The Hanalei River on the island of Kauai in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

flows north from the eastern slopes of

Mount Waialeale Mount Waialeale is a shield volcano and the second highest point on the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. Its name literally means "rippling water" or "overflowing water" The mountain, at an elevation of , averages more than of rain ...

for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed April 28, 2011 until it reaches the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Hanalei Bay Hanalei Bay is the largest bay on the north shore of Kauaʻi island in Hawaii. The town of Hanalei is at the midpoint of the bay. Geography Hanalei Bay consists of nearly of beach, surrounded by mountains. In the summer, the bay offers excel ...

as an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

. With a long-term mean discharge of 216 cubic feet (6.12 cubic meters) per second, in terms of water flow it is the second-largest river in the state; although its watershed of is only sixth-largest on Kauai, it encompasses areas of the highest recorded rainfall on the planet and plunges precipitously from its headwaters at above sea level. The lower, flatter portion of the river flows by

Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge The Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. It is located within the Hanalei River Valley along the island's northern shore. The Refuge was established on 30 November 1972 for the conserva ...

and many

taro Taro () (''Colocasia esculenta)'' is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in Africa ...

farms (60% of Hawaii's taro is grown in this area). The Hanalei River provides habitat for a number of

amphidromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...

species, including

gobies Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...

(5 native varieties), two native species of

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, the hīhīwai ('' Neritina granosa'', an edible snail), and in its upper reaches, a

threatened species Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

of highly adapted snail ( Newcomb's snail, ''Erinna newcombi''). The Hanalei was designated an

American Heritage River American Heritage Rivers were designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the 1990s to receive special attention (coordinating efforts of multiple governmental entities) to further three objectives: natural resource and envir ...

by US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

on July 30, 1998. The major bridge across the river (still one lane) is on

Hawaii Route 560 Route 560, or Kaua'i Belt Road-North Shore section, is a scenic road on the northern shore of the Kauai, island of Kauai in Hawaii. The entire belt road is signed as the Kuhio Highway. Hawaii Route 56 was once signed on this route before it was ...

, which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places listings in Hawaii This is a list of properties and historic districts in Hawaii listed on the National Register of Historic Places. More than 340 listings appear on all but one of Hawaii's main islands (Niihau being the exception) and the Northwestern Islands, a ...

References

External links

Hanalei Watershed Hui
* American Heritage Rivers Rivers of Kauai {{Hawaii-river-stub

See also

References

External links