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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.

HWF’s mission is to protect native wildlife, focusing on coastal and marine wildlife species across Hawaiʻi, including the hawksbill sea turtle (honuʻea) and the Hawaiian green sea turtle (honu), and many other finned, feathered, flippered, and plant friends.

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.

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!

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!

Me ke aloha pumehana,

Hannah Bernard – HWF Executive Director & Co-founder
Megan Lamson – HWF President & Program Director

HWF Mission Statement

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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 of this year. 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.

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The Hawaiʻi Wildlife Discovery Center is operated by and supports
the work of Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund.

From The Blog

Embracing ʻĀina: My Journey with HWF (Intern Story by Mike Stone)

By |Mar 18, 2024|Environmental Education, General, HWF Intern Stories, Marine Debris|

Mike Stone was a graduate student working with HWF during his internship within the Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science Master’s program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo from Fall 2019 to Fall 2021. During this time, Mike worked with HWF’s Megan Lamson (as his graduate advisor) and completed over 700 volunteer hours with HWF and focused on a brand audit study for marine debris collected in Kaʻū from 2013-2021. We are so appreciative of his amazing contribution to HWF.

Legal Intervention Seeks to Protect Hawaiʻi’s Punaluʻu Beach From Development

By |Mar 6, 2024|Announcements, Conservation Policy, Environmental Education, Hawaiian Flora, Hawaiian Wildlife, Upcoming Events|

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a legal intervention opposing a proposed resort development on one of Hawaiʻi’s most renowned black sand beaches that would harm local residents and jeopardize threatened and endangered species, including green sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals.

HWF Sponsors & Partners

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!

Mahalo HI Now and Maui Visitors & Convention Bureau for this video!
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