Department of Land and Natural Resources

(Hilo) – In the last few weeks an additional eight people have been cited for loitering in the East Rift Eruption Zone - seven of them in the last 24 hours.

(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.  

(Honolulu)- DLNR Chair Suzanne Case has notified Hawai‘i County Mayor Harry Kim of the State’s termination of a grant agreement with the County that would have provided $1.33 million in matching funds from the State Land Conservation Fund for the acquisition of over 300 acres of private property that formerly reached the Waiʻōpae coastline immediately south of Vacationland at Kapoho, Puna. 

(Kailua-Kona) - A new plaque that memorializes the spot where Captain James Cook was killed on Hawai’i island in 1779 is back on the historic Captain Cook memorial Awili landing at Kaʻawaloa.

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.

(Lihue) -  Hāʻena State Park, the adjacent Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park and the popular Kalalau Trail have been closed since the unprecedented flooding in mid-April.  The same storm which caused multiple landslides along Kūhiō Highway, isolating communities beyond Hanalei, severely damaged park infrastructure at Hāʻena and caused significant impacts along the Kalalau Trail.

(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.

HONOLULU --   The DLNR Division of State Parks will close the Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a  (Tantalus) state wayside all day on Thursday, July 19 while a tree contractor will be working on removal of a large earpod tree and other tree trimming in the park. The tree is fairly large so the whole parking lot will be closed. Tour companies are being notified. The lookout road will be barricaded and park closed signs will be posted. The park will reopen on Friday.

(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) – Following Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s announcement of the City and County of Honolulu Directive 18-01, the co-chairs of the Hawai‘i Climate Change and Adaptation Commission (the Commission) applauded this proactive move as an, “important step toward minimizing risks and adapting to the impacts of sea level rise.”