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Patti Jette: Aloha and welcome to this special episode of Hawaiʻi Conservation Kuleana, I'm your host Patti Jette. Today's conversation is a little different. It's a look back from behind the scenes. This month, Dan Dennison is retiring after more than a decade as the DLNR communications director and my podcast co host. So in this episode, we're getting his reflections on his time in the department, and joining us at the table is our third colleague, Ryan Aguilar. Welcome to you both.  

Ryan Aguilar, Dan Dennison: Thank you. Thanks.  

Patti: So Dan, initial reflections on winding down a prolific career here at the DLNR? 

Dan: Well, I don't know how prolific it was, but the last 11 and a half years I've been at DLNR, after some 46 years in broadcast journalism as a reporter and photographer and news director, this has been the job of a lifetime, in so many ways. I think, as a journalist, oftentimes you're kind of instinctively trained to look down your noses at bureaucrats and government workers. But it took about two days at DLNR to realize that at least the people in this particular agency are passionate and dedicated, and they have great jobs, important jobs, from mauka to makai, and so it's just been really an honor and a privilege to document all of the work here, along with you very able bodied colleagues who will continue in my absence. So it's just been such a such a great honor and a privilege to do this. I often joke that because of the storytelling that we do I've probably been to more beautiful, remote places in Hawaiʻi than anyone on the face of the earth and and for a guy from the mountains of Colorado who's only lived here for a little over 20 years, that's such a highlight of my my working career and and of my life. 

Patti: Yeah. So what brought you here to Hawaii to begin with? 

Dan: I first came to Hawaii in 2003 as news director at KHON, and I was there for a couple of years. And then I left because my mom was on her last legs, having had cancer for about 25 years. So I went to take care of her with one of my sisters for about six weeks. And then I took another news director's job in San Luis Obispo, California. About 10 months into that job, a headhunter came to me, and they were looking for a news director at KHNL and k5 at that time. And then I was news director at KHNL and k5 for about three years. Left that and went to work for Papahanamokuakea Marine National Monument as a communications person for a couple of years. And then I got encouraged to go back into television news and went to Roanoke, Virginia, to the CBS affiliate there as news director, and that job ended, and a friend of mine, told me about a job here at DLNR, and I think it was called outreach and education coordinator, and I was hired to do it, even though we all knew that that was not my background and in my expertise. But they said that early on, if you could find a job that's more, you know, befitting of your experience and your education, you know, bring it forward, and we'll try to do that. And it was about six months later, and I became, initially senior communications manager and then subsequently communications director. This is my third time. It took third three times to get it right, and so I plan to stay here in Hawaii, hopefully will remain involved in conservation communications, to some extent, after a few months of travel and just having fun.

Patti: And what are some of your most memorable projects that you've worked on? Like, what are some of the things that stand out over all this time? 

Dan: Oh, boy, there's so many, I'd say, in terms of subject matter that I've covered regularly there's a couple things that stand out. The plight of forest birds and to a lesser extent, sea birds in Hawaii have probably generated more news and news releases and videos from this office, and it continues to this day than anything we've done. And so it's been really interesting to follow that plight over the past 10 years, and it's really been the past 10 years where it's really come into to sharp focus for people. And so unfortunately, I cannot always pronounce all the names of the native Hawaiian forest birds, but they're just incredible creatures, and I don't think people realize how important they are for the the ecosystem. They really are the proverbial canaries in a coal mine, but here they're really telling us about the health of our forests and the health of our overall ecosystem. So they're really critical. And I hope people understand that. Having covered a lot of wild land fires in my reporting career, and subsequently as a news director, I've always been really interested in wildland fire. A lot of the fires that I've covered have been really memorable. And then, as you both know, I really enjoy covering the division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, DOCARE. I guess I you know, maybe one of the great things about the job is, you know, every little boy when you're four or five years old, what do you want to be when you grow up? Oh, I want to be a policeman or a fireman. Well, I never did that, but for the past, you know more than a decade, I've been exposed to both the firefighting or the fire science profession, and also the law enforcement profession, and has been really, really fulfilling so but, boy, there's been so many, and I guess the one that you know, the last video that you both are aware of, that just kind of happened into it, and it's actually the last video I produced. I called it the dance of the manta rays, and that was just going with DOCARE recently, out on a jet ski or personal watercraft, and when the tourists or the visitors were out holding on to their floaties out off of Kehoe Bay on the Big Island, looking at manta rays, and I was able to get in the water and surround them. And I don't know if the rays were performing or whatever, but just the images we got of, I mean, they literally dance in the water. And I'm going to really remember that, because my friend Kawika Kahiapo, who also provides the music for our podcast, but provided the music bed that that we put on that dance with the manta rays. It's just really a cool piece to watch, and we've got a lot of positive comments on it. It's mesmerizing, I think is the word that people have said. But there's, Patti, I'd have to go back and look, I think that our team produces about 300 to 400 news releases a year, and virtually all of those have video elements and photographs and other resources. And so you calculate that out over, you know, the course of 11 and a half years, that's 3000 plus news products that we've put out. DLNR is in the news all the time, and I think that really speaks highly to the the work that the the whole team does here at DLNR, the Ohana does here, but also just the scope and breadth of DLNR is importance to everyday life here in Hawaii. You know this department literally touches every kama ʻaina, every visitor, every person who comes to these shores in some meaningful way. 

