Kamehameha Butterflies Return to O‘ahu Forests This Earth Day

Forestry & Wildlife Announcements

(Honolulu) – This week, eight years after the Kamehameha Butterfly was designated as the Hawai‘i State insect, 94 of the stunning, captive-raised butterflies, were released in the Kawainui Marsh. This is both the culmination of and the beginning of an unusual path towards species conservation.

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.

Today, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Coca-Cola Company and the Ko’olau Mountains Watershed Partnership announced plans for a new replenishment project designed to help restore and recharge the Waiawa watershed which supplies the majority of O’ahu’s drinking water

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife will briefly close the Keanae Arboretum for two days, on Wednesday, March 29 and Thursday, March 30, 2017. This closure will allow a contractor to safely remove trees that recently fell across the trail within the arboretum. The arboretum will reopen on Friday March 31.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, is now accepting applications for vacant seats on the Laupāhoehoe Advisory Council (LAC) and the Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a Advisory Council (PAC) on Hawai‘i island. Both forest areas are part of the Hawaii Experimental Tropical Forest. DOFAW works with the Forest Service to do research in these areas.

HONOLULU — Since 1979, more than 68,000 students have received their certifications through the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) Hunter Education Program. Annually, more than 2,000 students register and attend Hunter Education classes across the state. This experience is now about to get just a little easier for the public.

HONOLULU -- The popular Manoa Falls hiking trail will be closed all day, on Monday, February 13, while state forestry crews remove a 100-foot fallen Albizia tree, and aging composting toilets at the trailhead.

WAILUKU -- The popular 2.5 mile Waihe‘e ridge trail that climbs the windward slope of the west Maui mountains will be temporarily reopened tomorrow, Saturday February 11, following completion of a first phase of improvements for increased public safety through surface improvements, drainage upgrades, and vegetative management.

HONOLULU – Warning signs will be installed starting next week, to alert hikers about the possible presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO) at the start of several popular hiking trails in Maunawili Valley, which were once a part of a former military training camp located on the windward side of O‘ahu.

If you drive a car, fly in a plane, use air-conditioning to cool your home, or engage in other activity powered by fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gas, you may soon have new ways to offset your emissions locally, by supporting Hawaiian forest restoration.