The Technology Committee is moving our files to Google Workspace. The new Pua ʻĀkala Committee has helped encourage road maintenance by the County on Keanakolu-Mānā Road to provide improved access to the Refuge. Our Legislative Committee has submitted a grant proposal to the County for a Disease Management Plan and has approached our congressional delegation with a coordinated request.

The ʻĀkepa is our 2025 Bird of the Year!

Save two dates on your calendars, please – September 13th for our 2025 Walk For The Wild at Hakalau Forest NWR and November 21st for our NEW 40th Anniversary Gala at the Salt Farm (Hawaiʻi Islandʻs only working salt farm) in Kailua-Kona. We look forward to seeing you soon!

2025 SAVE OUR SEEDLINGS “MATCHING FUNDS” CAMPAIGN!

As you may know, the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR have been working non-stop to fundraise for staff positions at the Refuge which were eliminated on February 14th. This plan is a stop-gap measure to alleviate undesirable outcomes at the Refuge and is not intended to replace Federal funding for these positions long-term.

A very generous donor from Oahu, who wants to remain anonymous, surprised us in early March with the promise of $50,000 if we can MATCH that amount. This means that you can double your impact to help get these skilled employees back on the Refuge quickly.

We have already raised $22,205 against this match (mahalo to all of you who have already donated), so we only need to raise another $27,795.

Please join this important effort; every dollar makes a difference. 

ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!

🌳  How You Can Help:

• Click the Donate button below
• Or send a check to Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR, P.O. Box 6065, Hilo, HI 96720 

Let’s match this $50,000 gift and restore essential services to the Refuge.

Mahalo nui loa!

Refuge Update

Hakalau Forest NWR, Fish and Wildlife Service

It's been a busy and challenging time at the refuge! The refuge hosted a KUPU Service Trip between Feb. 10-14 (see image on the right). A total of 14 Americorps members assisted with feral ungulate surveys, seed collection and processing, outplanting, and greenhouse upkeep during their week at the refuge.  

The habitat restoration team (Eric Hamren, KUPU Zoe Noumoff, Kealani Zayas and Melanie Franze) hosted the Native Pant Growers group at Hakalau Forest NWR on Feb 5-6. They also participated in a broader information exchange by attending visits to plant nurseries and seed labs across the island of Hawai'i the same week. 

The Pest Control team completed Feral Ungulate Surveys in the upper units of Hakalau and prepared transects for March Forest Bird Surveys. 

KUPU Service Members seed collecting with refuge with Biological Science technicians Kealani Zayas and Melanie Franze. 

Visitor Services Manager Leah Messer gave a presentation about Hakalau Forest NWR to National Parks Service partners. 

The Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR initiated the “Save our Seedlings” campaign to mitigate the impact of losing probationary employees at the refuge in the month of February. 

Additional items have been added to the FOHF Amazon Wishlist to help support these efforts, so please click the link below to donate.

Research Article

A Step Forward in Forest Recovery: Using Geographic Information Systems to Track

Hakalau Forest NWR’s Progress

by Faith Nicoll

Hakalau’s forest recovery is nothing short of remarkable. I first became aware of this last fall while reviewing USGS imagery of the Big Island for a new project I was working on. As a senior at UC Irvine trained in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), I was invited to assist with a reforestation project in Hawaii. Eager to contribute to such an impactful effort, I jumped in under the guidance of Professor Elizabeth Crook. After months of data collection, analysis, and adjustments to our strategy, I had the privilege of presenting my findings to the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR team.

The core of my research involved using remote sensing technologies, including Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites, to track forest growth from 1990 to 2024. These satellites capture images of the land surface over time, allowing us to observe changes in vegetation. I employed several spatial analysis techniques, with the most important tool being the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measurement of vegetation greenness. Looking at NDVI data, we were able to distinguish between different vegetation types, with a focus on Koa trees—the centerpiece of the restoration effort.

Throughout the study, we found that nearly 50% of the Northwestern clear-cut region has regrown since restoration efforts began in the 1980s. In 2000, only 9% of the area had regrown, and by 2014, that figure had increased to 34%. Today, this regrowth accounts for nearly 1,700 acres of new forest. These findings provide new, quantifiable insights into the progress of restoration efforts, which have often been difficult to measure in the past. They also underscore the significant progress made in restoring Hakalau’s native forests, a direct result of decades of focused restoration work and the efforts of volunteers.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW MERCHANDISE!

