Kauai Annual Brushfire Mitigation Meeting

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Captain Daryl Date gives an update on KFD's latest news.

At least compared to 2015, Kauai was off to a quieter start in terms of brushfire activity. There were 69 brushfires to date (by June 9th) for 2016 compared to 122 by the same date in 2015. However, with the possibility of increased drought statewide, especially in leeward areas this summer, Kauai Fire Department and its partners are on guard for what could be a busy season. 

KFD invited HWMO, National Weather Service, DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and various large landowners ranging from coffee growers to seed companies to helicopter pilots to discuss wildfire preparedness and mitigation on June 9th. National Weather Service’s Derek Wroe gave a presentation on the current drought predictions. He warned that La Niña, which has a good chance of occurring by the end of the summer, doesn’t necessarily mean more rain. Typically, the tradewinds tend to be steadier during La Niña events in Hawaii, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more rainfall and could potentially intensify drought conditions

Pablo Beimler gave a presentation on behalf of HWMO on the input collected for the Kauai Community Wildfire Protection Plan update, which will be completed and signed by the end of July. He also shared information on the Wildfire & Drought Look Out! campaign, asking for partnership on the collaborative statewide effort. 

The final portion of the meeting involved a great discussion amongst all of the large landowners and agencies regarding wildfire suppression resources. Each representative let KFD know what resources they had available (access roads, water supplies, large equipment) should a wildland fire occur on their property or on adjacent lands. This type of information sharing was a great example of the collaboration needed to address the shortfall of wildfire suppression and mitigation resources on Kauai. 

Hawaii County Drought Committee Meeting

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Kevin Kodama, Hawaii Drought Commission, gives an update on recent drought predictions. 

Drought is an issue that requires all hands on deck to address. Drought affects everything from agricultural yields to cattle health to rainwater catchment to wildfires. Although recent rains have helped alleviate some of the current drought pressures, mostly on the east sides of the islands, droughts will most likely persist on the leeward sides through the summer (and potentially extend back on to the windwards sides).

National Weather Service, Hawaii Drought Commission, Department of Agriculture, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, Department of Water Supply, Hawaii Fire Department, One World One Water, and HWMO representatives gathered at the DHHL Waimea headquarters on June 7th to discuss current drought conditions and what each group was doing to take action.

On the wildfire side, HFD has recently purchased a few tankers for brush trucks to tap off of during wildland fires. Parker Ranch, as reported by Neil Fujii of the Hawaii Drought Commission, had placed fire risk reduction as a top priority and was hoping to add more dip tanks on their lands. HWMO’s Pablo Beimler shared about the Firewise Communities efforts being made statewide and asked for partnership on the Wildfire & Drought Look Out! campaign. Melissa Kunz, PFX Coordination Assistant, shared new PFX resources for large landowners.

For the last half of the meeting, participants added input to the Hawaii Drought Plan update. The facilitators and contractors writing the plan from One World One Water led participants through a series of topics including climate change implications, monitoring needs, drought risk and vulnerabilities, drought committee and response actions, and drought mitigation and preparedness. One World One Water plans to have the update ready by Summer 2017.

Kamaile Academy Wildfire Lessons

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Pablo teaches students about the fire triangle and how each element plays a part in preventing wildfire.

The Nanakuli fire in March was the most recent scare for Waianae residents. Although no homes and lives were lost, thanks to the courageous efforts of our firefighters, the wildfire proved to be a frightening one for residents, including keiki.

On May 12th, Pablo Beimler, Community Outreach Coordinator for HWMO, was invited by Jamiel Saez, a FoodCorp representative for the school garden at Kamaile Academy, to speak to K-8 students about the importance of wildfire prevention and preparedness. Over 300 students flocked to the garden to tune-in to a brief, interactive presentation that included a fire triangle game to have students understand the core concepts of fire ecology. 

