If you paid a little extra for that Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park license plate at the Hawaiʻi Department of Motor Vehicles, you just helped support nēnē, Hawaiian endemic geese, at the park with a donation of $60,000, delivered recently by HPPA Executive Director Mel Boehl to the park’s Resources Management Division. The Nēnē Monitoring Program at the park will evaluate monitoring strategy and complete a monitoring protocol report. The plates program is administered by the DMV.
Perhaps 25,000 nēnē existed in Hawai`i when Captain Cook arrived in 1778. By the mid 1940s, only 50 birds remained. In the 1970s, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park began a captive nēnē breeding and reintroduction program. National park staff use a variety of techniques to improve nēnē breeding success: controlling predators in nesting habitat, mowing pastures, closing sensitive brooding areas to the public, and maintaining predator-resistant enclosures in which free-flying birds can rest, feed, or nest.
The specialty license plates in Hawaiʻi were authorized by a 2015 state law to raise funds for resource protection and education projects at Hawai‘i Volcanoes and Haleakalā national parks. The plates feature volcanic views of Kīlauea erupting, and rare native species like the nēnē (Hawaiian goose) and the Haleakalā silversword plant. The specialty license plate program has raised over $600,000 and counting.
Mahalo to the community for taking the extra step and choosing to show their support for the work of our partner Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park! Other national parks that currently benefit from specialty license plate programs include Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Crater Lake National Park, and Yosemite National Park.
To learn more about Hawaiʻi specialty license plates: https://www.hawaiicounty.gov/departments/finance/vehicle-registration-licensing/motor-vehicles-general-information/replacement-special-license-plates