HONOLULU – Just in time for National Trails Day, on Saturday, June 4, 2016, Hawaii’s Nā Ala Hele Trail and Access Program is launching a new website with cutting-edge features and a new design making it the prime resource for state forest trail hikers in Hawaii. National Trails Day is the largest celebration of trails and the thousands of volunteers who maintain trails across the country.
Forestry & Wildlife
LIHU'E – The Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) announced today that it will continue its annual seabird radar monitoring work to once again coincide with the start of egg laying for both ‘A‘o (Newell’s Shearwaters) and Ua’u (Hawaiian Petrels) on Kaua’i.
(HILO & KAHULUI) - Dozens of scientists, foresters, surveyors, researchers, and educators are actively involved in the fight to try and stop the spread of Rapid ‘Ōhi‘a Death. The fungal
(KAHULUI, MAUI) - Ask anyone who’s had a thorny branch go through their slipper and into their foot, through a tire, or land on their car and you’ll get one answer. Kiawe is a nasty plant that can hurt, can puncture and can scratch. This is not the only reason numerous kiawe are being cut down and removed from ‘Ahihi-Kina‘u Natural Area Reserve (NAR) on Maui’s south shore.
LIHU‘E, KAUA‘I -- The state is continuing its efforts to restore the Pu‘u Ka Pele Forest Reserve on Kaua‘i and the newly out-planted koa trees within the previously burned and logged area, by carrying out an animal control hunt within a designated portion of the forest reserve. This animal control will begin on June 6, 2016 and extend to the end of December 2016.
LIHUE, KAUAI -- On Sunday May 22 and continuing today, State wildlife officials on Kauai are responding to the discovery of 34 dead Wedge-tailed shearwaters in the seabird colony at Spouting Horn, Lawai area on the south coast. Most of the kills were found near the parking lot end of Lawai road.
(HONOLULU) - They use technology like radar, acoustic monitoring devices and lasers. They reach into cliff-top burrows to monitor breeding birds and they partner with other organizations to protect the birds from introduced predators like feral cats that attack them. They exemplify partnership by forging relationships with numerous organizations, working together to save endangered seabirds on Kauai from extinction. For their efforts, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recognized the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) with its 2015 Endangered Species Recovery Champions Award.
(LIHUE, KAUAI) – When Kawika Smith was a boy, his father would take him trekking through the mud and bogs of the Alakai Plateau. Now as the Kauai supervisor for the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s Na Ala Hele Trail Access program, Smith is overseeing the replacement of nearly three-miles of 20-year-old boardwalk that carries hikers above the mud and water. Joined by every Na Ala Hele program staff member from around the state, this is a monumental undertaking.
(HONOLULU) – Government and non-government organizations from across the state today, announced a collaborative effort to raise awareness about the threat of wildfire and drought to Hawaii’s natural resources and to private and public property. Wildfire & Drought Look Out!, is a continuing campaign to keep people across the state informed of current fire and drought conditions, provide tips on protecting life and property from wildfire, and to provide information and education on how to deal with prolonged drought.
(HONOLULU) – Today, a certified private arborist inspected the large ficus tree on the Judd Trail in the Honolulu Forest Reserve that fell yesterday, injuring a hiker. His report will become part of the state’s investigation into the accident and provide the basis for clearing the tree from the trail, which was closed after the incident.