Hawaii Island (Kailapa) Vegetative Fuels Management Collaborative Action Planning Workshop

Thank you to everyone who joined us!

Fire follows fuel. On February 26 at the Hawaii Innovation Center in Hilo, we convened a huge group of 48 people on Hawaii Island representing a patchwork of different agencies, groups, and organizations across a variety of fields to come together to plan for collaborative, large-scale vegetation management to reduce wildfire risks throughout the island. This was part of a series of workshops on Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii Island we held in February on this matter (we had a similar meeting on Maui in 2018). Big mahalo to the Kailapa community, a nationally recognized Firewise Community on Hawaiian Home Lands in Kawaihae, for hosting us at their beautiful new pavilion.

During the workshop, participants:

• Checked out the results of recent efforts to map current management of hazardous vegetative fuels (thanks to all of the information that partners contributed).

• Identified and discussed shared regional fuels management priorities to mitigate the risks of wildfire across our island landscapes through a facilitated series of small and large group conversations.

Marking values at risk and important areas for risk reduction.

Sharing ideas for next step priority actions.

Voting for priority project ideas.

The knowledge and priorities of the participants will contribute to planning next steps in the ongoing collaboration to manage vegetative fuels to reduce wildfire and protect our communities and natural resources.

We are all in this together and it takes all of us!

Stay tuned via our website, social media, and e-newsletter (sign up at the bottom of this page) for final project-related products before this summer.

Mahalo DOFAW, UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension / Pacific Fire Exchange for co-organizing with us.

Hawaii Island (Hilo) Vegetative Fuels Management Collaborative Action Planning Workshop

Thank you to everyone who joined us!

Fire follows fuel. On February 22 at the Hawaii Innovation Center in Hilo, we convened a large group of 20 people on Hawaii Island representing a patchwork of different agencies, groups, and organizations across a variety of fields to come together to plan for collaborative, large-scale vegetation management to reduce wildfire risks throughout the island. This was part of a series of workshops on Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii Island we held in February on this matter (we had a similar meeting on Maui in 2018).

During the workshop, participants:

• Checked out the results of recent efforts to map current management of hazardous vegetative fuels (thanks to all of the information that partners contributed).

• Identified and discussed shared regional fuels management priorities to mitigate the risks of wildfire across our island landscapes through a facilitated series of small and large group conversations.

Mayor Harry Kim sharing about the importance of fuels management for public safety.

Marking values at risk and areas for fuels treatments.

Chief Eric Moller pointing out values at risk at PTA.

The knowledge and priorities of the participants will contribute to planning next steps in the ongoing collaboration to manage vegetative fuels to reduce wildfire and protect our communities and natural resources.

We are all in this together and it takes all of us!

Stay tuned via our website, social media, and e-newsletter (sign up at the bottom of this page) for final project-related products before this summer.

Mahalo DOFAW, UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension / Pacific Fire Exchange for co-organizing with us.

Special thank you to Mayor Harry Kim, Chief Moller from US Army-Garrison, FES and Chief Okinaka from Hawaii Fire Department for joining us at the workshop.

Kohala Waterfront Firewise Educational Evening

Kohala Waterfront Wildfire Prep Day 2018

Kohala Waterfront, a relatively new community in Kawaihae, invited HWMO’s Pablo Akira Beimler to join them for an educational evening on wildfire preparedness. In 2017, Kohala Waterfront became the 3rd community in Kawaihae on Hawaii Island to be nationally recognized as a Firewise Community. As an annual requirement, a Firewise Community must hold at least one educational event.

On February 11, 18 Kohala Waterfront homeowners gathered at the home of Firewise Chair, Marla Herman (Marla and her husband, Scott were amazing hosts). Pablo kicked off the night with a presentation on the Firewise Communities program, Ready, Set, Go!, and lessons learned from the memorable 2018 wildfire year in Hawaii. Following his presentation, Ms. Herman demonstrated what to pack in a “Go! bag” — the essentials that you need to evacuate early when a wildfire is in the area.

Mahalo Marla and the rest of the Kohala Waterfront Firewise Committee for continuing to raise the wildfire awareness level each year!

