A non-profit Friends Group supporting the three national wildlife refuges located on Kauaʻi.
Together, Friends can do so much…
Friends of Kauaʻi Wildlife Refuges (FKWR) serves as a nonprofit “Friends Group,” supporting the environmental and wildlife conservation, historic preservation and community education programs of the Kauaʻi National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex, which are administered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and includes Kīlauea Point NWR, Hanalei NWR and Hulēʻia NWR.
Our organization helps to fill in the gaps in the programs administered by the Refuge team by providing funding and Friends Group staffing to support a variety of refuge priorities. Friends of Kauaʻi Wildlife Refuges also manages the Friends Nature Store and Visitor Center at Kīlauea Point NWR, supports environmental education programs, administers an annual scholarship, conducts community outreach and much more!
Current Events, News and Activities
“The Kuaihelani Nest Count & Albatross Demographic Project”
Presented by:
Louise Barnfield, USFWS Volunteer
Louise has volunteered with the Kauaʻi National Wildlife Refuge Complex since 2012 and, for most of those years, has been monitoring the Laysan albatross, or mōlī, that return to us in November for their breeding season. Since 2016, she has also volunteered with the Annual Nest Count crew that travels to Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) each winter to count all active nests. She now returns on alternate years as a co-leader of the team, including this past season when she lived on the Atoll for two months, through December and January.
Through her talk, Louise, will share personal experiences of the Annual Albatross Nest Count on Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll) and how the data collected throughout the year, both on Kuaihelani and at Kīlauea Point NWR, play a part in the long-term Albatross Demographic Project. Please join us as we kick off the 2026 mōlī nesting season!
Free Lecture: Tuesday, November 18th, 5:00-6:30pm
Princeville Community Center and on Zoom.
Hawaiian waterbirds are facing an extinction crisis.
It has recently been estimated that state-wide waterbird counts are falling at alarming rates. We need to act now to ensure that our refuges have the resources they need to support these critically endangered populations. Our partners at Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture recently published an info sheet detailing this crisis.
Ka Pae ʻĀina O Hawaiʻi Nei
“Ka Pae ʻĀina O Hawaiʻi Nei” is a culturally centered educational program and a community created mosaic mural that is being developed through a collaboration with the Garden Island Arts Council.
The place-based inspired mural is being developed through a series of community workshops, in which volunteers will help to create an 80-foot-long by 4-foot-high mosaic mural.
The mural will depict the topography of the entire Hawaiian Archipelago, helping us tell the geographic and cultural story of these islands and atolls, how the High Hawaiian Islands fit within this long history, and how these protected lands and waters serve as a refuge for a wide variety of native Hawaiian wildlife species.
The finished mural will be installed on the retaining wall that begins outside the Visitor Center at Kīlauea Point NWR.
Lighthouse Repairs due to Storm Damage
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has announced the start of a project for storm damage repairs to the Daniel K. Inouye Kīlauea Point Lighthouse (located on the refuge). Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), located at the northern-most point of the major Hawaiian islands and one of three refuges within the Kauaʻi NWR Complex, provides one of the most important seabird habitat sites in the State of Hawai‘i and is home to the iconic lighthouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979. The refuge also hosts nearly 500,000 visitors annually.
Follow our journey on Instagram
