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Fire Threatens Nature Conservancy's O‘ahu Preserve

July 14, 2004—Fire is threatening rare and endangered native Hawaiian wildlife in the Nature Conservancy's Honouliuli Preserve, west of Honolulu in the Wai’anae Mountains.

The fire, which started this morning on adjacent Del Monte agricultural lands, quickly spread into the Nature Conservancy's Honouliuli Preserve and has already burned several hundred acres of ranch,  agricultural, and forest lands. 

City and federal fire fighters are still working to get the fire under control. 

Del Monte workers spotted smoke in the fields below the preserve around 9:30 a.m. this morning.  When they went to investigate, they spotted seven youths fleeing the scene.  Five of the youths were detained by the Del Monte workers until police arrived.  Two other escaped on mopeds.  The detained youths are now in police custody.

"Two members of our field crew were in the preserve and smelled smoke around 10 a.m.," said Pauline Sato, the Conservancy's O‘ahu Program Director.  "They called to confirm there was a fire and then evacuated.  They were fortunate.  They knew to leave quickly.  Other, less knowledgeable, people might have been seriously injured."

The Conservancy's Honouliuli Preserve stretches across 3,692 acres on the southeast slope of the Wai‘anae Mountains from Makakilo to Schofield.  The preserve contains more than 70 different rare and endangered plants and animals.

The fire is burning on the lower slopes of the central portion of the preserve between Pohakea Pass and Ekahanui. Thus far, most of the affected area is non-native eucalyptus trees. However,  Conservancy staff are worried because the fire is beginning to spread into the upper elevations of the preserve where there is significant native forest and pockets of rare and endangered species.

 "We're very concerned it may spread into the habitat for the O‘ahu Elepaio, an endangered Hawaiian forest bird," said Sato, who noted that Elepaio habitat is monitored and protected in the Ekahanui area of the preserve.

Sato said the conditions were ideal for the fire to spread and move quickly.  "It’s dry and there’s lots of long grass, the humidity is low and there is a strong wind," she said.  "We’ve been trying to clear the grass because as well as being a fire risk, it is an introduced species that smothers our slower-growing natives.”

Sato said the Nature Conservancy was working with the fire department to encourage water distribution over the forested areas as well as the agricultural land under threat.

Once the fire crew puts the blaze out and it's safe to go in, Conservancy staff will do the clean up work.  "That could be tomorrow or the day after," Sato said. "Our fire-trained field crew is small, so we will likely need help from our neighbor island staff and conservation partners.  This is a setback for us.  We will have to spend time, money and other resources on this fire when we should be doing more conservation work."

Sato said it was important that children know how devastating fire could be and that it can take just one match or tossed cigarette butt to create such a disaster.

“Living on an island, we all need to be really conscious of our resources," she said. "One careless mistake can cause a huge negative impact.  I just hope that we can get this fire under control quickly."

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The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities the represent life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive.
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