Patti: So speaking of your work with DOCARE, one of the times that came to mind to me when I was thinking about some of the things you've covered was the Mauna Kea demonstration going on up there. Can you tell us a little bit about that story and the conduct, really, of the DOCARE officers and how that all worked out at that time? Because it was a really tense situation.

Dan: The way that DOCARE officers behave in public, the way they interact with the people they meet, whether they're, you know, getting a citation or just being educated, is pretty remarkable. Mauna Kea really brought that into short, sharp focus the day that kupuna were arrested, and they knew they were going to be arrested, it was kind of a standoff between, you know, law enforcement and in government, and a lot of the protesters that were up there, our former Hawaiʻi Island DOCARE Branch Chief, Lino Kamakau, we stood in front of the all the that were there, and they knew they were gonna get arrested, explained what was gonna happen. He had tears in his eyes, because he was really and a lot of the officers were facing the prospect of arresting their aunties and their uncles, and they said that. And so they had a job to do. I think the people who were being cited or arrested knew that they had a job to do. It was just a really, it was a tense situation, but it really, again, just brought into really sharp focus for me, the way these men and women every day handle themselves, and it's, it's really a testament to their training and the philosophy. And we just talked about this on the manta ray piece, that DOCARE really has a philosophy as much as possible, unless it's something really egregious, we'd rather educate than enforce. And I think that's important, and this speaks highly of the work that DOCARE does on a daily basis.  

I think it's in fairness to the format we've been using in this first year of Hawaii Conservation Kuleana to talk to you both a little bit. So,  

Patti: oh boy.  

Dan: Okay, so I get to turn around and let's start with Ryan. Just tell us a little bit about your background and how you landed here and what your role is in the communications office. 

Ryan: Well, I started here a few years back. I was previously working in Alaska, in Juneau, with an education organization, a nonprofit, doing their communications so just, you know, doing kind of the same, the stuff that we do here, writing newsletters and news releases and sharing information with the public. Kind of started here in 2017 we moved to Hawaii, and I started over at Department of Education. A couple of years later went to Department of Transportation in their communications office. So for probably around 15 to 20 or so years, I've kind of been in the communications space. And, yeah, here, coming here, was a little bit of a different experience for me. It's the you're talking about, the breadth of of talent. And I guess what you know DLNR is about, and all the divisions that that are here, they're the the work that's done around conservation. And it's just something. And that's kind of different than any other I think state office, you know that there is, and so that's what kind of drew me to DLNR. 

Dan: And Patti, I'll ask you about this, but Ryan kind of glossed over it. But one of the key roles that you both play is interactions with the media, which is probably 50 to 60% of your jobs. So when you answer about you know what brought you to DLNR and your background, maybe you can talk a little bit about that important role that you have as well. 

Patti: Right? Because I actually came from that side of it, the media. So for the better part of over 30 years, I've had a video camera in my hand in some way, shape or form. And I lived in Washington, DC for 20 years, and I was a news camera woman there, so I walked around with one of those big, huge cameras that you see, and covered all kinds of things nationally and internationally, Syrian refugee camps over in Turkey and in Jordan, for example. Then eventually I worked for a couple of foreign broadcasters, which kept me domestic in the United States. And that was when I was sort of covering things like hurricanes, lot of demonstrations, a lot of politics, because I was, of course, based in DC. So yeah, I came from the news coverage point of things, and I moved to Hawaiʻi as kind of a life goal, to be honest with you. My first time here was doing the Molokaʻi to Oʻahu race, canoe race, and I just felt a connection with this place. I felt like it aligned with my values more than what I was doing and where I was living. And so I ultimately had that opportunity to move here in 2018 and I pursued a number of different jobs, including a lot of freelance work in between then and now, I've only been here for what about a little over a year? Yeah. So it's been interesting to be on this side of it. I'll be honest, it's different because I know how difficult their job is to do, and I want to help people as much as possible. And so we're, in some ways, I feel like Ryan and I are limited by whatever information we have and what we can get from our staff members, and sometimes they don't have the information that the media is seeking, or sometimes the request will come from something from social media, and we it's very difficult for anybody to sort of comment on, like a social media video that We don't really know the true source of so I think it's been challenging in certain ways, in that regard, but it's also a fun time. And I mean, it's, I think, like Ryan said, it's nice to amplify the good stories of conservation that we're doing here. And I think that the more information that we can send out to the public in any form is great for the DLNR, and I think this podcast is one of those venues, and I think our news releases are a venue, and then just dealing directly with the media is also one of those venues. Although I gotta say, I can't stand it when I see my name in an article, I still feel so uncomfortable because I'm not usually, you know, I just essentially grew up not on that side of things. So it's always a weird feeling when I see my name like quoted. 