Kohala Waterfront Firewise Wildfire Prep Day 2018

Kohala Waterfront became one of eleven nationally-recognized Firewise Communities in Hawaii after a group of community members came together to spread awareness around wildfires and reduced wildfire risks in the neighborhood. Each year, a Firewise Community has to put in an equivalent of $24.14 per dwelling unit and complete at least one outreach event or work day. Over a dozen Kohala Waterfront community members came out to remove flammable vegetation along the border of their community (on the highway side where ignitions are the highest) to celebrate national Community Wildfire Preparedness Day. They pruned trees and hauled green waste to a dumpster they rented using grant money awarded by State Farm through the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). 

Resident volunteers and Cesar Gellido of Saws & Slaws get ready to prune a tree to reduce ladder fuels. Credit: Marla Herman.

Cesar Gellido trains a resident on saw use and safety. Check out the progress they made!

Firefighters from Hawaii Fire Department give encouragement and thanks to community members who were hard at work all morning for Community Wildfire Preparedness Day.

Mahalo (left to right) Tom Welle of NFPA, Cesar Gellido of Saws & Slaws, and Emily Troisi of FAC Learning Network, for coming out to support Kohala Waterfront's efforts!

The volunteers also had help from one of the speakers of the Hawaii Wildfire Summit who was visiting from Colorado and representing a community organization called Saws & Slaws. Cesar Gellido, who coordinates the community group that trains residents in Colorado on chainsaw use and safety for the purpose of flammable vegetation removal, generously put in the time and effort to prune trees in the community and train some volunteers on saw safety. HWMO's Community Outreach Coordinator and statewide Firewise coordinator, Pablo Akira Beimler, linked up with Hawaii Wildfire Summit speakers Emily Troisi, from Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, and Tom Welle, from NFPA to visit the community work day and offer encouragement and thanks for the volunteers' efforts. As a pleasant surprise to the community members, a couple Hawaii Fire Department engines stopped by the event. Firefighters from HFD shook hands with the community members and offered their encouragement and thanks, as well. 

Keep up the great work, Kohala Waterfront! Credit: Marla Herman.

Youth Prevent Wildfire Bookmark Contest 2018

Participants of the Hawaii Wildfire Summit voted on their favorite bookmarks based on three categories.

As part of a way to celebrate the upcoming Hawaii Wildfire Summit and Wildfire Preparedness Day, HWMO met with middle school students from several schools and youth programs and had them participate in a youth "Prevent Wildfire" bookmark contest. Students represented Kamaile Academy, Kohala Middle and High School, Waikoloa Middle School, and the Malama Kai Foundation Ocean Warriors program. The artwork they produced conveyed several messages that they could choose from:

"Prevent wildfires to protect our ocean"
"Prevent wildfires to protect our forests"
"Prevent wildfires to protect our communities"

Students from Kamaile Academy in Waianae created their bookmarks during an HWMO school visit earlier in 2018.

Ocean Warriors hard at work designing their creative prevent wildfire bookmarks.

23 of the bookmark entries were selected by the HWMO staff to be voted on at the Hawaii Wildfire Summit on May 2 and 3. 

We are excited to announce the winners of the contest as determined by the many participants who took the time and thought to cast their ballots at the summit. 

 

Congratulations to our winners and mahalo to all of the youth participants in this year's art contest. Special thanks to Jameil Saez, STEM teacher at Kamaile Academy, and Elizabeth Pickett of the Malama Kai Foundation Ocean Warriors program.

Kohala Waterfront Firewise Meeting and Ready Set Go! Workshop

Kohala Waterfront homeowners joined HWMO and the Firewise Committee to learn more about how they could help the community become a nationally-recognized Firewise Community.

Kawaihae is becoming a hot bed, not just for wildfire, but for grassroots community efforts to reduce the wildfire threat in the fire-prone area. Kohala-By-The-Sea and Honokoa subdivisions have received Firewise Communities recognition inspiring Kohala Waterfront, a newer subdivision on the makai side of the highway opposite of the two other subdivisions, to pursue certification for 2017. 

On August 17, HWMO and Kohala Waterfront Firewise Committee hosted a meeting of twelve concerned and enthusiastic Kohala Waterfront homeowners to hear highlights from the Firewise Community Hazard Assessment conducted by HWMO and Hawaii Fire Department a few months ago. We shared our concerns about the sea of buffelgrass that surrounded homes throughout the subdivision and unlimbed kiawe trees that were dangerously encroaching upon homes. Although it may seem daunting at first, Kohala Waterfront has a lot working towards their advantage, especially since they are a newer subdivision and can get the community going in the right direction by becoming a Firewise Community early on. We gave tips based on Ready Set Go! and Wildfire Lookout! on how residents could reduce the fire threat around their homes or better yet, as a community. 

