Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR Sets Goal of $500,000 for

2025 Endowment Campaign

Thanks to you, the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR’s Endowment has just passed $2.2 million, with donations received from 819 generous individuals. Mahalo nui loa! Your gift NOW can help us reach this year’s goal of $500,000! Our Board established the Endowment fund in 2015 with the ultimate goal of raising $3.5 million – we’ve reached 63% of that goal! We can ensure that our endangered birds will have a future if we can build the resources to assist in the critical management that MUST be done to restore and maintain healthy habitat in the koa-‘ōhia’ forests of Hakalau Forest.  

This year our annual campaign to raise funds for the Endowment is focused on another iconic bird found at Hakalau Forest, the ʻAkepa. This distinctive honeycreeper, endemic to the Island of Hawaiʻi, is endangered with an estimated remaining population of around 16,000 individuals. Of those, 44% are found at Hakalau Forest NWR. Male ‘Akepa obtain their bright orange adult plumage after three years, at maturity; the females are grayish-green with a yellow breast band. Their mandible tips are offset most likely to increase foraging ability by prying open leaf and flower buds. ‘Akepa are cavity nesters in old growth ‘ōhi’a and koa.

@jackjeffreyphoto.com

The principal threat to all the native forest birds is the expanding presence of invasive mosquitoes which carry deadly avian diseases to which native honeycreepers have little or no defense. It just takes one bite! In tandem with avian disese is the continued loss or damage to native forest due primarily to introduced ungulates, and the spread of invasive plants.

@jackjeffreyphoto.com

A robust Endowment is essential to ensuring that there are no lapses in funding for needed habitat management activities at Hakalau Forest. As described by the National Wildlife Refuge Association, “National Wildlife Refuges are one of America’s greatest ideas: public lands for all people, where wildlife can roam free and future generations can experience the natural beauty of this nation.” But these places – and the species that depend on them – are increasingly at risk. Right now, the National Wildlife Refuge System is facing rising political attacks, environmental threats and chronic underfunding. 

We are well on the way towards our goal! This new campaign featuring the ʻAkepa is aimed at pushing our fund past the $2.6 million mark. While ambitious, we all believe this is possible with the generous donations of our Friends’ membership and many other interested parties who see the value in building this fund. 

If you would like to donate online, please click below

If you wish to contribute by check, please make the check out to “Hawaii Community Foundation: Hakalau Forest Endowment” and mail to: 

Hawaii Community Foundation

827 Fort Street Mall

Honolulu, HI, 96813

Help save the ʻAkepa by supporting

Hakalau Forest NWR Endowment with a contribution today!

SAVE THE DATE

40th Anniversary Gala and Fundraiser

Friday, November 21, 2025

Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge 1985-2025

40th Anniversary Logo

40 years is cause for a huge celebration! That celebration starts with a 40th Anniversary logo with its own story to tell. How do you create a logo that visually represents the Refuge, celebrates an anniversary and builds recognition for a treasured National Wildlife Refuge?

The Friends group enlisted the help of Robert Glick of Glick Design in Carmel, California who has worked on several different design projects for us in recent years. Robertʻs mission was to fulfill the different purposes of a logo: identification, brand recognition, building trust and loyalty, differentiation, communication and first impressions. 

In Robert’s words;

"It was my privilege to contribute to the creation of a logo marking the achievement of the 40th anniversary. In my first sketches, I decided to use a circular format. I sensed that the relationship to the zero in the “40” would be a visual “echo”. When working up a color palette, consideration was given to greens and grays - referring to the natural environment. But within the circle, the subtle colors of the sky and sunrise add some drama and sense of place. The striking red of the I’iwi’s body provides a colorful exclamation point. In the design process, we considered several different references for the I’iwi. When I finally saw the excellent image provided by Dubhan, I sensed we had a winner! With the bird in full flight and in profile, it provided a “personality" and was just the right orientation. It became a strong, positive visual statement that fit perfectly in the layout and was supportive of the celebratory message.”

As mentioned, renown local photographer Dubhan Clark provided the image of the iconic ʻIʻiwi in full flight, describing the capture of this image, “‘I’iwi are always on the move. For this image, I set up within lens length of some ʻōhiʻa lehua, ‘iliahi and māmane. My goal was to anticipate the honeycreeper’s short flights between meals.”

The Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR are grateful for the collaborative efforts of these two artists.

Merchandise featuring the Refuge’s 40th Anniversary logo will be available on waterproof stickers and lapel pins at FIND YOUR WILD and also on our website Store starting September 10th. 

Please support the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR; your purchases help the endangered birds of Hakalau Forest.

FIND YOUR WILD IS SOLD OUT

The 40th Anniversary celebration of the Hakalau Forest NWR and the 4th annual FIND YOUR WILD (formerly Walk for the Wild) will be held on September 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Registration is now closed, because the number of attendees is limited to protect the native birds and plants found in this special Refuge. 

If you have registered, then we look forward to seeing you at the Hakalau Forest NWR! If you haven't registered, then look for announcements in 2026 for the 5th annual FIND YOUR WILD.

For those lucky to be registered for FIND YOUR WILD, you should have received an email with further information about how to drive to the Hakalau Forest Refuge - you will need a 4WD vehicle - and what to expect at this event. At the Pua ʻĀkala area, there will be a 5 km walk through the forest, with professionally trained guides. In addition, there will be educational, natural history exhibits for all ages. Within the Refuge, shuttles will be available to take attendees from the Pua ʻĀkala area to the Refuge Administrative Area (headquarters) for tours of the newly renovated greenhouse, demonstrations of bird banding, and other research activities.

