**IMPORTANT PARK NOTICES**
Monitor weather reports before your park visit
•
[MAUI] - UPDATE 4/10/25: Makena State Park's northern Black Sand Beach Access Road is CLOSED to vehicular access due to ponding from heavy rains. The road is open to pedestrian access. The 2 southern roads remain open.
•
[KAUA’I] - UPDATE 4/10/25: Kalalau Trail, Nāpali Coast SWP is CLOSED today. Ha’ena shuttle is SUSPENDED today.
•
[MOLOKA’I] - UPDATE 3/24/25: Pala’au State Park Pavilion: Due to demolition and renovation work, the pavilion will be closed from March 25 to May 31.
•
[KAUAʻI] - UPDATE 3/21/25: Pā‘ula‘ula State Historic Site - Due to construction improvements, the park closure will begin starting March 24 until further notice.
•
[OʻAHU] - UPDATE 3/18/25: Mauna ʻAla, Royal Mausoleum State Monument will be undergoing improvements that may temporarily prevent vehicular access. Please check the Royal Mausoleum State Monument website for updates.
•
[OʻAHU] UPDATED 3/18/25 – Diamond Head State Monument (DHSM): Full Park Closures will occur Tuesdays through Fridays beginning April 1 to April 11 and also Monday through Thursday April 14 to April 17. Partial Park Closures Hours with operating hours from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM will occur on Monday April 7 during this time, and will resume from April 21 onwards Monday through Friday, (except weekends and holidays). Normal Park Hours from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM will resume during Spring Break March 17 to March 28, Good Friday Holiday on April 18, and Weekends. During Partial Park Closures Hours from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM, the last reservation time slot for Parking and Entry and Entry Only will be 12:00 p.m. If you reserved at 12:00 p.m., you must enter the Park no later than 12:30 p.m. or you will be denied entry. The project began January 6, 2025, and will run to July 25, 2025, or upon completion of the rock fall mitigation construction project at the Kahala Tunnel. Please check back for updates.
•
[MAUI] UPDATE 3/4/25 - Polipoli Spring State Recreation Area: Beginning April 1, 2025 through April 30, 2025 the park, cabin campgrounds and access road to Polipoli Forest Reserve will be closed due to tree mitigation work.
“Kanaka Garden” in Wailoa River State Recreation Area Removed – Group Leader Cited for Three Violations
Posted on Jan 7, 20211/7/21 – (HILO) – Early this morning officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) stood watch as a crew from the DLNR Division of State Parks removed illegally planted taro and banana trees from the Wailoa River State Recreation Area.
The so-called“Kanaka Garden”was planted within the last week by a group claiming to have jurisdiction over the State land. 64-year-old Gene Tamashiro of Hilo, the group’s leader, was cited by DOCARE officers on three Hawai‘i Administrative Rules (HAR) violations that were outlined on a Cease-and-Desist Order that was delivered to him on Tuesday.
Tamashiro and several others were cited in 2013 on similar charges following an illegal planting operation at the Wailoa park. Officers also contacted two women who initially refused to leave the park, but they eventually left on their own accord. Wailoa State Recreation Area does not open until 7 a.m. each day, but a group of six or seven people were seen tending the football field-sized garden well before dawn.
State Parks supervisors estimate several hundred plants were pulled from the ground today. They were trucked to the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo School of Tropical Agriculture where
viable plants will be returned to the ground. Crews will return to the park later today to assess any damage, which could lead to additional civil penalties against the people who planted the garden. State Parks workers will also need to return in the coming days to cover holes created during the planting.
DOCARE officers also removed a “Kanaka Garden” sign that detailed the groups claims of ownership of the property as well as several flags that had been erected at the park’s main entrance. Several occupiers stood with flags in hand as trucks carrying the plants away, passed them. A couple of tents that had been put up earlier in the week were previously taken down by their owners. Officers from the Hawai‘i Police Department and the Dept. of Public Safety Sheriff Division provided support for the operation.
Tamashiro will be required to appear in Hilo District Court on February 19 to answer charges of leaving abandoned property on public lands; unauthorized use of State lands for agriculture use; and introducing plants onto public property.
Kanaka Garden Removed, Jan. 7, 2021 from Hawaii DLNR on Vimeo.
Previous Article – 1/5/21 – A group of people who have illegally taken over a portion of Wailoa River State Recreation Area were notified this morning to cease and desist by 5pm tomorrow (Wednesday, Jan. 6).
Officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) taped one order on a sign the group had put up at the park’s entrance. Another was presented to the group’s leader and another was posted in a small encampment.
The group has planted between 50 and 60 taro plants and banana trees across a football-sized field in the popular and widely used State park. The participants are claiming jurisdiction over the park. They don’t have any permits for planting or for erecting signs at Wailoa.
Today a man sat at the park’s entrance drumming. Another person was mowing grass around the fresh plantings.
Eight years ago, the man leading the group was cited after similar illegal activities at Wailoa. DOCARE is working closely with the DLNR Division of State Parks to return the area to public usage.
DOCARE Chief Jason Redulla said, “No matter their professed claims of ownership, this recreation area and all other State Parks belong to all of Hawai‘i for the enjoyment by residents and visitors. Park users have expressed concerns that members of this group are ignoring County and State mandates to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Today about a dozen people appeared to be part of the group. Last weekend, media reports indicate the number had swelled to 75 or more.
The Cease and Desist order requires the group to remove tents and other camping gear or the materials will be considered abandoned property.
Wailoa River State Recreation Area Cease & Desist, Jan. 5, 2021 from Hawaii DLNR on Vimeo.
