April 15, 2018. The spring season will be for bearded turkeys only, in locations identified below. The season length, bag limits, and hunting areas are those established in Title 13, Chapter 122, “Rules Regulating Game Bird Hunting, Field Trials and Commercial Shooting Preserves.

HILO --   The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announces the opening of archery hunting in Pu‘uanahulu Game Management Area (GMA) beginning Saturday, March 3, 2018, and continuing on weekends and state holidays through Sunday, June 24, 2018.  Annual closure of the archery season in this GMA will be from July through February.  Season length, bag limits, and hunting areas are those established in Title 13, Chapter 123, “Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting.”  The following conditions and restrictions will apply for the hunt:

(HONOLULU) - The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) voted today to approve an area of land on Hawai‘i island as a public shooting range for the purpose of supporting the state’s Hunter Safety program.

HONOLULU — The State Endangered Species Recovery Committee (ESRC) is now accepting applications for the Hawaiian cultural practitioner position on the Commission. Applications will be reviewed and the names of qualified individuals will be sent to the Governor, who will nominate one person for each vacant position. The term of the new appointee is four years, with a maximum of two terms. The appointment is subject to confirmation by the Senate.

LIHU‘E, KAUA‘I --  The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife will hold an information meeting to gather public comments on a proposal to institute a trial archery (bow and arrow) hunting program for feral pigs in the Nounou Mountain Forest Reserve on Kaua‘i.

(HONOLULU) – Based on witness reports and a social media posting, the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement is investigating the possible illegal removal of rocks (pohaku) from Ka‘ena Point State Park yesterday afternoon.

(HONOLULU) – Nearly every week the local news reports on hikers who’ve gotten lost and disoriented or who have fallen and been injured or even killed. Often times these hikers were on non-sanctioned or ‘social trails’ highlighted by various social media sites and blogs.  The DLNR Na Ala Hele Trail and Access System, administered by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife has introduced a newly designed trails website which provides detailed information, directions, safety considerations, announcements and closure status for more than 100 official State trails.

(HONOLULU) – In the first year of its 10-year plan to strengthen biosecurity, the State of Hawai‘i reports it took dozens of steps to better present, detect and control invasive species in Hawai‘i.

LIHU‘E, KAUA‘I —   The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announces the future availability of feral goat control permits in Hunting Unit A, Kekaha Game Management Area (GMA) on the island of Kaua‘i, pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123-2.2, 5, 5.1 and 9 in “Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting.”

(HILO, HAWAI‘I) – You usually hear them before you see them.  There’s no mistaking the loud and often times synchronized cacophony of caws from eleven ‘Alalā released into a Hawai‘i Island Natural Area Reserve (NAR) last fall. These birds, seven young males and four young females, represent what conservationists hope is the beginning of a recovered population of the endangered Hawaiian crow on the island.  ‘Alalā have been extinct in the wild since 2002. Since the birds took flight from a remote forest aviary in September and October 2017, they’ve been under the daily, watchful eyes of a monitoring team from the Hawai‘i Endangered Conservation Program, a field program of the San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG).  In partnership with the Hawai‘i Dept. of Land & Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others, SDZG reared the ‘Alalā at its centers on the Big Island and on Maui.