‘Iao Valley State Monument is now not expected to reopen until early August 2017, as the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) continues work to complete repairs to make the park safe for public visitation following major flooding and damage in late 2016. It remains closed until further notice for public safety reasons.
State Parks
A three day operation last week in the Kalalau section of Kauai’s Napali Coast State Wilderness Park resulted in additional arrests and the dismantling of large, illegal camps in Kalalau Valley.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) will open this year’s season for plum harvesting at Koke‘e State Park, Kaua‘i on Saturday, July 1. Permits are required to harvest plums at Koke‘e. They will be available starting on July 1 at the Koke‘e Museum – daily from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or at the State Parks office in Lihu‘e weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Work to restore the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park to its true wilderness character continued during a three-day law enforcement operation this week. A dozen officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) and the Dept. of Public Safety’s Sheriff Division arrested eleven people for being in a closed area without a permit in the Kalalau area of the park. A twenty-year-old man, who could not produce an identification, was handcuffed and flown out of the park and booked on charges at the Kaua‘i Police Department. So far in May, a total of 28 people have been arrested for failing to have the permit required for traveling past the two-mile marker on the famed Kalalau Trail. During law enforcement efforts over the past two years more than 200 people have been arrested.
State and county wildfire fighting crews today continued to work to establish a control perimeter around a fire that is burning between the 800 to 1,500-foot elevation at the western edge of Waimea Canyon, amid grassland and haole koa shrubs.
The main parking lot at Ha‘ena State Park will be closed all day on Friday, May 19 to complete an ongoing maintenance project, as well as tree trimming and removal of ironwood trees adjacent to the parking lot.
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.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources will be holding a summer series of community “talk story” outreach events on Kauai to help local residents and visitors learn about, and understand the Garden Island’s natural and cultural resources, cultural protocol, and regulatory aspects.
Traffic along Diamond Head road and Beach Road may experience delays starting next week while a contractor carries out work to remove rockfall hazards along the makai side of Diamond Head crater. Prometheus Construction has been contracted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to address three areas of rockfall hazard potential on the exterior and interior of Diamond Head State Monument.
Following six months of outreach to homeless individuals living on the slopes of Hawai’i’s iconic Diamond Head, crews from the DLNR Divisions of State Parks and Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), along with a private rubbish contractor removed tons of debris from illegal camps within Diamond Head State Monument. They were joined by state outreach representatives.