HRS §6D-2
Cave protection rules
This law makes it illegal to damage caves, cave surfaces, or things inside caves, like rock formations and fossils, without the owner's written permission. It also protects cave gates and posted signs. Construction crews that find caves by accident are exempt, but must follow any environmental or permit rules.
everyone
The statute, as written — Prohibitions
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly break, break off, crack, carve upon, write, burn, or otherwise mark upon, remove, or in any manner destroy, disturb, deface, mar, or harm the surfaces of any cave, or the cave resources within the cave, whether attached or broken, including speleothems, speleogens, and sedimentary deposits, without the owner's written permission being first obtained. (b) It shall be unlawful for any person to break, force, tamper with, or otherwise disturb a gate to any cave, even though entrance thereto may not be gained, without the owner's permission being first obtained. (c) It shall be unlawful for any person to remove, deface, or tamper with a sign stating that a cave is posted or citing provisions of this chapter. (d) It shall be unlawful for any person to take, appropriate, excavate, injure, destroy, or alter any paleontological deposit, which may be found in a cave without the owner's written permission being first obtained. (e) This section shall not apply to caves inadvertently encountered within the normal course of a construction context; provided that any cave protection measures imposed through the environmental review process under chapter 343 or any land use permit conditions shall be followed.
LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.