Honokaa High School Classroom Presentation and Mock Community Meeting

Students place stickers on priority project ideas during a mock community meeting.

HWMO’s Pablo Akira Beimler visited Ms. Solomon’s classroom at Honokaa High School on March 5 to give a presentation about wildfire. Pablo shared information on the Firewise Communities and Ready, Set, Go!, with a focus on the importance of coming together as a community to work towards wildfire protection solutions. After the brief presentation, Pablo had the students pair up for active listening exercises in preparation for a mock community meeting. Once students understood the concept of active listening, he assigned each student a “community role” to act as, each with their own varied interests and backgrounds. Then it was meeting time — each student shared their points of view while the others tuned in. The students gave their concerns and recommended actions and then used stickers to vote on their priority ideas, just as HWMO would do at an actual community meeting. At the final tally, the “community group” prioritized native plant restoration in a community area as the most important project idea. In the spirit of a true fire-adapted community, everyone came together to decide on what would be best to protect the “community” from wildfire.

You can find this activity and more in our kNOw Fire curriculum.

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.

Nanawale Estates ReadySetGo! Workshop and Firewise Intro

The Nanawale Estates community members who came to the workshop are willing and ready to help the community become a Firewise site.

We started the week by working on recruiting a potential new Firewise Community in Puna on the Big Island (which would be the first on the east side). Proactive Nanawale residents and HOA staff joined us for a wildfire preparedness workshop on February 5 at the Nanawale Longhouse. We guided the workshop attendees through the Ready, Set, Go! program and encouraged them to pursue looking into becoming a nationally-recognized Firewise Community. Following the presentation, we walked over to a nearby home to practice assessing a home ignition zone for wildfire hazards (the best way to learn is out in the field!)

During the workshop, we held an input session to hear about the wildfire-related concerns of community members. Some key concerns included albizia control, lack of ingress/egress, and lack of continuous support from legislators. We then discussed possible solutions that could help address these issues. Nanawale is no stranger to environmental hazards. In 2014, the Pahoa lava flow threatened the community and the recent Hurricane Iselle proved very damaging to the community, which was largely out of power for several weeks. The community may not have gotten the federal aid and even local government support they had hoped for, but they took matters in their own hands anyways by supporting each other. This is a key function of a Firewise Community that is fire-adapted to its surroundings: building community resilience for the long-run is most impactful and effective when the whole community comes together.  

Society for Range Management Fall Meeting and Field Tour

The paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy/girl) culture has thrived in Hawaii for more than a century. With each passing year, greater knowledge of best management practices are used and shared to ensure ranching is done in a sustainable manner. Since HWMO’s inception, our organization has worked closely with various large and small ranches in Hawaii to assist them with fuels management expertise and funding for pre-suppression tools (helicopter dip tanks, lines to draw water closer to communities/sensitive natural areas). Our very own board president, Mark Thorne, Ph.D., is the grazing extension specialist for University of Hawaii College of Tropical and Human Resources (UH CTAHR). 

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Dr. Clay Trauernicht talks wildfire and its relationship to climate change in the Pacific.

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Pablo Beimler shares about HWMO's efforts to alleviate the socioeconomic issues of wildfire in Hawaii.

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Morning rainbow to kick off the field tour of Kapapala Ranch.

On October 27-28, Mr. Thorne and other Hawaii rangeland specialists hosted a Fall Meeting and Technical Tour in Volcano for the Society for Range Management, a “professional scientific society and conservation organization whose members are concerned with studying, conserving, managing and sustaining the varied resources of the rangelands which comprise nearly half the land in the world.” Several presentations covered topics ranging from livestock as a fuels management tool, invasive species effects on island plant communities, and climate/socioeconomic relationships with fire. Dr. Clay Trauernicht spoke on behalf of the Pacific Fire Exchange and UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension to showcase his new research on climate change’s effects on fires in the Pacific. HWMO’s very own Community Outreach Coordinator, Pablo Beimler, shed light on the socioeconomic issues of wildfire in Hawaii and what HWMO is doing to alleviate them. 