For the remainder of each class, the students played a game of fire tag. Most of the students began the game as their favorite native trees, usually koa or wiliwili, and were tasked with power-walking to the other side of the playing field. The catch: they had toavoid 3-4 students who were “wildfire” and could move about freely and tag any of the trees. Once a tree was tagged, they became a grass that could then ignite passer-bys on the next go around (grasses, however, had to stay “rooted” to where they were tagged by only being able to pivot). By the end of the game, most of the native forest became part of an extensive “grassland” - students could clearly see the transformation of the native ecosystem - something we call “Hawaii’s fire cycle.” 

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Fire tag game: "native trees" try their best to avoid being tagged by "fire" students.

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Why not have fun when learning about the fire cycle?

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Kamaile students and visiting kumu build a hale in the garden.

It was also an important day for the school, culturally. Kumu from the Leeward Campus at University of Hawaii were invited by Jameil and school officials to help students build a hale at the garden. Pablo was graciously offered an incredibly beautiful lei as part of a blessing in which students led oli. It was quite a beautiful moment to be a part of and added a whole other level of excitement and significance to the day for HWMO.

Mahalo Jamiel and Kamaile Academy staff for sharing the beautiful garden as a space for us to teach the incredibly friendly and bright students!

Collaborative Grazing Study - Second Field Day

Grazing, when managed properly, can be an important tool for significantly reducing the wildfire threat in large tracts of land. Over the past few months, HWMO has linked with U.S. Army Garrison - Fire and Emergency Services, Parker Ranch, and University of Hawaii CTAHR Cooperative Extension on a project that will prove valuable to land managers interested in using grazing as a fire mitigation tool.

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To follow-up on the initial data collection on February 19th at the research site, a team of field assistants (Pablo Beimler, Nicholas Krueger, Mele Abran, and Melissa Kunz) joined HWMO’s President and UH CTAHR Grazing Extension Specialist, Mark Thorne, and UH CTAHR Wildfire Extension Specialist, Clay Trauernicht, to monitor changes in fuel characteristics.

On the first day of data collection back in February, the team established multiple plots to assess fuel characteristics such as moisture and density at the site prior to grazing. On May 11th, the team returned to those same plots after Parker Ranch brought in their cattle to reduce the fuel in the area. The research team will return to the lab with the data and samples collected to analyze the changes in fuel characteristics. Hopefully this information will prove useful for landowners/managers, particularly for determining a baseline for grazing intervals that would be most effective for fuels reduction and sustainability purposes.

North Shore Neighborhood Board Meeting Presentation

The actions of a single community member can make a significant difference moving a neighborhood to action. Jim Frisbie, a resident of Waialua on the North Shore of Oahu, was inspired to action by a personal experience within his neighborhood that quickly turned into a call to action supported by a broad coalition of agencies and people. 

On March 22nd, Pablo Beimler flew to Oahu to meet with Jim to tour the wildfire hazards in his neighborhood. Weed abatement was the topic of priority concern for Jim, who was able to hold a half-hour block of that night's North Shore Neighborhood Board Meeting to discuss a motion he hoped to pass. To give background on the wildfire situation on the North Shore and ways people can prevent and prepare for wildfires, Jim invited Mr. Beimler, HFD Prevention Chief Terry Seelig, and University of Hawaii CTAHR Wildfire Extension Specialist Clay Trauernicht to speak to the board of fifteen. That night, fifty or so people listened in to what each representative had to say regarding wildfire and the importance of community action. Mr. Beimler highlighted HWMO's Firewise Communities effort and shared a few tips for creating defensible space around the home. 

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Chief Seelig of Honolulu Fire Department (middle) and Clay Trauernicht of University of Hawaii CTAHR Cooperative Extension (bottom) address a large group of concerned residents about wildfires in the area.

