Telescope produces solar sensations

The National Science Foundation released the first, close-up images of the sun’s surface from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope fittingly located atop Haleakala, known as “House of the Sun.” They are the highest-resolution images of the sun’s surface ever taken, the NSF said.

What they revealed is a textured pattern depicting the turbulent “boiling” plasma that covers the entire sun, scientists said. This plasma is made up of bubbling cells — each as large as Texas — that are the “signature of violent motions” that transport heat from inside the sun to its surface through convection.

The NSF says the 4-meter solar telescope, which will become fully operational in July, will “enable a new era of solar science” by capturing images with three times more detail than ever seen before.

Construction work planned for Kihei park

The South Maui Community Park playground will be closed starting Monday through April 3 for construction of a 60-by-80-foot, tensioned-fabric shade structure.

Direct questions and concerns to Samual Marvel at samual.marvel@co.maui.hi.us or 270-6173.

Comments sought on hazard mitigation plan

The Maui Emergency Management Agency is updating the county’s Hazard Mitigation Plan to address threats such as wildfires, significant beach erosion, hurricanes and highway rockslides.

The county seeks public input in identifying solutions to the problems associated with natural hazards and is collecting comments via an online survey (surveymonkey.com/r/mitigatemaui) and a series of public meetings starting 9 a.m. Monday during the Council’s Climate Action and Resilience Committee session in Council Chambers.

Other meetings are scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday at Kahului Community Center, 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mitchell Pauole Center in Kaunakakai and 5 p.m. Thursday at Helene Hall in Hana. More public meetings will be offered in the coming months.

The Hazard Mitigation Plan provides a blueprint for how the county can lessen the impact of natural hazards with projects such as strengthening school buildings to serve as emergency shelters, adding generators to critical facilities for backup power and developing tsunami evacuation routes. Once approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the plan makes the county eligible for federal project grant funding.

For more information, contact Anthony Joyce at the Maui Emergency Management Agency at 270-7286 or email Anthony.joyce@mauicounty.gov, or visit mauicounty.gov/1832/Multi-Hazard-Mitigation-Plan.

ACLU to host free advocacy training

With the 2020 legislative session underway, learn about pressing issues facing the state, what the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i hopes to accomplish this year and how people can get involved at a free advocacy training session to be simultaneously telecast on four islands from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday.

The Maui session will take place at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 737 Lower Main St., Suite B-2, in Wailuku.

The ACLU’s legislative agenda includes prison reform, opposition to measures “that criminalize poverty,” abortion rights, workplace fairness and equity, and increased privacy protections.

For more information, visit acluhi.org. To RSVP for the Maui training, check go.peoplepower.org.

State purchases Molokai ahupuaa

The state has acquired Puaahala on Molokai’s east side to help protect watershed forests, cultural resources and the island’s largest freshwater pond. The 800-acre parcel was previously owned by K&H Horizons Hawai‘i and comprises an entire ahupuaa from the top of the mountain to the ocean.

The state Division of Forestry and Wildlife and East Moloka‘i Watershed Partnership raised the $3.2 million needed to purchase the property, including $2.36 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $828,560 from the state’s Hawai‘i Legacy Land Conservation Program.

According to a news release, DOFAW will add the newly acquired lands to the State Forest Reserve and Wildlife Sanctuary systems this year and begin implementing natural resource management actions that might include endangered species recovery, trails and access, reforestation and wetlands management. The state plans to engage the Molokai community in the planning process, the release said.

Send meeting notices, announcements and other news to maui@staradvertiser.com.