On the second day, Kapapala Ranch, a large ranch in Volcano, hosted a field tour through their beautiful pastures and native forests. Aside from morning rainbows, views of Kilauea crater, and clear skies, there was much to ponder and discuss in regards to proper range management in the unique climatic/topographical region that Kapapala Ranch is located in. Water storage and fire were just some of the many topics where lessons learned were shared across the regions. On the way out, a flat tire from old fencing on a dirt road made for a comical situation in which several participants, including Mr. Thorne, labored to remove the fencing remnants with all of their might as others cheered on. Just another day out in the field. 

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Future rangeland managers?

The general theme that kept emerging during the event: conservation and rangeland management can and must coexist if we are to solve our growing environmental issues across the islands (and around the world). 

The event was dedicated to the life of Matt Stevenson, a beloved range professional we lost in 2016. His contributions to the field were tremendous. He will be missed.

BioBlitz Cultural Festival 2016

For the second year in a row, HWMO traveled to Volcano National Park to set-up an outreach booth for the BioBlitz Cultural Festival on August 27th. The weather could not have been any better with a beautiful sunny morning with light mist in the afternoon. While groups of keiki joined scientists in the field to inventory native species in the park, visitors from all over the islands and the world listened to great live music, watched beautiful and powerful hula performances, and stopped by the many different outreach and cultural tents on the Visitor Center lawn. 

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Pablo Beimler presents a copy of the Ready, Set, Go! Wildland Action Guide to a visiting resident.

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Keiki Wildland Firefighter protects hale from wildfire.

HWMO drew at least two hundred curious visitors, interested in learning about the latest in wildfire news and preparedness tips. Keiki learned about the fire triangle and various Firewise native plants that they could hold and get to know better. Some even became wildland firefighters for the day, dressing up in real firefighting gear and taking home a Polaroid photo to post on their fridge at home. 

Firefighters from American Samoa were also present at the festival, showing their versatile skill set by chanting and dancing for visitors.

Big Island Wildfire Coordinating Group (BIWCG) Meeting - Aug. 2016

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Ed Teixeira, new director of Hawaii County Civil Defense. Photo Credit: West Hawaii Today

Through quarterly meetings with the Big Island Wildfire Coordinating Group (BIWCG, for short), our emergency response agencies keep each other abreast of the latest departmental news, lessons learned, equipment purchases, and upcoming trainings. Through BIWCG, Hawaii County has seen greater collaboration amongst the response agencies.

HWMO is proud to be a long-time member of BIWCG, which met again at the Hawaii County Civil Defense emergency operations center on the morning of August 17th. The meeting was set-up primarily as a meet-and-greet with new Hawaii County Civil Defense director Ed Teixeira, who stepped into the role of newly-retired Chief Darryl Oliveira. Mr. Teixeira was formerly vice director of Hawaii State Civil Defense and offers a wealth of knowledge about emergency response, including with wildfires. 

Much of the meeting was dedicated to a great discussion facilitated by Melissa Kunz, HWMO staff member and PFX Coordination Assistant. Melissa asked each fire expert at the table about their “best practices” for fuelbreak creation. Bottom line: try to make them as wide as you can without creating vulnerabilities (such as incomplete maintenance, not mowing grasses low enough, placing them in the wrong location, etc.)

HWMO’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Pablo Beimler, gave an update on the Firewise Communities progress being made on the Big Island and Maui. We will be conducting assessments in mid-September for Waikoloa (Hawaii Island), Kahikinui (Maui), and Waiohuli HIkina (Maui) and are coordinating with our emergency response partners for assistance during those events. 

Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa CA Annual Gathering

HWMO’s Pablo Beimler met with Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa Community Association (PMKCA) members twice during the month of July. On July 14th, Pablo proposed to the PMKCA Board the possibility of partnering to help the area become a Firewise Community. It would certainly be a unique opportunity, given the community’s location on the wetter side of Hawaii Island along the Hamakua Coast. 

