Division of Forestry and Wildlife

(HONOLULU) - Are you a part of the community that cares for our lands and waters?  While natural resource managers and conservation professionals prepare to gather in Honolulu this week for the annual Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference, they represent only a part of the larger community of stewards.  Community-based and civic stewardship groups are crucial to the well-being of our communities, yet many of their activities are not understood or even recognized.  

LIHU‘E -- The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announces the opening of the black-tailed deer hunting season on the island of Kaua‘i.  Rules and conditions regulating game mammal hunting in Title 13, Chapter 123 will be in effect.

(Honolulu) – Each day for ten days a group of twenty teenagers gather in the morning for their latest lessons on the preservation of O‘ahu’s coastal, wetland, and forest areas. This is the second year of Kupu Kōkua Camp, a partnership between the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) and the non-profit Kupu which trains thousands of young people each year in conservation, sustainability and environmental education.

(Hilo) – The flow from fissure #8 is slowly creeping to the State of Hawai‘i’s Pohoiki Boat Ramp adjacent to Hawai‘i County’s Issac Hale Park.  During an assessment of eruption impacts today, steam and volcanic gasses from the nearby ocean entry wafted over the tall trees in the park’s now empty parking lot.  Stephen Schmelz, Hawai’i Island Branch Manager for the DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) estimates the lava, if it maintains its current course and speed, could overtake Pohoiki and Issac Hale Park within the next few days.

(Honolulu) – Today the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife’s (DOFAW) Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry Program reached a major milestone. For the last two years a group of volunteers in Kailua have been gathering information on individual trees in Kailua. They measure and map each tree and their data provides valuable information about urban trees that helps resource experts better manage these important community assets.  In recognition of the first team of Citizen Foresters, DLNR/DOFAW presented them with a DLNR & YOU Citizen Conservationist award.

(Puna) – The East Rift Zone Eruption event has destroyed important populations of two of Hawaiʻi’s endangered plants. This loss highlights the importance of managing other threats to native species across the state and the need to increase resilience of such populations.

HILO – The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) announces the opening of the hunting season in the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a forest reserve (PWW), youth and disabled hunt and makai sections pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123, "Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting." DLNR-DOFAW also announces a special ungulate control program for the PWW mauka section pursuant to Title 13, Chapter 123-9, "Rules Regulating Game Mammal Hunting."  

(Halawa, Moloka‘i) -- It took a community effort over several weeks to successfully clean up various kinds of marine debris from the beautiful beaches at the east end of Moloka‘i. More than 60 big bags full of trash were collected during a team effort between Moloka’i volunteers, a school class, staff from a local ranch, and help from several agencies. The biggest challenge was a net mass that was described as the size of a large SUV in one gigantic doughnut-like ball, about 25-30 yards across.