Department of Land and Natural Resources

(WAILUKU, MAUI) – Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen, Jr. signed a proclamation to recognize 2024 as Ka Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele, Year of The Forest Birds, on Wednesday. This action follows Governor Josh Green, M.D.’s proclamation in January and county proclamations on Hawaiʻi Island on Feb. 1, and on Kaua‘i on March 11.

(HONOLULU) – Federal, state and county agencies and nonprofit organizations have again joined together to keep people and Hawaiian monk seals safe during peak pupping season.

(HONOLULU) – Today marks the beginning of Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Awareness Month (HISAM), an annual campaign to prevent and minimize the impacts of invasive species and highlight the positive steps being taken to protect our islands.

(HILO, HAWAI‘I ISLAND) – Like many family stories, this one begins with the mother. Mom is an adult female nēnē, one of Hawai‘i’s State Birds, banded NTC.

(HONOLULU) – “A slap on the wrist in this situation, would be a slap in the face of this community,” exclaimed John Carty of the Save Honolua Coalition. This, after the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) greatly increased a fine against the owners and operator of the yacht Nakoa. The luxury yacht grounded on a reef approximately 600 yards north of the Honolua-Mokulē‘ia Bay Marine Life Conservation District in February 2023.

(HONOLULU) – The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) today fined Janell Jensen, dba Ohana Kayak Rentals, for unpermitted commercial ocean use activity on at least five separate occasions within Kāneʻohe Bay waters. The board received numerous comments from people supporting the penalties.

(HONOLULU) – Handmade bird puppets, lab scientist costumes, moʻolelo, and animated infographics are just some of the tools that K-12 students across Hawaiʻi used to create video projects about forest birds as part of the 2024 ʻŌlelo Youth Xchange Video Challenge. The video contest, run by ʻŌlelo Community Media, includes a video category called “Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele: Year of the Forest Birds,” sponsored by the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW).

(HILO, HAWAI‘I ISLAND) – Toxoplasmosis, an infection spread only in the feces of feral cats, is likely what killed a nēnē gosling last month in Liliʻuokalani Park and Gardens. 

(KAHULUI, MAUI) – Fifty-four trucks and cars, many inoperable, will be towed from the state’s Kahului Harbor on May 6. A team from the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) and officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement placed notices on each of the vehicles on Monday.

(HILO) – The DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) will conduct animal control activities (trapping, ground and/or aerial shooting) for feral goats, feral sheep, mouflon, and mouflon/feral sheep hybrids within the 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 Hawai‘i Island.