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.
News Releases
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.
In an order (Minute Order No. 43) issued today, contested case hearing officer Judge Riki May Amano (ret.) notified the parties of upcoming filing deadlines in the Contested Case Hearing for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) at the Mauna Kea Science Reserve. During the evidentiary portion of the Contested Case Hearing, spread over five months in late 2016 and early 2017, twenty-five parties to the case presented testimony and evidence.
Five public libraries on Hawai‘i island and O‘ahu now have copies of transcripts from Contested Case HA-16-02 regarding the Conservation District Use Application (CDUA) for the Thirty Meter Telescope at the Mauna Kea Science Reserve. The copies are available for public review but they cannot be checked out. Any parties to the contested case or members of the public who wish to have a copy directly from the court reporter should contact the court reporting agencies listed below.
A boat operator, who advertised his “Epic Boat After Party,” on social media, was cited by the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) on Easter Sunday for conducting commercial activities without a permit. Among the 15 passengers Adam Taylor carried on his boat to the Ahu o Laka sand bar in Kaneohe Bay, were undercover DOCARE officers who paid Taylor fees for a boat ride. All commercial activities conducted from State small boat harbors, facilities, and near shore waters require a permit from the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.
The Hawai‘i State Water Commission approved a mediated settlement today that will immediately restore continuous flows in the Waimea River, as well as provide the opportunity for a renewable energy project, water for Hawaiian homesteading, and farming.
After wildlife biologists and veterinarians relocated a 10-month-old Hawaiian monk seal on March 30th from the Lihi Canal in Kapa‘a, to a beach on the island’s west side they’d hoped she would stay away from the canal. Two days ago the seal, identified as RH92, returned to the canal along with an adult seal (RK13). Together they’ve been seen feeding on small fish in the manmade waterway along with discarded fish parts. The return of RH92 to Lihi is prompting stepped-up public awareness and outreach and potentially enforcement of littering laws for fishermen who dispose of fish parts in the water.
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
Today, the Department of Land and Natural Resources delivered the Closing Report for the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress (Congress) to the Hawaii State Legislature. This follows closing of the accounting for the State’s hosting of the Congress as of March 31, 2017
Ka Iwi Coast Mauka Lands - a culturally important and spectacular scenic coastline located in east O'ahu that has been threatened with development for decades - will be preserved in perpetuity in its natural state. The announcement, made today by the City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawai'i, Ka Iwi Coalition, Livable Hawai'i Kai Hui and The Trust for Public Land, ends a 40-year-long struggle to protect this beloved landscape