State Land Board to consider more than $3M in fines in death of Laysan albatross, destruction of native bee habitat on O‘ahu

There’s still time to submit testimony in connection with three enforcement actions to be considered by the Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources during its meeting Friday.

The state Land Board will consider whether to approve more than $3 million in state fines levied against several North Shore property owners on O‘ahu for destroying critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bees and installing an unpermitted fence that contributed to the death of a nesting female Laysan albatross, known as Ho‘okipa, at Marconi Point.

The agricultural area is next to Turtle Bay Resort and borders a state conservation district along the shoreline.

The unprecedented fines were recommended by Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.

Written testimony is due by 9 a.m. Thursday, and there are several ways your voice can be heard.

1. Email written testimony to blnr.testimony@hawaii.gov. Be sure to submit three separate emails; testimony must be separate, with only one item listed in your subject line, like this:

• Testimony for BLNR April 26, 2024 Agenda DOFAW Item C-5
• Testimony for BLNR April 26, 2024 Agenda DOFAW Item C-6
• Testimony for BLNR April 26, 2024 Agenda OCCL Item K-1

2. Via Zoom. Send your request to blnr.testimony@hawaii.gov with your information, email address and agenda items you want to testify on during Friday’s meeting.

3. In person at Friday’s meeting in Room 132 on the first floor of the Kalanimoku Building located at 1151 Punchbowl St. in Honolulu. Sign in and bee sure to say you want to testify about DOFAW Item C-5, DOFAW Item C-6 and OCCL Item K-1.

Denise Antolini told Honolulu media outlet Civil Beat that with the naupaka brush and heliotrope gone along the Macroni shoreline, “it looks like a devastation zone.”

Antolini, a member of the conservation group Aloha Marconi Alliance, also said the violations at the point are “not normal and not common” in Hawai‘i.