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Paauilo volunteer firefighter shares an update on new resources including new radios.

Although the Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa area receives an average of 100 or more inches of rain a year, drought conditions can create dangerous wildfire conditions that have led to some historic fires in the past. 

Joe Clarkson, President of the PMKCA, noted in a recent Hamakua Times post:

“After a severe drought in 1901, several large fires broke out in Hamakua, affecting areas from ‘O’okala to Kalopa. The following excerpt from P. Quentin Tomich’s Perspectives on Hamakua History describes the effects of these fires-

…the first fire started on 3 July in lands of a Niupea homesteader, and spread through several coffee plantations as well as into government lease lands. Thence the fire branched into cane lands of ‘O’okala and Ka’ala…, Kuka’iau and Koholalele…

A second fire started on homesteads in Pohakea and spread to lots in Ka’apahu. A third blaze, largest in area, began in Ka’ohe and was traced to careless honey hunters smoking out bees… It destroyed much coffee and cane land and burned out only when it reached the broad gorge of Kalopa Gulch.

It should be noted that the burned areas included dense rainforest above ‘O’okala to elevations of 4,500 feet, an area and type of forest that most folks would now think impossible to catch on fire. But it was observed at the time that there was “complete destruction of former existing tropical forest and great injury to soil by the depth (over six feet) to which the fire had penetrated”.

Part of our mission is to ensure intense wildfires like impact communities as little as possible. Pablo gave a presentation to 40 PMKCA members on July 30th at the North Hawaii Education and Research Center in Honokaa. He gave a brief overview about the Firewise Communities program and how HWMO could assist the community in working towards Firewise Recognition and overall wildfire readiness.

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PMKCA is a step ahead in terms of community emergency response as they now have a new CERT trailer.

“Just imagine,” said Joe Clarkson, “the fire potential of thousands of acres of eucalyptus plantations (including harvest areas full of debris and tall grass), fallow guinea grass range land, forests of ironwood and gulch jungles of dead rose apple and waiwi, all desiccated by months of severe drought.

In addition to the 1901 drought, severe drought, with accompanying fires, affected Hamakua in the early and middle 1960s, with the 1965 drought being exceptionally extreme. It has been decades since a really severe drought has affected Hamakua, but one can and will happen, we just don’t know when.”

Banner photo credit: Island Friend/Flickr

GIS Presentation at UH Hilo Geography Class

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Orlando Smith works on a Western Maui map using GIS software, mixing scientific knowledge with artistry.

HWMO's GIS specialist, Orlando Smith was invited to speak with University of Hawaii, Hilo geography students to share about his GIS work. The course was entitled: GIS Applications in Natural Resource Conservation, a course taught by Dr. Li. Orlando used data from real world HWMO work on Maui such as slope, vegetation, and land ownership during the presentation. He led students through the variables to isolate areas for mitigation efforts regarding wildfire and flood hazard. 

To see Orlando's great work, check out our maps on the HWMO Products page!

Forest Stewards RSG Workshop for Large Landowners/Managers

Even on the "wet side", wildfires can be an important risk to factor in, especially during long-periods of drought, which are becoming more and more frequent. 

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Workshop held at Kilauea Military Camp.

On September 11th, HWMO's Pablo Beimler drove to Kilauea Military Camp, located within the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - right across from Kilauea Caldera, to give an hour workshop on how to prepare for wildfires as a large landowner/manager. HWMO was invited by our long-time partner, J.B. Friday, who is the Extension Forester for University of Hawaii CTAHR Cooperative Extension. Every year, J.B. holds a Forest Stewards multi-day workshop to "train community volunteers to take care of their forests and to reach out to their neighbors with good information."

Topics can include:

• Invasive plant species
• Good quality tree seedling identification
• County property taxes for forestry
• Soil health

Pablo stressed the importance of planning, especially fire management planning, in order to reduce the chance for a wildfire to occur and limit the rate of spread and intensity of a wildfire in and around one's property (through active fuels management). The worst plan is to not have a plan!