Kohala Waterfront is well on their way to becoming one of the next Firewise Communities, of which there are now nine in the state. 

Fairmont Orchid Health & Safety Fair

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Pablo Beimler shares details about the Ready, Set, Go! program with Fairmont Orchid employees.

This past August, Fairmont Orchid, along with numerous other businesses and communities, was threatened by a 4,000-plus-acre wildfire in Kawaihae. The close call was a stark reminder of the power of wildfires and the importance of preparing and planning for them. 

On November 12th, HWMO's Pablo Beimler traveled to the South Kohala coastline to set up an outreach booth at this year's Fairmont Orchid Health and Safety Fair. Over a hundred employees of the hotel partook in the event's festivities including a delicious complimentary meal served by the excellent chefs of the Orchid. Each employee also could had the chance to win a free overnight package deal and other prizes, the one requirement being a visit to at least fifteen of the information booths at the event. The HWMO booth stayed busy throughout the event. We shared Ready, Set, Go! Action Guides and new Firewise native plant bookmarks, among other giveaways. Two lucky drawing winners walked away with a Kaleo the Pueo hat or T-shirt. 

We thank all of the employees who stopped by and will hopefully share what they've learned with their family and community. Big mahalo to Fairmont Orchid for inviting us!

Kohala Mountain Pumpkin Patch Festival

October is not only Fire Prevention Month but also pumpkin season. Why not combine the two?

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Staying busy at the HWMO tent.

HWMO traveled up Kohala Mountain, which looms over our office in Waimea, to set-up an outreach booth at the Kohala Mountain Pumpkin Patch Festival. The fair was organized and hosted by our friends from Kohala Mountain Educational Farm on their beautiful property as part of a month-long festival open to the public every Saturday and Sunday. Hayrides, pony rides, petting zoos, and a huge corn maze were just some of the many attractions. Visitors were also able to pick fresh pumpkins from the lush pumpkin patch.

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Rocking the wildland fire gear.

HWMO's booth created an exciting opportunity for keiki to don real wildland firefighter gear and to take home Polaroid photos of them in the gear. Some even admitted that they wanted to become firefighters themselves! We also gave away a number of Kaleo the Pueo and Smokey the Bear merchandise, which was a big hit for the youngsters. 

Hawaii Conservation Conference 2015

Every year, scientists, resource managers, educators, and interested community members from all over the Pacific flock to the Hawaii Conservation Conference (HCC) to learn about what's new in the conservation world and to meet others doing interesting and impactful work to protect Hawaii's precious natural resources.

On August 3rd to the 6th, this year's HCC took place in Hilo primarily on the University of Hawaii campus. Although Hurricane Guillermo threatened to make a pass during the week, that didn't stop event organizers from upholding the event and sure enough, Guillermo only brought much-needed rains and some surf. 

On Tuesday, Pablo Beimler, representing HWMO, gave a talk to a number of people about the organization's work in South Kohala and North Kona and how the lessons learned there created a foundation for our work across the State and spurred the growth of our non-profit. The talk was well received with some people even asking for fire history maps and Kaleo the Pueo stickers immediately afterwards. Mahalo to Chad Wiggins (The Nature Conservancy) and Lani Watson (NOAA) for inviting us to speak this year!

Our talk wasn't the only one focused on wildfire issues. In fact, a number of talks this year either focused on or mentioned wildfire as a primary threat to their efforts:

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Creighton Litton (UH Manoa) talks wildfire in Hawaii and its impacts on carbon emissions.

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Puuwaawaa management plan workshop full of fruitful discussion.