Celebrate 2025 the year of the Hawai'i 'Ākepa!

The gorgeous Hawai'i 'ākepa is the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR official bird of 2025. Listed as endangered, this lovely little bird is only found in small pockets on the island of Hawai'i such as Hakalau Forest NWR. Did you know that one leg is shorter than the other? This evolution compensates for the curved lower mandible and offset beak.

Custom-made exclusively for Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR, these felt Hawai'i 'ākepa are lovely to hang; or the Hawai'i 'ākepa earrings are great conversation starters!

Coming soon Jack Jeffrey's Hawai'i 'ākepa notecards!

Annual Meeting Presentations

Conservation Bioacoustics at Hakalau Forest NWR

Dr. Patrick Hart

To view the other presentations from the annual meeting, click the links below.

FOHF NWR Updates by Debbie Anderson, President of the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR

Refuge Update by Tom Cady, Refuge Manager, Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex

Quanitifying Recovery in the Hakalau Forest NWR using GIS by Faith Nicoll, Graduate Student at UC Irvine Department of Earth System Sciences

Biology of the 'akiapōlā'au by Bret Nainoa Mossman

Annual Meeting Awards

Jane Mayo



Jane has been on the Board with the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR since 2023. Since then, she has taken charge of the quickly growing Membership Committee, a task that involves interacting with almost all the other committees. Jane also serves on the Executive Committee as an At Large Board representative, and is on the Finance Committee, the Jack Jeffrey Fund Committee and the Technology Committee. Jane is just delightful to work with; she’s efficient, punctual, smart and provides thoughtful input at meetings. Jane and Howard have recently relocated to Florida from Hawaii but we’re thrilled that she’ll continue her work with the Friends.

Marcia Stone



Marcia has been on the Board of the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR since 2021. She has been a wonderful, committed Board member, particularly on the Finance Committee (most recently as the Assistant Treasurer). Marcia was very helpful as our “feet on the ground” with our recent 'Akiapōlā'au mural project providing hugely valuable answers to a multitude of questions. She’s also contributed frequently to our FOHF newsletter with well researched and written articles on endemic Hawaiian plants. Marcia has also been a WFTW organizer and has taken on many other tasks, too numerous to count.

MAHALO NUI LOA

Friends of Hakalau Forest 2024 General Fund Donors

Friends of Hakalau Forest would like to send our sincerest "Mahalo" to all of our donors in 2024. We could not do it without your continued support!

Stuart & Lynne Ball, James L. Bauer, Erik Belcher, Marlee Breese, Pam Bruns & Ken Smith, Blaine Bulatao, Crystal Castellanos, Hawaii Wildlife Center, Daniel Cheney, Cindy Cobb, Sheila Conant & David McCauley, Jill Dietmeyer, Carla Din, Raymond Falk, Stephen Fernandez-Brennan, Patricia Finfrock, Carrie Fraser, Priscilla Garcia, Josef Goldufsky, Donna Goodale, Hawaii Forest & Trail ʻIʻiwi Fund, Marsha Ho, Lea O. Hong, Richard Howard, Anne Howe, Jeanette Imler, Wyoming Irwin, James C. Shingle Family Fund, Jenn Kagiwada, Kristine Karnos, Pauline & Lyle Kawamata, Bob & Louise Kraus, Wendy Kuhns-Higashino, Morris K. Lai, Lawrence Livermore, National Laboratory, Hawaii Birds LLC, Denise Mackey, Joanna Maney, John & Stephanie Marrack, Julia Marrack, Dick May, Michele McDonald, Melissa Meier, Shirley Mendoza, John (Hal) Michael, Allison Miller, Keelin Miller, Susan Mitnik, Casey Newlin, Jane Ouweleen, Jeffrey A. Payne, Linda Pejchar, Sylvia Perreira, Public Lands Alliance, Martin Raphael, Laurel Rivers, Ann Rothe,

Hawai'i 'ākepa

Photo Credit: Jack Jeffrey

Oliver Ryder, Ivan Samuels, Peckham Saner, Adam Schaffer, J. Michael & Sharon Scott, Bryan Shirota, Janice Smolec, Adriane Truluck, Kelley Uyeoka, Jim Waddington, Lan Wiborg, Gaylord & Carol Wilcox, Rich Wilkens, Bertram & Joanne Wong

These donations support our office operations (website, financial and newsletter software, insurance etc) and allow the Friends to support the refuge (pig brigs, mamane seedlings, t-shirts for refuge volunteers etc.). 

