Forestry & Wildlife

(HONOLULU) - Hawaii’s 4th annual Hawaii Invasive Species Awareness Week (HISAW) wrapped up today with a ceremony in Governor David Ige’s office to recognize people and organizations who’ve been instrumental in the fight against invasive species.

(SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii) – The U.S. Army and the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) conducted a joint airlift operation, Wednesday, to protect Oahu’s native plants and animals.

(HONOLULU) – The Oahu Branch Chief for the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) has been promoted to become DOFAW Administrator. David Smith is a veteran state wildlife biologist and forestry and wildlife manager with 28 years of experience.

HILO, HAWAII -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), pursuant to Chapter 195D, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, will hold a public hearing to receive testimony on the Nāpu‘u Conservation Project Draft Habitat Conservation Plan for Game Management at Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a and Pu‘u Anahulu.

(HILO) - A series of wildfires in the Puuanahulu area of Hawaii Island over the past week have prompted fire and police officials to ask people using the region to report any suspicious activity.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) will hold a series of talk story sessions about methods to control and eradicate invasive rodents and mongooses to protect native species in Hawaii. The agencies are co-leads in developing a draft programmatic environmental impact statement, which will analyze the impacts of and alternatives to controlling these invasive animals for the protection of native wildlife, plants, and habitats that support them.

(HONOLULU) – U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that the State of Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources is the recipient of more than $485,000 as part of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The program’s focus is on public-private partnerships that enable private companies, land owners, local communities and other non-government partners to deliver innovative watershed-scale projects to keep lands resilient, improve water quality and quantity, wildlife habitat, and to promote economic growth in a variety of industries. This award is the second year of the RCPP, and the second year Hawaii’s DLNR has received funding for watershed forest protection.

HONOLULU -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) is seeking comments on a Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) in connection with a proposed Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take License (ITL) for game management at Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Forest Reserve and Pu‘u Anahulu Game Management Area.

(LIHUE) – For the last few weeks a large excavator has been digging hole after hole on the steep slopes of state forest reserves in the Kokee area of Kauai. Some 3,000 acres of land were scorched during a series of wildfires there during the summer of 2012. The excavator is preparing the ground for the hand planting of 20,000 foot-tall koa seedlings.

(HILO) – Recent aerial surveys of 810,000 acres of Hawaii Island forests showed that a fungal infestation of ohia trees is much greater than earlier thought. Using a helicopter and specialized survey equipment, surveyors from a collaboration of state, county and federal agencies flew over 81,000 acres, January 11 - 15, 2016. Satellite imagery of ohia forests in 2014 resulted in an estimate of 15,000 acres infected by this newly identified disease. The latest survey, pending ground verification, estimates the infection has now spread to some 34,000 acres of the ohia forest on the Big Island.