Department of Land and Natural Resources

(Honolulu) – The Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) will be holding a public hearing to receive testimony on the recommendation to designate the Lahaina Aquifer Sector, Maui as a Surface Water and Ground Water Management Area in accordance with Hawaii Revised statutes.

(Honolulu) – Governor David Ige today proclaimed April 17 – 23 as Volunteer Week Hawai’i to celebrate the work volunteers do across the state. “Having people work in the community is probably the best way to get them to be invested in our community,” Governor Ige said. “It really is an honor and a privilege to work side-by-side with so many organizations to take care of this place we call home.”

(Kanaio, Maui) – Over the next three weeks, an estimated 175 abandoned derelict cars and trucks are being removed from unencumbered State land in a remote area of Maui.  This morning, two flatbed tow trucks hauled seven vehicles down the long and winding road, after they’d been towed to the paved highway several miles beyond Ulupalakua Ranch. It’s the same trip the tow operators will make dozens of times until all of the vehicles are removed and transported to a salvage yard. 

(Honolulu) - After receiving more than one-hundred pieces of written testimony and hours of oral testimony at its monthly meeting yesterday, the Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) approved the establishment of five interim instream flow standards (IIFS) for the Island of Moloka‘i. These first IIFS for Moloka‘i will return water back to East Kawela, East Kawela Tributary, West Kawela, Lualohe, and Waikolu Streams.

(HONOLULU) – Lesley Macpherson of the DLNR Division of State Parks has witnessed five monk seal births. On April 14, she documented her sixth, as she recorded veteran mother RN58 give birth to PO5, the fifth pup born on O‘ahu this year. 

(HONOLULU) – Kaniakapūpū, the summer palace of King Kamehameha III, lies within a restricted watershed in a densely forested part of Nuʻuanu. The site is closed to people, with the exception of Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners or permitted caretakers. 

(HONOLULU) – One of the most dramatic and troubling impacts of accelerating climate change is the expansion of mosquito range into upper elevation Hawaiian forest. Avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive mosquitoes, is driving the potential extinction of four native honeycreepers: ‘akikiki, ‘akeke‘e, kiwikiu, and ʻākohekohe. Kiwikiu and ‘akikiki have fewer than 200 birds remaining and could go extinct in the next two years. A single bite from an infected mosquito can kill.

(HILO) – A newly released study by federal and university researchers provides “encouragement and guidance” for land managers wanting to reestablish ʻōhiʻa stands wiped out by the fungal disease, Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death, or impacted by other disturbances like volcanic activity and wildland fires. 

(HILO) – A third attempt to plant an illegal garden in a state park, was foiled Sunday by officers from the DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE). Four people were cited on a variety of charges, including unlawful introduction of plant life on public property and altering geological features by digging into manicured grass.

(HONOLULU) – The Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM) approved the U.S. Navy’s application to install eight new 2-inch groundwater monitoring wells as part of the ongoing response to identify possible migration of fuel in the area beyond the Red Hill lower tunnel at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.