Dan: One of the things I've shared with you both, I think you know it is different, but I've often said I think I've practiced the best journalism or the best journalism skills of my life doing this job because you have to do it all. You have to write, you have to take video, you have to take pictures, you have to research the whole thing. And I guess what makes it more full here is the fact that, you know, we have time on, you know, and we both worked in television newsrooms most of our career, you know, you have multiple daily deadlines, and we have the time to develop things. We have time to really craft things. And I think the thing that's really different that people may not understand, particularly people in the media, that you know you might have one editor or maybe two editors looking over material oftentimes, and it's a little frustrating. It depends whether we have partners involved or other agencies involved, but sometimes we can have six to 10 people reviewing our our media products and and, you know, that's good because things are really well vetted, but it's also frustrating because, you know, every editor has a different spin on or different take on things, and so you have to weigh, you know, who do I, who do I go with, and which word do I use, or which word do I do I not use here? I think one of the things, and we'd all agree on this. That's really great about the jobs we do, is we really get to see history in the making up close and personal. We have front row seats to history. A lot of things that make history in Hawaii, whether it be the standoff on Mauna Kea. I'm trying to think of some of the other really watershed key moments, but that one really stands out. Oh, the volcanic eruptions. You know, we've been involved in coverage of those, and shooting video and photos of those, and that's always really exciting and gratifying. So I don't think people really think when they go into public service or government work that you're going to have that opportunity. But since we represent and support all 11 divisions here, we really get the broad range and the whole gamut of what DLNR does. And there's so much, as we said before, that this department does that are really critical to life in Hawaii. So it's, it's really fun and exciting to have that front row seat for all of these things that happen.

Patti: Yeah, and I think that the cultural, the cultural elements that we also are pledged to protect here at the DLNR are so significant, and so it's, it's like such an honor, really, to be working here and knowing that we are stewards of these cultural artifacts and the the culture and history here in Hawaii, which is so you know, our indigenous history is so close to us all here in the names of everything, in the practices. And you know, when you go to the continent, a lot of places where I was on the East Coast that's been pushed aside or lost. And so it's been wonderful to be here and be part of a department that keeps the cultural elements front and center in its importance to our place. 

Ryan: And one of the nice things about, you know, working in the communications office here is that, you know, and we're, I guess, charged with, you know, being in service to administrators and staff who work here. But we're also being able to tell, you know, great stories in general about conservation that is a service, you know, to the public, you know at large. And so it's nice to be able to share, to share that.

Dan: That segues into what I was going to give you guys both kudos and props for, is Ryan and Patti are responsible for replying to all of the emails we get from the public, whether they are received by the governor's office or here directly. And that's a that's a heavy lift. Sometimes they come in after a weekend, and there's what 200 or so public emails that they have to go through. And the other thing to Patti in particular, she's the one who brought this whole concept of podcasting to for for us, my exposure to podcasting previously was I had judged a podcasting contest, and I'd never actually listened to one. So now you've made me a fan of podcasting, except for perhaps maybe this particular episode. 

Patti: Well, hopefully you'll keep listening, Dan. 

Dan: I will be one of our 1000s of listeners, which I hope are out there.  

Patti: All right, that'll wrap it up for this episode. Mahalo to you both. While this episode marks a farewell of sorts for Dan, you'll still hear him on the podcast as we continue our interviews with DLNR’s division leaders, and we're excited to explore new stories and voices from across Hawaii's conservation Ohana in episodes to come. Our theme music is provided by Kawika Kahiapo. Mahalo for tuning in to Hawaiʻi conservation kuleana A hui hou. 

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