Board Talk: DLNR Steps Up Efforts to Manage Homelessness Across Public Lands
For the last five years, the state Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) has basically had to ignore its normal duties of protecting and helping manage Hawai‘i’s natural resources. “Homelessness has taken away from all that,” DOCARE officer Gerard Villalobos … Continued
Board Talk Continued: Illegal Dumping, Waiea Tract, And Kahala Hotel Permit
Dumper Claims DLNR Owes Damages for Removed Bin As if the DLNR didn’t have enough problems with dumping on its lands, late last year, the agency’s Land Division learned that someone left a roll-off container full of trash on an … Continued
Guest Ranch in North Kohala Gets Approval to Continue Operations
Last month, the Hawai‘i County Leeward Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the application of Kupunakane Ranch, LLC, dba Puakea Ranch, to run a hotel on 14.9 acres of land in the state Agricultural District in North Kohala. Plans call … Continued
False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team Fails to Agree on Meaningful Measures
At the virtual meeting last month of the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (TRT), it became clear, early on, that agreement on substantive recom- mendations the group is tasked with making to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) would be difficult, if … Continued
Comment Open on Draft Recovery Plan for MHI False Killer Whale Population
On October 16, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that a draft recovery plan for the Main Hawaiian Islands insular population of false killer whales had been prepared and was open for public comment. The insular population, numbering 167 individuals, … Continued
New & Noteworthy: East Maui Permits, 5G Tower
Wait a Minute: On October 22, the Sierra Club of Hawai‘i asked 1st Circuit Judge Jeffrey Crabtree to force the state Board of Land and Natural Resources to wait until its December 11 meeting to consider renewing four revocable permits to Alexander & … Continued
Lawsuit Seeks to Close ‘Loophole’ Allowing Aquarium Fish Collection
More than three years ago, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court issued its ruling in a case that many observers thought would halt commercial aquarium fish collection, at least for a time. The high court determined in Umberger v. Dep’t of Land and Natural Res. that … Continued
Opponents of Aquarium Trade Appeal Decision Upholding BLNR Rejection of EIS
Last May, the Board of Land and Natural Resources refused to accept an environmental impact statement that had been prepared by a private group seeking to reopen much of the west coast of Hawai‘i island to commercial aquarium fish collectors. In … Continued