Sources and Photo Credits

How a fact gets onto a page

A number appears here only if an identifiable source published it. The fact carries that source and the date we read it, so you can see how old it is without taking our word for anything. Fees, hours and facilities are rechecked quarterly, and the automated monitor compares DLNR's published hours and fees against the figures stored on this site so that a change becomes an alert rather than a quiet inaccuracy.

Where nothing is published, the field says so. That happens more than you would expect on this coast, particularly for parking capacity, lifeguard hours and the beaches outside the state park. An empty field is a real answer; a plausible-looking invented number is not.

Where two sources disagree, both stay on the page with their dates. Mākena Landing and Maluaka Beach are the clearest cases: an older County of Maui study describes them one way and more recent parcel-level sources describe them another, so we show the disagreement rather than picking a winner.

Government agency

• Hawaiʻi DLNR, Division of State Parks: Mākena State Park
• Hawaiʻi DLNR, Division of State Parks: important park notices
• Hawaiʻi DLNR, Division of State Parks: Final Environmental Assessment, Mākena State Park Improvements (December 2022)
• Hawaiʻi DLNR, Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands: beach access
• Hawaiʻi DLNR, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation: Maui island facilities
• Hawaiʻi DLNR: Puʻu Olaʻi at Mākena State Park reopens with adjusted weekend hours (12 March 2021)
• Hawaiʻi DLNR: Puʻu Olaʻi Beach (Little Beach) at Mākena State Park to close temporarily (5 January 2021)
• Hawaiʻi DLNR: Sunday night gatherings at Mākena State Park challenge managers and law enforcement (23 November 2020)
• Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Hawaii Ocean Safety: drowning and spinal cord injury
• County of Maui, Department of Parks and Recreation: Commercial Ocean Recreational Activity study (c. 2006)
• County of Maui road closure notifications
• Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Clean Water Branch: beach monitoring
• NOAA National Weather Service, Honolulu Forecast Office
• NOAA CO-OPS tide predictions, station 1615202 Makena
• NOAA: responsible wildlife viewing in Hawaiʻi
• U.S. Geological Survey: geology and history of Haleakalā
• USGS Volcano Watch: youngest lava flows on East Maui probably older than A.D. 1790
• USGS Open-File Report 2007-1089: geologic map of the State of Hawaiʻi
• State of Hawaiʻi Environmental Review Program: Mākena Mauka EIS preparation notice (June 2024)

Statute or administrative rule

• Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules, Title 13, Chapter 146: Hawaiʻi State Park System
• State v. Rowley, 764 P.2d 1233 (Haw. 1988): nudity conviction at Puʻu Olaʻi reversed on rulemaking grounds
• State v. Steiner, No. CAAP-22-0000496 (Haw. Ct. App. 30 June 2023): nudity conviction at Puʻu Olaʻi affirmed, closed-area count reversed for inadequate signage
• Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules, Title 13, Chapter 235: offshore mooring rules and areas (§13-235-70, Makena Bay mooring zone)
• Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules, Title 13, Chapter 256: ocean recreation management rules and areas (DLNR compilation, April 2025)
• Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes Chapter 115: public access to coastal areas

University or research programme

• Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System, University of Hawaiʻi: SWAN Maui nearshore wave forecast

Agency-partnered platform

• Safe Beach Day, compiled with the Hawaiʻi Lifeguard Association and County of Maui Ocean Safety
• Mākena Golf & Beach Club: club website

News reporting

• The Maui News: Maui beaches lead state in spinal injuries (24 July 2019), citing the Hawaiʻi Trauma Registry
• The Honolulu Advertiser: at Little Beach, hippies' naked legacy endures (26 November 2001)
• The Maui News: planning commission approves Mākena State Park expansion (July 2026)
• The Maui News: old Mākena resort to be demolished (November 2017)
• The Maui News: renovations to shutter Mākena golf course (March 2013)

Organisation or community document

• Keawalaʻi Congregational Church: church history
• Mākena: A Cultural-Historical Genealogy of Place (Kīpaipai Maui)
• Kāʻeo at Mākena: Mākena Landing and beach access

Which source wins

Statutes and administrative rules first, then the agency's own current page, then the agency's own documents such as environmental assessments. Those documents matter here: DLNR's 2022 environmental assessment is the source that establishes Mākena State Park has no permanent restrooms, no running water and no showers, which several beach listings get wrong.

News reporting is used for events with a date, like the July 2026 permit approval for comfort stations. It is not used to establish an operating fact. An approved facility is not a built facility, and this site tries never to blur the two.

Photo credits

Crops and responsive renditions remain subject to the listed license. Each linked asset page carries the original file, the creator and the full license terms.

• Surf breaking along the shoreline at Big Beachdronepicr · CC BY 2.0
• Aerial view of Little Beach beside Puʻu Olaʻidronepicr · CC BY 2.0
• Maluaka Beach, below the former resort sitedronepicr · CC BY 2.0
• Dark volcanic sand and shoreline at Oneʻuli Beachdronepicr · CC BY 2.0
• Kayak and coastal vegetation at Mākena LandingForest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0
• Rock-framed shoreline at Paʻako Beach, also called Mākena CoveKirt Edblom · CC BY-SA 2.0
• The Mākena coastline and Puʻu Olaʻi from the airdronepicr · CC BY 2.0

Data reuse and acknowledgements

Wave model output comes from the Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System at the University of Hawaiʻi, supported by NOAA and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. It is provided for planning and not for legal or navigational use. Surf and alert products are public domain output of the National Weather Service. Tide predictions are NOAA CO-OPS astronomical predictions for station 1615202.