Department of Land and Natural Resources

(HILO, HAWAI‘I) – The dilapidated and condemned Uncle Billy’s hotel will have a perimeter fence constructed around the entire property beginning this month.  

(HONOLULU) – Marine pollution is a very significant threat to marine life in the ocean. Abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing nets can ruin essential habitat like coral reefs, as well as entangle marine life such as turtles and humpback whales. The Protected Species Program with the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) would like to remind everyone to utilize its statewide marine debris hotline and reporting website.

(HONOLULU) – The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), on Friday, tentatively approved a proposed settlement by the Albert Trust parties only to pay the fine of $117,472 for the Nakoa boat grounding that damaged over 100 coral colonies and over 1,900 square yards of live rock just outside the Honolua-Mokulēʻia Bay Marine Life Conservation District, on Maui’s west coast. 

(Kailua-Kona) – Construction is set to begin on July 31 on the wash down drainage area at the Honokohau Small Boat Harbor. This project involves removing, hauling, and disposing of drain rock, silt, debris, etc. from the existing clogged and overflowing boat wash down area of the trench drain.

(HONOLULU) – Oral arguments scheduled before the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) for July 28 regarding a petition from the Mauna Kea Hui for a declaratory ruling concerning the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) have been deferred. The Board will notify the parties via a Minute Order when a new date has been selected.   Documents related to the petition can be found in Table 3 at https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/occl/tmt/.

(HONOLULU) – Unless you have a connection with the fire service you may not know that King Kamehameha III founded the Honolulu Fire Dept. (HFD) in 1851. Every recruit class, since 2018,  learns this and the department’s connection to its ancestry and heritage by visiting Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu‘uanu. This morning, eleven firefighter recruits, set to graduate on Friday, gathered at Mauna ‘Ala for protocol and a ceremony that recognizes HFD’s strong connection to ali’i.

(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.