Poamoho land protection gets hearing

The state is seeking public feedback on a plan to create a Poamoho Natural Area Reserve.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources will hold a hearing Wednesday to discuss the designation, which it says would help protect more than 25 plants and 17 animals considered rare and endangered on state land in the uppermost portion of the Ewa Forest Reserve.

The 6 p.m. hearing is at the state's Kalanimoku Building at 1151 Punchbowl St. in Land Board Conference Room 132.

The reserve would be bordered by the Oahu Forest National Wildlife Refuge to the south and by the Kawailoa Training Area to the north.

Hawaii's Natural Area Reserve System is generally open to the public at such places as Kaena Point and Pahole on Oahu.

There are no immediate plans to change access for hiking and hunting in the Ewa Forest Reserve and in the proposed reserve, the state said.