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Environment

News stories regarding Molokai’s outdoor environment

Beekeeping for Beginners Workshop

Sunday, March 26th, 2017

Pu`u O Hoku News Release

A workshop for beekeeping for beginners will be held at Pu`u O Hoku Ranch on Tuesday, March 28 from 9 a.m. to noon. Topics will include honey bee biology, beekeeping equipment, starting a honey bee colony, hive management and honey production.

Instructors are Laura Mijares and Tim Haarmann, who live in southwestern Colorado and have been keeping bees for almost three decades. Over the years, they have worked in most aspects of beekeeping including owning and operating a beekeeping business, teaching beekeeping courses around the globe, consulting in short- and long-term agriculture development projects, and honey bee research.…

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Conservation Youth Programs and Jobs

Friday, February 24th, 2017

Kupu News Release

Local nonprofit Kupu is now accepting applicants for its summer and year-round conservation education and workforce development programs on Molokai.

Kupu’s Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps (HYCC) Summer program is seeking five members between 17 and 20 years old and one team leader, 21 and over, who are interested in a full-time summer education and job opportunity on Molokai.

HYCC Summer participants will work as a team, learning conservation work at unique natural resource management sites across the island, including Kalaupapa National Park, Ka Honua Momona, Molokai Land Trust, Sust`ainable Molokai and The Nature Conservancy. In addition to gaining hands-on job training, members will also receive a $500 volunteer award, $1,222 scholarship to use toward higher education or student loans, and may also apply the program toward fulfilling the Dept.…

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Trail Access Threatens Mule Ride

Tuesday, February 7th, 2017

Trail Access Threatens Mule Ride

The Sproat family, owners of Molokai’s legendary mule ride, say they’re worried land access issues may prevent the business from continuing operation.

The Kalae barn that serves as their base of business — home to the mules that make daily guided trips down the rugged Kalaupapa trail — is on land owned by R.W. Meyer Ltd, leased by the Sproats. R. W. Meyer also owns the land at the trailhead by Kalae Highway, through which mules and hikers must pass to access the settlement.

The late Buzzy Sproat operated the mule ride for more than 40 years, and his family has owned the business for 25 years.…

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Volunteers Carry on Search for Missing Plane

Tuesday, January 10th, 2017

Volunteers Carry on Search for Missing Plane

A private plane with three people onboard disappeared off Molokai’s Ilio Point on Dec. 30. After taking off from Ho`olehua Airport en route to Honolulu that evening, the Cessna 172 disappeared off radar around 7 p.m., four miles east of Ilio Point.

The plane’s pilot was Michael Childers and passengers were John Mizuno and Whitney Thomas. The Coast Guard and Fire Department began searching for the plane that night, and continued until Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, respectively, finding no debris, remains or evidence of a crash. And though official searches have been called off, dozens of family members, friends and Molokai residents have continued to search miles of coastline and ocean, not yet giving up hope of finding answers.…

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Breaking News: Search for Missing Cessna Continues Off Molokai

Saturday, December 31st, 2016

Breaking News: Search for Missing Cessna Continues Off Molokai

The search continues today for a downed aircraft off Ilio Point that was reported missing last night. Around 7 p.m. on Dec. 30, a Cessna 172 with the tail number N174LL, with three people on board, disappeared off radar about four miles east of Molokai’s Ilio Point after departing the Molokai airport for Honolulu.

The plane’s pilot has been identified as Michael Childers, with passengers John Mizuno and Whitney Thomas, according to the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is leading the search for the missing aircraft and has widened the search up to 17 miles northeast of Ilio Point. HC-130 Hercules airplane and MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point along with the crew of USCGC Kittiwake from Honolulu are searching by boat and air, with the assistance of Molokai Fire and Police departments.…

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Prevent a Rabbit Invasion

Friday, November 18th, 2016

Domesticated rabbits on Molokai that have escaped or been released have been reported around the island and pose a dangerous threat to the ecosystem if not controlled, according to local natural resource managers.

“There are confirmed sightings in a widespread area,” said Butch Haase, executive director of the Molokai Land Trust (MLT). “They could cause devastating ecological and economic impacts like nothing we’ve seen before.”

Haase said MLT staff found a rabbit in one of its fenced restoration sites in the Mokio Preserve near Ilio Point.

“The rabbit had been browsing the endangered ohai plants within the fenced site to the point of killing many of the plants,” he said, adding the animal was large and mostly white. “The…

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Search Underway for Missing Molokai Helicopter-Updated

Wednesday, November 16th, 2016

3:30 pm update: Maui Fire Department crews have located the crash site and confirmed there are no survivors. The downed helicopter was found about a mile and a half above the highway just east of Puko`o Fire Station. The Maui Police Department is coordinating recovery of the victims and preserving the wreckage for federal investigation. 

Initial story at 1:15 pm:

A land, air and water search is currently underway for a missing Molokai helicopter. The black helicopter, with two people on board, reportedly departed Honolulu Tuesday evening and never arrived at a private helicopter pad on Molokai as expected.

The Coast Guard hasn’t released the names of the missing persons pending notification of family members, but the pilot has been unofficially confirmed as Gary Galiher, a prominent attorney and east Molokai homeowner with a helipad on his property.…

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Brush Fire Threatened Home

Wednesday, October 5th, 2016

Six brush fires blazed on Molokai last week, five of which were small but deemed of suspicious cause on Tuesday, Sept. 27. A larger fire burned 10 acres near the Molokai Airport two days later, coming dangerously close to a home.

On Tuesday around 5:45 p.m. Molokai firefighters responded to four separate brush fires, all around 200 to 300 yards apart, along the Maunaloa Highway near the Seventh Day Adventist Church.  A fifth small fire was found one mile up the highway near Kamakou Forest Preserve Road.

According to the Maui Fire Department, the largest fire was 20 by 50 feet in size.…

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35 Years of Agriculture

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

35 Years of Agriculture

A recent Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture (DOA) land use study shows dramatic changes in agriculture land use in the last 35 years, both on Molokai and statewide. Most of Molokai’s agriculture is in the Ho`olehua area, on DHHL, state and Molokai Ranch land. According to the DOA report, the largest ag land users in 2015 — farming about 2,300 acres — are seed companies that primarily lease from Molokai Ranch. Prior to 1980, many Ho`olehua homesteaders leased their land for pineapple production, while some of that land today is being used to grow diversified crops like sweet potatoes, dryland taro, vegetables, macadamia nuts, bananas and papayas, according to the study.…

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Unresolved Solar Applications Pile Up

Thursday, March 3rd, 2016

 

More than 100 applications to install rooftop solar on Molokai remain pending at the hands of Maui Electric, according to a company representative. This delay as been reprimanded by Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Chair Randall Iwase, who issued a statement last week expressing dissatisfaction in the holdups on Molokai to approve and connect new rooftop solar.

“I am disappointed with several recent events that affect new renewable energy projects in the Hawaiian Electric Companies… which may also work against the goals of lowering electric rates for all customers and achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2045,” he wrote.

In February of last year, Iwase and the president of Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) signed a letter of agreement stating in part that “the policy is that the HECO Companies have an affirmative duty to interconnect a potential customer pursuant to existing statutory requirements, commission orders, and the utility’s tariff where that project does not affect circuit or system level security and reliability.”…

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