Donors to the Endowment will be recognized in a separate email

In Memoriam - Charles Van Riper III

September 24, 1943 - February 7, 2025

Charles van Riper III was a member of the first Hawaii Forest Bird Survey team, which led to the identification of Hakalau as a hotspot for endangered forest birds. That research survey led to the founding of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge in 1985. He was born in upstate New York on September 24, 1943, and passed away at the age of 81 on February 7, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona.

He received his B.S. in Zoology, and a Master of Education in Science from Colorado State University, where he was heavily influenced by Paul Baldwin, a pioneering research biologist in Hawaii. Inspired by Paul's stories of adaptive radiation in Hawaiian Honeycreepers, Charles went to Hawaii in 1968 to teach Biology and coach Football and other sports at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, where he mentored and touched the lives of many students.

After several years of teaching Charles began work on a Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Hawaii, and studied the life history and conservation of the Palila and Hawaiian Amakihi under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Berger. As a graduate student Charles was the lead author on the first multi-agency effort to document population size, distribution and habitat associations of the endangered Palila in 1975-1976. Later, during his post-doctoral work with Clifford Smith in the Dept. of Botany, he and his fellow graduate student and soon-to-be wife Sandra Guest worked together unraveling the complex picture of how avian diseases affect population dynamics and distribution of native Hawaiian birds. Together they laid the foundation for current studies of avian disease impact on endangered forest birds on the Big Island. Charles finished his Ph.D. in 1978, and in 1979 he and Sandra moved to University of California at Davis where he established a National Park Service Cooperative Research Unit. In 1989 he was asked to establish an ecosystem-focused cooperative research unit at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2003 he assumed leadership of the USGS Sonoran Desert Research Station in Tucson, AZ and was also a Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at University of Arizona. He authored hundreds of articles on topics as diverse as avian migration, breeding biology, habitat associations, avian disease and behavior of birds. He ended his career as a Senior Scientist (ST) with the U.S. Geological Service.

The family asks that instead of sending flowers, people consider a donation to either:

Hakalau Forest Endowment which Charles and Sandy helped start, 

friendsofhakalauforest.org/endowment  

or

Hawaii Audubon Society, hiaudubon.org/donate

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE

September 13th 2025

Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR's Fourth Annual

WALK FOR THE WILD and 40th Anniversary Celebration!

Walk for the Wild is part of a national celebration of National Wildlife Refuge Week and this year we are pairing the walk with the refuge's 40th Anniversary! While the National celebrations are always held during the second full week in October, in consideration of the start of the nēnē nesting season in mid October, the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR was able to not only obtain the kōkua of the Refuge, but also the national organizers to schedule our Pua 'Ākala and Refuge Headquarters Walk and Demonstrations early on September 13th this year. We look forward to you joining us on September 13th to enable us to lead the nation in registrations for a fourth straight year!

PLEASE SAVE THE DATE AND PLAN ON ATTENDING AND/OR VOLUNTEERING.

Call for Volunteers!

Annual Audit Help

We are seeking two members to volunteer a couple hours and assist with our annual audit process. This will consist of reviewing a few invoices and bank statements. It is tentatively planned for an April weekend in Hilo. The date and time will be arranged to accommodate everyone's personal schedule as best as possible. 

Please contact Joe Vierra (Treasurer) at jvierrar@aol.com. 

Education Committee Members/Chair

We are in search of a new Education Committee Chair who can help create an exciting and energetic committee to represent the Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR in the local community. Here’s the current mission of the committee;

“Educates the general public and community about FOHF through outreach programs. Creates age-appropriate curriculum materials for classroom use. Creates educational materials suitable for group leaders of Hakalau Forest volunteer projects. Submits educational articles to the newsletter.”

Maybe there is a group of conservation-minded educators who would be willing to lead this Committee or a retired teacher who wants to give back, or possibly both? We’d love to have you join our passionate group of volunteers dedicated to the birds and habitat at Hakalau Forest.

Please email Debbie Anderson (President) with any questions or ideas, debbieanderson808@gmail.com 

The Friends of Hakalau Forest NWR is a membership organization. Membership dues and donations to the Friends are our only source of funds allowing us to cover our expenses.