Department of Land and Natural Resources

(HONOLULU) – Open hearings will be conducted by the Division of Aquatics (DAR) on the proposed adoption of Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules (HAR) Chapter 13-78, establishing provisions for the Ocean Stewardship User Fee. The proposed new chapter will implement §187A-52, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes, which requires all operators of commercial vessels, watercraft, or water sports equipment, that are required to have a commercial operator permit or commercial use permit pursuant to HAR §13-256-3, to collect a $1 ocean stewardship user fee from each passenger carried or customer served, and to transfer these fees to DLNR.

HONOLULU – All 14 Hawaiʻi Island State Parks and campsites will close at 4 p.m. today and will remain closed tomorrow in anticipation of Tropical Storm Calvin. All DLNR Division of State Parks (DSP) offices will also be closed tomorrow. Parks will reopen following assessments of any damage.

(HONOLULU) – Tension between an iconic visitor destination and beach erosion, exasperated by climate change, took front and center at today’s meeting of the state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR).  A Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is being prepared for the Waikīkī Beach Improvement and Maintenance Program. Once it is finalized the BLNR will need to authorize submission of the EIS to the Governor for acceptance.

(HONOLULU) – Severe drought conditions are now impacting the southern and western coastal areas of Maui. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor weekly reporting, this is the first time the severe drought designation has been noted in Hawai‘i this summer.

(LĪHUʻE, KAUA‘I) –  Only five of the native Hawaiian honeycreeper species, ‘akikiki, are left in the wild and chances of saving them are growing increasingly dire by the day. This frightening revelation was shared by Justin Hite of the Kaua‘i Forest Bird Recovery Project (KFBRP) during a community open house Tuesday evening. 

(HONOLULU) – The DLNR Division of State Parks (DSP) is hosting a community meeting to share input regarding Polihale State Park. The input was received by a survey and during previous open house events.

(HONOLULU) – Today, at a press conference as part of the Investing in America Tour, representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $3 million in federal funding to the State of Hawaiʻi for climate mitigation planning.

(HONOLULU) – This morning, at the 30th Annual Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference on Oʻahu, DLNR’s Edward “Luna” Kekoa received the 2023 Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance Outstanding Leadership Award for his contributions to community-based natural resource management and conservation in the state.

(HONOLULU) – The state Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) today voted to approve the dismantling of the Diamond Head Breakwater in front of Shangri La to address and deter unsafe behavior. Boulders from the breakwater will be relocated to create a natural rocky shoreline fronting the Shangri La estate seawall.

HONOLULU — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife released a draft environmental assessment for the use of Wolbachia-based incompatible male mosquitoes on the island of Kauaʻi to stop the spread of avian malaria. The draft environmental assessment will be available for public comment for 31 days.