Happy New Year! (....And a few 2023 resolution suggestions from your friends at Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund!)

Happy holidays from Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund to our friends, supporters and ʻOhana! Before we delve into self-improvement strategies for 2023, let’s celebrate our 2022 wins for native wildlife!

Our hardworking team at HWF continued a plethora of projects to help conserve and protect Hawaii’s native wildlife and places, including our on-going turtle conservation programs to protect both hawksbill (honuʻea) and Hawaiian green sea turtles (honu). During the 2022 nesting season on Maui, many of our monitored nests hatched out successfully, resulting in 255 green turtle hatchlings and an unknown number of new hawksbill turtles making their journey successfully to the sea!

Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas, honu) with brown surgeonfish (Acanthurus nigrofuscus) friend at Kahaluʻu Bay, Hawaiʻi Island. Image credit: Lindsey Kramer

In addition, the HWF team and our many volunteers, supporters, and partners:

Completed our 12th year of protection of a resident metapopulation of approximately 200 green turtles at Hoʻokipa Maui.
Acheived a major victory for Hawaii’s seabirds and turtles with a new light pollution ordinance in Maui that passed in October 2022. Our lawsuit against Maui County now prevents illegally installed streetlights from causing the disorientation and death of seabirds and sea turtles.
White tern (Gygis alba) with sunset at Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals. Image credit: Lindsey Kramer/ USFWS
Continued to remove marine debris from critical beach ecosystems and recovered over 21,000 pounds of trash during 65 cleanups with over 3,100 logged volunteer hours!
Removed invasive plants from along the banks of two coastal wetlands, and within 500 acres of coastal vegetation in the Kaʻū Forest Reserve on Hawai‘i Island.
Hosted biweekly native seed collection workdays, which provided seeds from over 20 different dry forest and coastal plants for future restoration efforts with the Hawai‘i Island Seed Bank partnership. Native coastal seeds were scattered over a fire-impacted landscape in Ka‘ū following a severe brush fire event in July 2022.
Celebrated the official opening ceremony of our fantastic Hawaiʻi Wildlife Discovery Center at Whalerʻs Village on Maui! More at: www.hawaiiwildlifediscoverycenter.org/
Hosted the 5th International Symposium on Anchialine Ecosystems in Kailua-Kona. We welcomed more than 125 scientists, resource managers, students, and community members from around the world to learn more about the beauty, fragility, and importance of anchialine pool ecosystems. Find out more about the symposium here: www.wildhawaii.org/hawaii-wildlife-fund-and-partners-host-the-5th-international-symposium-on-anchialine-ecosystems-5isae/
Expanded our Environmental Education activities, including creating an ʻāina-based learning curriculum in partnership with Dr. Kū Kahakalau and the Kaʻehu Youth Enhancement & Mentorship Program (KYEMP), a wonderful collaboration between cultural practitioners, natural resource management specialists, and community leaders to train students in traditional land stewardship practices and values found in the Ahupuaʻa land management system.

For more information on our year in review, please check out our beautiful newsletter at: www.wildhawaii.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Hawaii-Wildlife-Fund-December-2022-Newsletter.pdf

Me ke aloha pumehana to all of our supporters in 2022 and beyond! We are so grateful for you.

During this joyful and festive season, please remember to include Hawaii’s native wildlife in your RESOLUTIONS FOR 2023! As we move into a new year, here are some of our favorite green resolution ideas:

If you’re reading this, you’re probably pretty diligent about reducing use of single use plastics in your day-to-day life, but be sure to take a moment to check out some of the new products out there that have ditched plastic packaging entirely. We’re giant fans of many of the new, locally-made and plastic-free options for home and personal care products and bulk refills. Some of our local favorites include Hana Hou Hilo, Sustainable Island Products, Protea Zero Waste store, Refill Kauai, and more!
Nesting red-footed boobies (Sula sula) at Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals. Image credit: Lindsey Kramer/ USFWS
Planning to get rid of something that still has life left? Donate it to the many Reuse Centers at your local transfer station or at the Habitat for Humanity Restore (hawaiihabitat.org/find-your-local-restore/). Be sure to ask for a receipt for a tax-deduction! More information at: www.hawaiizerowaste.org/reuse-2/. Also, many of our Atlas recycling centers will accept (and fix!) broken appliances. Check them out at: atlasrecyclingcenter.com/.
And while you’re donating things, check out the shop to buy gently used items! Eliminate production costs and resources, packaging and shipping expenses, and simultaneously reduce the number of usable items ending up in our landfill.
If you can’t find a used option, shop local. Support small businesses that create jobs and help our community thrive.
If you opt to ship items to our remote archipelago, select ‘bundle’ options to reduce individual packaging. Instead of subscribe-and-save, consider shipping a higher quantity of an item once a year.
Do you receive a lot of unnecessary snail mail? Request electronic billings and statements and call companies to let them know that you don’t need that giant catalog anymore – you will just check out their website instead.
Plant a garden. Growing your own fruits and vegetables is a great way to help reduce your carbon footprint. Excellent FREE information on gardening in Hawaiʻi is available at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Master Gardener program website: www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/uhmg/.
Compost your organic food waste! Add the valuable nutrients in no-longer-edible food by creating a home compost station. When you compost, you’re creating nutrient-rich mulch for use in your home garden and landscaping, and eliminating some of the methane released when greenwaste is added to the landfill.
Support our native flora by landscaping with native plants. Many rare plants are available as seeds or seedlings at your local garden center. To learn more about the ecology and cultivation of native plants, check out our Lāʻau Letters blog at: www.wildhawaii.org/category/hawaiian-flora/. Also, look for a copy of the awesome new book: “Go Native!: Your guide to growing Native Hawaiian and canoe plants wherever you live, work, or play.” More info at: http://gonativeplants.org/.
Get familiar with the wildlife and ecosystem conservation rules in your area. Which species are protected? What are the rules within specially managed areas? Be sure you’re up to speed by checking out the specific rules for your place at: dlnr.hawaii.gov/dar/fishing/fishing-regulations/regulated-areas/.
Are you noticing an impact to native wildlife or a violation of state rules? Report it to DLNR/DAR or NOAA Enforcement. Contact the DLNR Enforcement hotline at: 808-643-DLNR or download the DLNRTip App on your smartphone to make reports anonymously.
Have friends or family visiting? Have them check out our Eco-Conscious Traveler Guide at: www.wildhawaii.org/tips-for-the-eco-conscious-traveler/.
Have some extra time? Please join our HWF team for a beach clean-up or other volunteer opportunity near you (on Maui or Hawai‘i Island). For a full list of opportunities and events, please see our calendar at: www.wildhawaii.org/calendar/.