**IMPORTANT PARK NOTICES**
Monitor local surf and weather reports prior to your park visit.
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[O’AHU] UPDATED 4/20/24 – Vehicle access road in the Mokuleʻia Section of Ka’ena Point State Park is OPEN. Keawa’ula Section of Ka’ena Point State Park: water pump down; comfort station closed; portable toilets available.
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[KAUAʻI] UPDATED 3/18/24 – Kōkeʻe State Park: The gate to Puʻu O Kila Lookout will be closed to vehicular traffic due to road repairs beginning 3/19/24. The lookout will still be accessible by pedestrians, parking is available at Kalalau lookout.
ELEVEN ARRESTS, MARIJUANA PLANTS, AND ILLEGAL CROSSBOW MARK LATEST NAPALI ENFORCEMENT EFFORT
Posted on May 30, 2017Video News Release:
(Honolulu) – 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.
“We still have work to do,” commented DOCARE Enforcement Chief Robert Farrell. On this, his first trip to the Nāpali Coast since becoming state conservation enforcement chief, he joined his officers as they hiked up the rugged Kalalau Valley in search of illegal squatter camps. On Wednesday they located numerous camps. At two, they pulled up small marijuana plants. At one they confiscated an illegal crossbow. Both camps are well established and elaborate. One, where squatters had recently posted a web video depicting a brazen party and all the comforts of home, had a pizza oven, an enclosure with a queen-sized bed, what appeared to be an alcohol still, and an extensive system of solar and battery powered lights for its marijuana growing operation.
Farrell added, “The Nāpali coast is very, very remote. It’s logistically challenging to get officers to the area and it’s difficult to have them stay for long-periods of time for sustained enforcement. Beyond satellite phones, there’s no communications. There are a lot of places for people to run and hide, and though clearly some of the camps had significant populations, once they know we’re coming in, they hide. DOCARE plans to increase its frequency of patrols, which unfortunately means shorting attention in other areas. The division fully supports the Division of State Parks’ continuing efforts to secure funding for dedicated, full-time staff in Hawai‘i’s largest and most remote park to provide education, outreach, emergency response assistance, and law enforcement notification.”