After a public comment period, the board members deliberated and decided to support Jim's motion:

“The North Shore Neighborhood Board requests City and State examination of current wildfire regulations and community safety of homes and business adjacent to fallow agricultural lands that present fire safety hazards.  NSNB requests that City and State report back to the NSNB their recommendations and conclusions within a 4 to 6 month time frame.” 

As Jim explained: "Many of us wish to 'Keep the Country, Country' in the North Shore of Oahu.  To do this we must understand the complexities of land management and the difficulties of an agricultural community that is under great stress. While we seek fire safety on one hand, we also wish to encourage local small and corporate farming.  We do not wish to place undue burden on the lands such that landowners seek to sell their property for intensified residential and commercial development.

Land that is actively being farmed does not catch fire."

Launiupoko Firewise Community Hazard Assessment

Launiupoko on the west side of Maui has suffered through a number of close calls with wildfires over the past few years. Even this year alone, there have been a handful of fires that have started near or within the community. 

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Chris Brosius (second from left) from West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership explains the importance of defensible space to the Launiupoko Firewise Committee.

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Chris Brosius (right) examines native landscaping around home.

As part of our current goal of creating at least ten nine Firewise Communities (Kanehoa was our first official one!) within the next year, HWMO's Pablo Beimler and West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership's Chris Brosius met with Launiupoko residents on February 17th to conduct a Firewise Hazard Assessment. 

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Launiupoko 

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The site of the most recent wildfire prior to the assessment that burned within the community.

The team of new Firewise Committee members from Launiupoko gave background on the fire issues they had witnessed over the years. Much of the discussions revolved around the vegetative make-up of the area and water issues. Mr. Brosius helped connect the importance of creating a dynamic landscape that served the purpose of mitigating wildfire hazards while also restoring the watershed - these goals must work hand-in-hand to create a resilient landscape and community. 

We were able to tour some of the committee members' properties to assess wildfire hazards and mitigation successes at the home level. We also toured areas of wildland in and around the community to get a sense for the larger landscape and its relationship with the community. 

As a next step, HWMO will complete an official write-up of the assessment and deliver it to the committee members who will then devise an action plan. 

Mahalo to Launiupoko Firewise Committee members who were excellent hosts and are the spark plugs for larger community efforts to come!

HCC Palamanui Wildfire Preparedness Field Tour

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Frank Sayre (HWMO Board Director - left) listens in as Mark Thorne (HWMO President-right) speaks to Calley ONeill (HCC Palamanui Landscape Designer)

Hawaii Community College's new campus in Kona, known as the Palamanui campus, will be a hub for academics on the west side of Hawaii Island. The state of the art facilities are a step into the future for Hawaii, but coming from a wildfire perspective, we want to ensure those facilities are guarded from the imminent threat of wildfire in the area. In late January, a wildfire burned near the south side of campus and threatened a number of homes there. 

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HWMO President and UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension Specialist, Mark Thorne (right), gives a lesson on fountain grass.

On February 12th, HWMO Board and Staff met with HCC Palamanui officials on a wildfire preparedness field tour. HWMO's Pablo Beimler (Community Outreach Coordinator), Mark Thorne (Board President), Sam Patten (Board VP), and Frank Sayre (Board of Director) were shown around the campus by HCC Palamanui's Calley O'Neill (Landscape Planner), Marty Fletcher (Director), and Jeff Newsome (Chief of Safety and Security). 

HWMO representatives noted that the greatest threat to the campus facilities was the large swath of fountain grass that surrounded all sides of the campus. Of most concern was the seemingly endless field of fountain grass, mixed with ekoa, on the south end. We recommended a multi-mitigation, low-cost fuelbreak that would prevent fire, dust, and seed threats. 

In general, the campus is working to strive towards a landscape that fits accordingly to cultural and ecological contexts. Not only will the campus have a beautiful agricultural and restorative landscape, but it will also complement Firewise goals. We are excited to be in close partnership with the new campus and we cannot wait to see how they will transform the landscape into a sustainable, reduced fire-threat zone.

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!

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/