Peter Stine, president of Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR shares, “Participating in the 2025 FIND YOUR WILD event is a great way to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Refuge! Hakalau Forest NWR is the best remaining example of native forest on the Big Island, providing essential habitat for Hawaii's endangered and threatened forest birds. See for yourself what a unique and enchanting place Hakalau Forest NWR is. Join us and our amazing group of expert volunteers to learn more about the Refuge and its native plants and animals.”

Please contact Susan Miyasaka at susan.miyasaka@friendsofhakalauforest.org with any questions.

Refuge Update

Kupu intern David Rochlen in his rain gear from FOHF NWR finding old survey points.

Mahalo nui to the Friends of Hakalau Forest for your continued support; this past quarter has been full of accomplishments and challenges, and your partnership helps make all the work we do possible.

We are especially grateful for the FOHF’s purchase of rain gear and boots for our Kupu interns, David and Conor. With reliable gear, they’ve been able to stay safe and effective in the field.

Our seed technicians are thriving and thanks to their hard work and the abundance of native plants at Hakalau, they have collected more seed than anywhere else in the state. Some of this seed is propagated in our greenhouse for future outplanting, while other collections are sent to the seed bank at Lyon Arboretum, helping to safeguard species and strengthen fire resilience across Hawaiʻi.

Training and professional development continue to expand our capabilities. Eric Hamren and Kealani Zayas completed GIS training, which will support mapping of rare plants, tracking restoration success, and planning future projects. Leland and Mackey returned from chainsaw instructor training at Blackwater NWR in Maryland, bringing new skills that will benefit both staff and volunteers.

Kupu member Zoe will be wrapping up her service term in September after a year assisting Nursery Manager Eric Hamren in the greenhouse. She greatly expanded her knowledge and helped stand up key nursery operations. We wish her the very best as she starts a new chapter.

Volunteers remain a vital part of our success. Over the last quarter, 114 volunteers contributed more than 1,700 service hours. Their work included building frost protection devices, planting māmane, collecting seed, tackling maintenance projects, and supporting up-potting and propagation in the nursery.

Wai'anae High School Students visiting Hakalau Forest NWR on a trip with Ho'omahua Foundation

This summer also brought challenges. For the first time in years, the refuge ran out of water. Special thanks to Bruce for his persistence in keeping water flowing to the greenhouse during this difficult stretch. On the pest control side, we installed new predator control grids in both the Kona Forest Unit and Pua ʻĀkala and are testing AT-220 self-resetting traps to better control small mammal predators that threaten our native birds.

Finally, Leah attended the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference in Honolulu, reconnecting with colleagues across the islands and meeting legendary figures like Dr. Mike Scott, whose pioneering with the Hawaiian forest bird surveys 50 years ago laid the foundation for much of the work we continue today.

Mahalo again to the Friends for helping us protect, restore, and steward this special place.

Research Article

Acoustic Traits of Three Hawaiian Honeycreepers in a Fragmented Landscape

Esther Sebastián-González, Jomar M. Barbosa, Pablo Montoya-Bernabeu, Patrick J. Hart

Bird-watchers and researchers have long noticed that the song of many native Hawaiian bird species seems to be different as you travel across each island. In the LOHE lab at UH Hilo, we have been recording the songs of all native bird species across Hawaii island for at least the past 15 years to produce a library of how their song varies at each recording area and over time. “Acoustic traits of Three Hawaiian Honeycreepers in a Fragmented Landscape” led by former LOHE post-doc Esther Sebastián-González is our most recent paper and was just published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

In this study we examined song variability in three of our most abundant remaining Honeycreepers- ʻiʻiwi, ʻapapane, and ʻamakihi. Using automatic recording units, we gathered bird vocalization data from five bird populations across the Big Island of Hawai‘i (Hakalau, Volcano, Maunaloa kīpuka, Puʻu waʻawaʻa, and Kohala) and used these data to manually identify the distinct syllables vocalized by individuals of the three species. Since in other parts of the world song is known to vary more when populations are more isolated, we assessed the habitat connectivity between these five populations using landscape connectivity models.

Finally, we compared the acoustic repertoires among the different populations and examined the relationship between the syllables that make up the songs of each species, geographic distance, and inter-population connectivity. The results show that the three honeycreeper species have large repertoires (i.e., with 52–215 different syllables) with very little overlap among study sites, meaning that they really do sing differently at each location. Interestingly, acoustic dissimilarity was not related to geographic distance for any species- there was almost as much variability in song within a location as between locations! This study provides potentially positive news that that habitat fragmentation and lack of connectivity generally don’t have a big influence on the songs of these three species. 

Hawai'i Conservation Conference Mahalo!

Mahalo to everyone who visited our booth at the Hawai'i Conservation Conference! We were happy to meet you all and share the amazing working being done at Hakalau Forest NWR.

Pictured above (from left): Leah Messer, FWS, Kate Logan, Lynette Williams, Alyssa MacDonald

Hawai'i Island Festival of Birds

October 4, 2025 9am-5:30pm

Grand Naniloa Hotel, Hilo

Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR is a proud sponsor of the Hawai'i Island Festival of Birds, so be sure to visit our booth if you are in attendance!

Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR T-Shirts

Back by popular demand! The Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR T-Shirts are now available using the link below. We have men's, women's, and children's sizes in long and short-sleeved styles.