(Lihue) – The population of Pacific Rats on tiny Lehua Island, off Kaua‘i’s west coast remains extremely low, two years after three applications of a rodenticide to clear them out of the State Seabird Sanctuary.
slider
(Honolulu) – If you’ve sold or bought property or if you work in the real estate or title business, you’re familiar with the huge volume of legal documents required for property transactions. The Bureau of Conveyances has just awarded a $1.3 million-dollar contract to West Central Indexing to implement a highly specialized Land Records Management System to increase accuracy and improve efficiencies in recording these documents.
(Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park) - Thousands of black-chin tilapia have invaded near-shore waters in the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park on Kaua‘i. Fishermen first reported seeing large schools of mostly juvenile tilapia over the past two weeks. Yesterday a team from the DLNR Divisions of Aquatic Resources (DAR) and Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) conducted in-water surveys at the Nu‘alolo Kai section of the park and confirmed the reports.
(Honolulu) - This week, homeowners on O‘ahu’s northshore are conducting beach maintenance (sand pushing) to temporarily restore a beach berm adjacent to their properties. The DLNR coordinated authorization for the temporary erosion control effort to take place seaward of 20 properties at Pūpūkea Beach Park.
(Honolulu) – State hunting units A, K, and G, in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve and Natural Area Reserve, closed since July 15th will reopen today. The units were closed to protect public safety and provide security for the safe movement of heavy construction equipment associated with the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).
(Kailua-Kona) – Dramatic photographs of two oceanic whitetip sharks, lacking fins, along with photographs of a dead, three-and-a-half-foot long whitetip reef shark is raising concern among marine biologists on Hawai‘i Island.
(Honolulu) - One of the species of fungus causing Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) was recently detected for the first time on O`ahu. A team of natural resource managers from the O`ahu Invasive Species Committee (OISC) and the Ko’olau Mountain Watershed Partnership (KMWP) recently sampled a dead ʻōhiʻa tree on private land in a remote area in the Ko’olau Mountains above Pearl City.
(Honolulu) – When DLNR Chair Suzanne Case was alerted by the O‘ahu Invasive Species Committee (OISC) of their desire to do a miconia survey of her property, she readily agreed. Good news – no Miconia (an invasive, noxious weed), Bad news – naio thrips had infested an 18-year-old naio shrub.
(Honolulu)-The Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Working Group, formed to respond to a new disease threatening Hawai‘i’s most important native forest tree, recently received the Conservation Innovation award at the 2019 Hawaii Conservation Conference. The working group is made up of nearly 200 individuals representing state, county, federal, university, non-profit organizations, local and private businesses, as well as private citizens. The purpose of the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Working Group is to facilitate inclusive communication on all issues related to the fungal disease and share knowledge on a regular basis among group members, their organizations, and the people of Hawai’i.
(Maunakea Access Road) – Lino Kamakau is a 33-year veteran of the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE). He’s camera-shy, likely because he’s a product of Hawai‘i Island, a Native Hawaiian, and during the current stand-off between protesters objecting to the TMT project, the ideal man to dialog with protest leaders. This is not a role he ever expected, nor one he particularly signed up for. “You see what you get,” said Kamakau who is the DOCARE Hawai‘i Island Branch Chief. “I don’t speak with a forked tongue. There are times I can’t tell the protesters everything I know, but I try to be completely honest with them.”