Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund
Founded in 1996, Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of Hawaiʻi’s wildlife. We protect native species and habitats, and provide environmental education opportunities for our community members and visitors.
Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund’s (HWF) mission is to protect Hawaiʻi’s native wildlife, particularly coastal and marine species, through research, education, and restoration. This is achieved by engaging communities and volunteers, habitat restoration, advocating for conservation, and supporting research programs.
We engage and inspire our communities, keiki (kids) and volunteers in education, outreach, marine debris removal, conservation,
research, and advocacy campaigns to keep Hawaiʻi alive and wild. Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund operates the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Discovery Center at Whalers Village in Kaʻanapali on Maui. The Discovery Center highlights the work that HWF does and educates locals and visitors about Hawaiian culture, HWF conservation work, and the issues facing native wildlife in Hawaiʻi. Come visit the Discovery Center on Maui to find out more about the work HWF does!
Mahalo (thank you) for visiting this website and for your desire to learn more about HWF and what we can all do to kōkua (help). From volunteering, internships, donating or adopting, we offer a variety of ways you can help our organization and wildlife thrive!
Me ke aloha pumehana,
Hannah Bernard – HWF Executive Director & Co-founder
Megan Lamson – HWF President & Hawaiʻi Program Director
What We Do
Participate
The Hawaiʻi Wildlife Discovery Center in Lahaina, Maui
Maui is still in a tender, vulnerable state after the devastating wildfires that destroyed Lāhainā and took the lives of 100 people on August 8, 2023. There is not a person on Maui who is not in some way affected by this historic tragedy, but the response of our own and greater global communities have been inspirational.
The Hawai’i Wildlife Discovery Center is located one mile north of the burn zone, and remains intact. Because HWDC is a learning center in a zone that remains open, and in response to thousands of displaced families, HWF staff and consultants joined together to collaborate on a revisioning of the mission of the Center to more directly support our young haumāna (students), many of whom have no classroom.
Together with many local organizations, HWF has offered the Discovery Center in Whalers Village with this new mission “To provide a safe space, centered around our connection to nature, where keiki can learn, feel listened to, and be nurtured with Aloha.”
HWDC is still open to the public (daily 9:00am – 3:00pm) and still has regular visits from cruise ship passengers and Road Scholars groups, among others, but our priority is our own future generations.
Mahalo to those who supported Lāhainā during the devastating wildfire. Please continue to donate to our Discovery Center, the only outreach public education center still standing on the west side.
From The Blog
HWF attends the International Sea Turtle Society Symposium in Accra, Ghana
In honor of Sea Turtle Week, our HWF Sea Turtle Recovery Project Coordinator, Alex Aguilar, shares his account of his recent journey to Accra, Ghana to participate in the International Sea Turtle Society Symposium.
Meet Sage Murakami – a 2025 Kaʻū Wildlife Scholarship Applicant
Congrats to Sage, a Kaʻū Wildlife Scholarship applicant honoree and mahalo for sharing your essay about ‘Ōhi‘a Lehua with our online community!
If You Flush, You Pollute – Guest Blog by Dr. Rick Bennett & Friends
This guest blog from Dr. Rick Bennett and a recent May 2025 water quality report from our partners with Surfrider Foundation Kauaʻi highlights the ongoing problem of wastewater on our nearshore coastal ecosystems.
Watch this wonderful short video to find out about the work Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund does, our Discovery Center at Whalers Village,
and visit this page to see how you can Malama – take care and give back – on the islands with HWF!
