Forestry & Wildlife

(Kailua-Kona) - Compared to large mainland wildfires, Hawai‘i’s are relatively small. Yet the percentage of land mass burned each year in the islands is equal to or exceeds the acreage burned in many western states.

(Lihue, Kaua‘i) – After more than a month of rehabilitation a pueo (Hawaiian Short-Eared Owl) was released late yesterday on private ranch land in west Kaua‘i. The release site is near to where the young bird was rescued in late March and taken to the Save our Shearwaters (SOS) facility at the Kaua‘i Humane Society.

HILO -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) will conduct animal control activities specifically for trapping mouflon/feral sheep hybrids; 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 Ka‘ohe Game Management Area (Unit G) on the island of Hawai‘i.

This week, eight years after the Kamehameha Butterfly was designated as the Hawai‘i State insect, 94 of the stunning, captive-raised butterflies, were released in the Kawainui Marsh. This is both the culmination of and the beginning of an unusual path towards species conservation.

If you launch a boat from one of O‘ahu’s small boat harbors you’ll see one. If you start hiking up one of the island’s popular trails you’re bound to see one. By the end of today, 25 large, conservation messaging signs will have been installed at various locations under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). Another five signs are portable and will be used for various outreach and education purposes.

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

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife will briefly close the Keanae Arboretum for two days, on Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30, 2017. This closure will allow a contractor to safely remove trees that recently fell across the trail within the arboretum. The arboretum will reopen on Friday March 31.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, is now accepting applications for vacant seats on the Laupāhoehoe Advisory Council (LAC) and the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Advisory Council (PAC) on Hawai‘i island. Both forest areas are part of the Hawaii Experimental Tropical Forest. DOFAW works with the Forest Service to do research in these areas.

The popular 2.5 mile Waihe‘e ridge trail that climbs the windward slope of the west Maui mountains is again closed through April 7 to allow completion of improvements for increased public safety through surface improvements, drainage upgrades, and vegetative management.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DLNR-DOFAW) is seeking public comment from hunters on its annual statewide hunting survey. The purpose of this annual survey is to assist in improving DLNR’s game management in state public hunting areas. DOFAW manages over one million acres of state land for wildlife-dependent recreation and conservation. Its Hawaii game management program provides opportunities for recreational and subsistence hunting of 16 species of game birds and 6 species of game mammals.