On January 1, the stay of an injunctive order that was initially set to take effect last April expired. This, despite efforts by the state to extend the stay or amend the order to give the Department of Land and Natural Resources and its agents vehicular access across points of the historic Haleakalā trail that intersect with Haleakalā Ranch roads used by resource managers to reach the mauka forests.
Under the injunction, the six-foot-wide trail may only be used 1) for hiking, walking, or running by members of the public, 2) as an access for those exercising traditional and cultural rights or practices, or 3) by the Maui Department of Water Supply and Maui Electric Company to maintain utility infrastructure.
The injunction was initially set to go into effect on April 1, but was stayed until a hearing in May, where the parties to the case — plaintiffs Public Access Trails Hawaiʻi and David Brown and the state defendants — agreed to a stipulation to stay until January 1 those parts of the order that limit how the trail can be used. This would allow resource management efforts to continue, including fire and invasive species control.
The state committed to expeditiously work to get the trail surveyed and marked according to a metes-and-bounds survey approved by the court more than a decade ago.
That survey was completed last October and showed that the trail does not intersect with Haleakalā Ranch’s Olinda gate, as previously thought, but does cross the ranch’s mauka roads at certain points.
On December 19, less than two weeks before the stay was to expire, deputy attorney general Miranda Steed filed a motion on behalf of the DLNR and the Board of Land and Natural Resources to amend the order “to remove the prohibitions against incidental uses of the subject trail for purposes other than hiking, walking, or running by DLNR and its agents where the trail crosses existing roads. This court has already accommodated critical public interests by amending the order twice to ensure continued access for Maui Electric Company, Limited and the County of Maui Department of Water Supply. The state seeks similar accommodation for equally essential conservation efforts and wildfire response access. Just as the court recognized the importance of utility infrastructure, the state asks the court to recognize the comparable public interest in maintaining these conservation initiatives and allow wildfire response through appropriate vehicular access,” a memorandum in support of the motion states.
A December 19 declaration by Scott Fretz, Maui branch manager for DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, stated that vehicular access to the roads mauka of Olinda Gate is critical for the division’s management activities. In particular, Fretz stated that vehicular access to the roads was critical to stage and implement operations for DOFAW’s Birds, Not Mosquitos project, which is aimed at suppressing mosquito populations to prevent avian malaria from driving the islandʻs critically endangered honeycreepers— the kiwikiu and ākohekohe — to extinction.
The project involves the weekly release of a batch of sterile, lab-reared male mosquitos that mate with wild female mosquitos that then produce no offspring. Fretz stated that missing just one release that required vehicular access to roads mauka of the Olinda gate would set the project back, as more wild females would then mate with wild males and produce offspring.
“Without access through the Olinda Gate access, DOFAW cannot
sustainably continue the Birds Not Mosquitoes project until alternative logistical
arrangements are made, including construction of a new road, landowner
agreements, and a significant increase in helicopter transport costs, expected to be
in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year,” Fretz stated.
Judge Cahill decided on December 26 to grant the state’s application for a hearing on its motion to modify the order, but he set the hearing for March 27. Despite the state’s request, Judge Cahill chose not to stay the order in the meantime.
— Teresa Dawson
For Further Reading
For more background on this, see the following stories, available on our website, www.environment-hawaii.org:
- “State Commits to Survey, Mark Haleakalā Trail Under Stipulation to Stay Injunction Order,” September 2025;
- “Judge Allows Delay, But Scolds DLNR For Failure To Mark Haleakalā Trail,” July 2025;
- “Board Talk: Managing Climbing, Hiking on Maui,” November 2019;
- “Board Talk: Unpaid Lease, Lehua Island, Haleakalā Trail and More,” August 2017;
- “Jury Finds State Owns Haleakalā Bridle Trail,” EH-XTRA;
- “Land Board Shuns Ranch’s Offer to Privatize Haleakalā Bridle Trail,” February 2014;
- “BOARD TALK: Board Approves Limited Access Over Old Haleakalā Trail,” June 2012.
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