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.
News Releases
(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.
More than 100 interested people attended an open house and community meeting on the Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park master planning process on Jan. 30, 2016. In this video, DLNR State Parks Administrator Curt Cottrell and DLNR First Deputy Kekoa Kaluhiwa discuss their vision for this important natural and cultural resource, for the Hawaii state parks system, and for the importance of community engagement in developing plans for the management and protection of Hawaii's natural resources.
Request for Proposal/Goods and Services for a Replacement Land Management Information System
(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.
LIHU‘E, KAUA‘I -- The latest step in the state’s ongoing efforts to restore the Pu‘u Ka Pele Forest Reserve on Kaua‘i is to protect 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 run for two months from Feb. 8, 2016 to April 8, 2016.
HONOLULU -- Applications for a vacant position on the State Commission on Water Resource Management are now being accepted for a new term that will begin July 1, 2016 and run for four (4) years, expiring on June 30, 2020. Applications and resumes should be postmarked no later than Friday, February 26, 2016.
KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII -- Salvage operations are expected to be completed by tomorrow of the 39’ Coast-Guard registered powerboat “Hoku Kea,” which ran aground Friday evening off Kohanaiki beach, west Hawaii.
KAILUA-KONA -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will hold a combined public information meeting and formal public rulemaking hearing in West Hawai‘i to amend Hawaii Administrative Rules (“HAR”) Title 13, chapter 60.4, to establish the Ka‘ūpūlehu Marine Reserve.
KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) has opened a new boating office at the Kailua Pier, in Kailua-Kona. DOBOR staff based in this office will manage the day-by-day operation of the Kailua Pier and provide support services for recreational boaters.