Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is one of only two refuges in Hawaii open to the public and maintains a free visitor center. We are located off of Maui Veterans Highway, Milepost Six, in Kihei. The Friends of Keālia Pond NWR is a  501(c)3 nonprofit that helps staff the visitor center and maintain the gift shop, as well as providing volunteers around the refuge to assist with service projects. The public is welcome to walk on the Coastal Boardwalk off of North Kihei Road during daylight hours seven days a week, year-round. Anyone interested in supporting Friends of Keālia Pond and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is eligible for membership and can be considered for election to the Board of Directors.

Read About Kealia Pond

Take a walk through Maui’s Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

Hawai‘i Magazine – by Chatten Hayes

Thanks to Maui County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bernadette Perreira and other visitors can easily enter the wetlands on the Keālia Coastal Boardwalk.

From the boardwalk, visitors can spot not only the aeʻo, but also the black-crowned night herons called ʻaukuʻu, migratory shorebirds called sanderlings (hunakai in Hawaiian), and between August and April, a bird with a colorful name, ʻūlili (wandering tattler).  It’s a birdwatcher’s paradise. Read the entire article >>

 

A walk near the pond

The Maui News

Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge biological science technician Suzanne Conlon leads tours of the wetlands Tuesday mornings from October through March for guests from as far away as Zurich, Switzerland. Read the entire article >>

A close look at pond life

The Maui News

Tipper Simmons and son Skyler Simmons of Makawao use a microscope inside the Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge’s Visitor Center in Kihei to learn about some of the smaller creatures that inhabit the wetland. Read the entire article >>

 

Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

Audubon

Keālia Pond supports one of the largest concentrations of wetland birds in Hawai`i. It is an important breeding, feeding, and resting area for endangered Hawaiian Stilts and Hawaiian Coots, and the refuge was created to protect these two species in particular. During spring and summer when water levels recede, the refuge may harbor almost half the entire population of Hawaiian Stilts, with a maximum of 1079 individuals observed in July 2003. Read the entire article >>

 

Website Photos by Bruce Butler and Lourdes Venard

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