Celebrating 25 years of conservation!

As we close our 25th year of conservation in Hawaiʻi Nei, Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund (HWF) is more successful than ever thanks to continued community engagement, NGO partnerships, generous volunteer service, and the support from businesses, foundations, and caring people like YOU! 

Highlights from the past quarter century:

• Protected hundreds of threatened green turtles and educated thousands of visitors on Pono (respectful) wildlife viewing practices.
• Removed over 360 tons of marine debris from the shores of Hawai‘i, Maui, Midway & Lalo with over 50,000 documented volunteer hours.
• Won a landmark Clean Water Act case at the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Recovered miles of sensitive coastal habitat by protecting native plants, removing predators, installing fences, and restoring native wildlife.
• Reached over 4,060 K-12 students on 3 islands (Hawai‘i, Maui, O‘ahu).
• Trained hundreds of marine naturalists and interns, and educated more than a million visitors and residents about marine ecosystems through our fieldwork and outreach activities. 
• Assisted in setting marine policy at local, state and national levels.
• Hosted five international science symposia, … and so much more!

Selected highlights from 2021:

• On October 20th, 2021 we opened our NEW state-of-the-art 5,000 sq. ft. Hawai‘i Wildlife Discovery Center in partnership with NOAA’s Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary and Whalers Village in Ka‘anapali Beach Resort on Maui. The Discovery Center features over 30 dynamic exhibits about Hawai‘i’s undersea life, whaling era, cultural values, and conservation. 
• Monitored hawksbill and green turtle nests and guided several hundred sea turtle hatchlings to the ocean on Maui, in addition to leading much needed fence repairs to ensure safe passage of the turtle mamas.
• Recovered > 27,000 pounds of marine debris during 56 cleanups (or about 480 pounds per cleanup) with over 2,400 documented volunteer hours during mostly small BYO-4wd or hiking events.
• Participated as lead plaintiffs in two lawsuits to defend the environment, including the landmark “Clean Water Act case of the Century” and a case to protect native sea turtles and seabirds from light pollution.
• Hosted bimonthly seed collection workdays, saving seeds from over 20 different coastal plants in partnership with the Hawai‘i Island Seed Bank.
• Removed thousands of invasive plants from within 130 acres of biodiverse native coastal strand vegetation within the Ka‘ū Forest Reserve and along the banks of two coastal wetlands on Hawai‘i.
• Participated as mentors online and in the field with 20 youth in the Ka‘ehu Youth Empowerment and Mentoring Program (KYEMP) on Maui, and hosted an additional 44 youth on Hawai‘i Island during 5 environmental education service-learning workdays related to our Marine Debris Keiki Education & Outreach (MDKEO) and Hawaiian Coastal Ecosystems (HCE) programs.
• Continued to convert our environmental education activities to virtual platforms and “visited” multiple classrooms across 3 islands for zoom, and drafted a new Hawaiian Wetland Waterbirds unit (GK-3) that will be ready to share soon.  Most all of our programs are available for students / educators on our website and YouTube channel.  
• Updated our social media platforms on our beautiful new website, including 28 blogs about turtles, debris, plants, partners, and other wildlife and HWF activities since last year. Check them out to learn more!