Department of Land and Natural Resources

(LĀNAʻI CITY)-Applications for the 2024 Lānaʻi axis deer hunting season will be available this month, beginning Monday, September 18, 2023. The Lānaʻi axis deer season will consist of four hunts: an archery hunt, a youth hunt, a muzzleloader hunt, and a general rifle hunt.

(HONOLULU) – Despite being some of the rarest, slowest-moving creatures on Earth, our kāhuli (Hawaiian land snails) are popping up in living rooms across the country. Their sudden appearance is thanks to a new episode of the Pacific Heartbeat series produced by local nonprofit Pacific Islanders in Communication and broadcast nationally by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The hour-long episode, titled “Hawaiʻi’s Precious Resources,” combines three short documentary films that feature natural and cultural resources in Hawaiʻi.

(WAIHOU SPRINGS FOREST RESERVE, MAUI) – Firefighters with the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) report today that the Olinda Fire in upcountry Maui is now 85% contained. 

(KAHALUI, MAUI) – The Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources is providing aerial video and photos from flyovers today, of all four fires spread this week by winds from a hurricane passing south of the state. All images and video courtesy: Hawai‘i DLNR 

(LĪHUʻE) – Bird experts on Kauaʻi are using all the tools in their toolbox to keep critically endangered forest birds from going extinct. One honeycreeper species, ʻakikiki, could disappear from the wild this year due to mosquito-borne avian malaria, with another species, ʻakekeʻe, not far behind.

HONOLULU – All 14 Hawaiʻi Island State Parks and campsites will close at 4 p.m. today and will remain closed tomorrow in anticipation of Tropical Storm Calvin. All DLNR Division of State Parks (DSP) offices will also be closed tomorrow. Parks will reopen following assessments of any damage.

(HONOLULU) – Severe drought conditions are now impacting the southern and western coastal areas of Maui. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor weekly reporting, this is the first time the severe drought designation has been noted in Hawai‘i this summer.

(LĪHUʻE, KAUA‘I) –  Only five of the native Hawaiian honeycreeper species, ‘akikiki, are left in the wild and chances of saving them are growing increasingly dire by the day. This frightening revelation was shared by Justin Hite of the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP) during a community open house Tuesday evening. 

HONOLULU — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife released a draft environmental assessment for the use of Wolbachia-based incompatible male mosquitoes on the island of Kauaʻi to stop the spread of avian malaria. The draft environmental assessment will be available for public comment for 31 days.

(HONOLULU) – Granted, they had assistance from the drivers of 10 vehicles, who moved thousands of rare, threatened, and endangered Hawaiian snails from their home in Kailua to new digs in the Pearl City area, this morning. Their caretakers have dubbed the transfer, “The Great Snail Bail,” and believe it could well be a record for the number of protected species moved from one place to another at one time.