- Creighton Litton, stepping in for Clay Trauernicht, gave background on the wildfire situation in Hawaii using much of HWMO's fire history work and tying wildfires and their effects on carbon emissions.
- South Kohala Coastal Partnership's "Didi" Diaz-Lyke spoke about HWMO's recent involvement in their fuels reduction efforts at a couple sites along the Waiulaula watershed. 
- Melora Purell of the Kohala Center explained how wildfire changes soil surfaces by making them hydrophobic and thus creating a volatile environment for native plant regeneration (and surface runoff that smothers coral reefs).
- Sierra McDaniel of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park outlined the growing threat of wildfires in connection with climate change and how the major drought is impacting the native forest and creating fire hazards.
- During a group discussion about the outreach aspect of the Puu Waawaa management plan, wildfire was listed as one of five major topics to prioritize.
- Wilds Pihanui Brawner of Hawaii Forest Industry Association explained the importance of fire mitigation through fuels management at his site in Kaupulehu.
- We also connected with Lehua Luna Nursery during the community booth event that was open to the public. They were nice enough to hand out Ready, Set, Go! Wildland Fire Action Guides to those interested in learning what native plants would help protect their home from wildfire.

As a product of the event, we were able to connect to a variety of new contacts opening the door to a number of partnership opportunities. Of course, we couldn't have gotten to this point without the solid foundation our partners have built for us - something that ran right along with this year's theme of the Conference: collaboration.

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Community members from South Kona share their lessons learned establishing community-based subsistence fishing efforts.

One of the sessions that stood out among the rest was the "Ka Ulu O Kakou - Growing Together to Expand Community Partnerships in Hawaii" forum. Community members from around the West side of Hawaii Island had the opportunity to share their stories about successful collaborations amongst their communities. Many had great lessons to share on how to build community and grassroots level participation in conservation efforts. These stories came at no better timing. Only a day before the session, Governor Ige signed into law a historic ruling that created "the State's first Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Area in Haena." Those community members involved in the efforts celebrated in at the session and were commemorated the next day with the HCA Innovation Award.

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Community members from the Haena efforts recognized with HCA Innovation Award.

To conclude, there were a number of accomplished keynote speakers at this year's event:

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Learning hei is much more difficult than it seems. 

- Pualani Kanakaole Kanahele, president of the Edith Kanakaole Foundation who blended "native and western education background" to become a "foremost Hawaiian culture expert."
- Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy, accomplished conservationist who was primarily known for his "groundbreaking work on forest fragmentation in the Amazon, coining the term 'biological diversity', predicting the first global extinction rates, conception of debt-for-nature swaps, and co-founder of the public television series 'Nature.'" During the talk, he explained that there was a bright side to the significant portion of CO2 coming from ecosystem destruction: that it justified the importance of conservation and that it gave everyone the ability to make a difference by planting something.
- Kamanamaikalani Beamer, president and chief executive officer of The Kohala Center, who gave a powerful speech about how people could change and create structures.
- Senator Brian Schatz, who was not able to give a speech in person because of his need to be in Washington presented a video message congratulating Haena community members for their conservation efforts and the people responsible for bringing the international conservation conference (IUCN) to Hawaii next year.
- DLNR Chair Suzanne Case, who spoke of her support for adaptive game management plans and on a plan to take 10,000 acres from UH on Mauna Kea for conservation purposes.

Kohala Mountain Educational Farm Community Meeting

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Example of cover-cropping. Credit - UFL

In today's wildfire management world, the word "collaboration" has become the dominant catchphrase. Collaborative efforts are what give all stakeholders a seat at the table and as a wildfire management non-profit, we work to do just that.

On the evening of July 16, we met with members of the Kohala Mountain Educational Farm (a.k.a. the Kohala Mountain Pumpkin Patch that your family may be familiar with) for a community meeting they held at the Kohala Center. The meeting was part of a series of meetings throughout the island meant to bring any community members or organizations to the table to discuss how the KMEF could better assist the community in providing an educational space. HWMO's Pablo Beimler provided information about HWMO and how we could help with KMEF's wildfire hazards, including fuelbreak creation and outreach/education.

The farm is already using practices that not only benefit the soil, but also keep wildfire threats at bay. They are currently using cover-cropping, which is a technique that helps prevent soil erosion and weed intrusion while keeping the soil damp. Naturally, this makes for a nice fuelbreak.

We look forward to potential opportunities to partner with the educational farm. In fact, come October, we will have our outreach booth set-up at their annual Pumpkin Patch fair open to the general public. Stay tuned for updates!

For more information about KMEF and upcoming events including listening sessions, visit: http://www.kohalamountainpumpkinpatch.com/