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Join Us in Creating a New General Management Plan

This year, the National Park Service, together with our visitors, neighbors, and partners, is beginning the exciting process of creating a vision for the future of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. This vision will be compiled into a new "General Management Plan" and Environmental Impact Statement that will guide management of the park for the next 15-20 years. 

The plan will answer “What kind of place do we want this park to be?” It will serve as a guidebook for the future to help managers make decisions about how to best protect natural and cultural resources, what levels and types of uses are appropriate, what facilities should be developed, and how people should access the park.

It has been more than 30 years since the park’s previous master plan was completed. Since that time, the park has experienced increased visitation, advances in knowledge about ecological and cultural resources, and numerous volcanic eruptions with the resultant loss of buildings and roadways. In 2003, the park grew by 116,000 acres with the acquisition of Kahuku on the southwest slope of Mauna Loa Volcano.

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The Park received hundreds of comments during the open houses held in April 2009.

Over the course of this five-year planning effort, we will develop a range of management alternatives based on comments from the first scoping period, distribute draft alternatives for public review, select a preferred alternative, and invite your review of the draft general management plan and environmental impact statement. You will have several opportunities to comment to ensure that we are addressing our common concerns to protect resources and provide for enriching visitor experiences.

The first formal “public scoping” comment period, concluded June 30, 2009. Our second GMP Newsletter will be mailed in the fall, detailing what we heard from the public.

For more information about the GMP process, please view or print the Hawai'i Volcanoes GMP Newsletter.

Are you on our GMP mailing list?

Use this link to add your name to our electronic mailing list

Use this link to request your name be added to our hard copy mailing list

• Email Us
• To contact us by mail, write to Superintendent, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, PO Box 52, Hawaii National Park, HI 96718.
• For more information, call Park Planner Lora Gale at (808) 985-6303.