Cancer support group meets Tuesday
The Kona Community Hospital Cancer Support Group meets from 6-7 p.m. Tuesday in the hospital’s Administration Building in the first floor conference room 2.
Guest speaker Preston Sult will discuss “Living with a Cancer Diagnosis.”
The group helps patients cope with the emotional aspects of cancer by providing a safe place to share feelings and challenges. It is an excellent place to learn from others facing similar situations and from professional facilitators who are able to provide cancer related information and education.
Info or to sign up: Kona Community Hospital Cancer Center, 322-6957.
Aerial sheep eradication planned
The Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife will conduct aerial shooting from helicopters for feral goats and sheep on Mauna Kea.
Aerial shooting is required for compliance with the federal court order mandating the removal of sheep and goats from critical habitat for palila, a bird endemic to Hawaii.
The area will be closed Wednesday and May 11. Public access will be by permit only for animal salvage purposes.
Both the Hale Pohaku and Kilohana gated entrances to Unit A and G and the gate behind Mauna Kea State Recreation Area will be locked at 7 p.m. Tuesday and reopened at 7 p.m. May 11.
Copies of the map illustrating the area subject to aerial shooting on these dates are available for inspection at the Division of Forestry and Wildlife Office.
For salvage permits, call (808) 887-6063
Info: Division of Forestry and Wildlife in Waimea, 887-6063.
National park visitors bring money to island
A new National Park Service report shows 1,887,580 visitors to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in 2016 spent $159,195,500 in communities near the park. That spending supported 1,917 jobs in the area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $199,923,400.
Park Superintendent Cindy Orlando said there was an increase in visitation from the start of 2016, with increased lava activity and the 100th anniversary of both the National Park Service and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service
According to the report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.2 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.2 percent), gas and oil (11.7 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.7 percent), local transportation (7.4 percent), and camping fees (2.5 percent).
Info: www.nps.gov/Hawaii.
Advisory council applicants sought
NOAA’s Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve is seeking applicants for the research alternate seat on its advisory council. The council ensures public participation in reserve management and provides advice to the superintendent.
Applicants who are chosen as members or alternates should expect to serve a two or three-year term, or until a different advisory body is created pursuant to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument’s management plan.
Applications are due by May 31.
Application kits and info: Nicole Evans, advisory council coordinator, Nicole.Evans@noaa.gov, 725-5818, or by mail at Nicole Evans, NOAA Inouye Regional Center, NOS/ONMS/PMNM, 1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building 176, Honolulu, HI 96818. Application kits can also be downloaded at http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/new-about/council/apply/.