(Hanalei, Kauai) – Kauai taro farmer Rodney Haraguchi can’t wait until the Hanalei Stream Bank Restoration Project is finished in the next two months. For almost 20 years, he and nine other farmers who have loi on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge have experienced diminished water flows from the Hanalei River. “You know, like any farmer, without water, you cannot plant any taro or harvest; water is the life-line for our crops,” Haraguchi said.
News Releases
(HONOLULU) - As a follow up to Friday’s court decision invalidating the emergency rule prohibiting overnight presence along the upper Mauna Kea road corridor, the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) reminds people that camping in forest reserves and public hunting areas without a permit remains illegal under Hawaii Administrative Rules.
(MOLOKINI) - When the Keolahou arrives at Molokini Crater, three miles off Maui’s south coast, more than a dozen commercial tour boats are already moored. The Keolahou is a DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) research vessel. Yesterday it carried five researchers to Molokini to continue, what has been so far, a three-year-long coral bleaching monitoring project. While the researchers dive to lay out transect lines, to tag coral heads and to photograph them, hundreds of tourists snorkel nearby.
HONOLULU -- The Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board has added 12 properties to the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places. Properties are eligible for inclusion in the register because of their association with broad patterns or events, or individuals important in the history of Hawai‘i. They are usually significant in architecture and design, are likely to yield important information, and their features retain their qualifying integrity.
(HONOLULU) - Curt Cottrell, a 25-year-long employee of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, has been chosen as the next Administrator for the DLNR Division of State Parks. He replaces Dan Quinn, another veteran manager, who recently retired.
HONOLULU - Hawaii’s unprecedented coral bleaching event this fall prompted dozens of new volunteers to receive training today by the Eyes of the Reef Network (EOR), to spot and report coral bleaching on their local reefs. Billed as Bleachapalozza, today’s statewide training was intended to increase the number of trained volunteers in the water, documenting and reporting bleaching to the network.
HONOLULU --- The Department of Land and Natural Resources is implementing a $1.2 million construction project to install approximately 766 linear feet of rockfall impact protective fencing on a hillside just below the popular Lanikai pillbox trail.
(HONOLULU) - Dr. Bruce Anderson, a well-known Hawaiʻi leader in environmental protection, has been selected to be the Administrator of the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR).
HONOLULU -- A rock fall today has resulted in closure of the ‘Aiea Loop Trail in Keaiwa Heiau State Recreational Area. No one was hurt.
HILO -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) will conduct animal control activities specifically for trapping mouflon/feral sheep hybrids; staff hunting, and/or aerial shooting from helicopters for feral goats, feral sheep, mouflon and mouflon/feral sheep hybrids within palila critical habitat in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve (Unit A), Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve (Unit K), and the Ka‘ohe Game Management Area (Unit G) on the island of Hawai‘i. Aerial shooting is required for compliance with the federal court order mandating the removal of sheep and goats from critical habitat for palila, a bird endemic to Hawai‘i.