Transcript Here - STEMworks Hawaii

MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES
Organizations and government agencies across Hawai‘i work hard to
protect our natural places.
Here we will learn about some of their strategies for every day land
management to protect our Watersheds.
For educational pilot project use only.
WHAT IS A WATERSHED?
A watershed is an area of
land, such as a mountain
or a valley, that catches
and collects rain water.
In Hawai‘i, our forested
mountains are our primary
watersheds.
A watershed is the area between two ridges, where water
flows downward and out towards the ocean.
Photo Credit: Hawai‘i Association of Watershed Partnerships
For educational pilot project use only.
These areas, which
contain both native
and non-native forests,
recharge our underground
aquifers and provide a
dependable source of
clean water for our
streams.
WATERSHED SERVICES
Things we want to protect: SERVICES AND RESOURCES OF THE
FORESTED WATERSHED
1. Rainfall, Streamflow, and Groundwater Recharge
2. Native Species and Ecosystems - Biological Value
3. Cultural Significance
4. Erosion Prevention
5. Aesthetic and Economic Value
6. Hunting Opportunities
7. Hiking, Outdoor Recreation, and Education
For educational pilot project use only.
WATERSHED THREATS
Threats preventing watersheds from
providing those services include:
• Fire
• Invasive Species
• Humans
• Climate change
For educational pilot project use only.
WATERSHED THREATS - FIRE
Wildfires were once limited in
Hawai‘i to active volcanic
eruptions and infrequent dry
lightning strikes. However
humans have caused a
significant increase in the
number of wildfires.
Each year over 1,000 fires
burn more than 17,000 acres
in Hawai‘i1.
Once burned, non-native and
invasive grasses fill in, now
covering nearly one quarter of
Hawaii's total land area1 which
together with a warming,
drying climate greatly
increases the chance of larger
fires.
Flames move uphill in a fire on Oahu.
Photo Credit: UH Manoa
Firefighters watch a brushfire in Kona.
For educational pilot project use only.
Photo Credit: West Hawaii Today
WATERSHED THREATS - FIRE
Click here to watch a video about Wildfire in Hawai‘i: (5 min)
https://vimeo.com/117643951
For educational pilot project use only.
WATERSHED THREATS - FIRE
Fires have many impacts to our
native ecosystems:
• Damage to soil and
vegetation – which can lead
to erosion that washes soil
into our nearshore ocean,
killing and smothering fish
and coral
• Loss/Degradation of wildlife
habitat
• Impacts to ranching
rangeland or agriculture
lands
• Impacts to cultural
resources
Fire burned forested areas on Maui.
Photo Credits: West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership
For educational pilot project use only.
WATERSHED THREATS - FIRE
Management strategies for fire include:
• Prevention – Education on how to prevent wildfires
• Pre-fire management such as reducing fuels and constructing fuel breaks
• Post-fire response such as erosion control and replanting in burned
• areas helps to reduce the establishment of nonnative grasses
Fire or fuel
breaks and
community
workshops can
help to prevent
wildfires and
their spread
across the
landscape.
Photo Credits:
Hawaiiwildfire.org
For educational pilot project use only.
THREATS – INVASIVE SPECIES
Non-native invasive species
prevent watersheds from
working effectively to collect
and store rainwater.
The invasive of non-native
pests already cause
millions of dollars in crop
losses, the extinction of
native species, the
destruction of native
forests, and the spread of
disease.
Many new species try to
get to Hawai‘i every day!
Even one new pest - like
the brown tree snake could forever change the
character of our islands.
A Brown tree snake discovered by a Department of Agriculture
inspector. Also Little Fire Ants are so tiny they fit on the end of a
For educational pilot project use only. chopstick! Photo Credits: The Nature Conservancy and DLNR Hawai‘i
INVASIVE SPECIES - FERAL ANIMALS
Hooved animals dig, root and graze in forests,
destroying native plants and helping to spread
invasive weed seeds on their fur and hooves.
We can keep them out of the native forests by
trapping, hunting and building fences to
prevent their movements across the
mountain.
Photo Credit: CTAHR, University of Hawaii
Species that need to be kept
out of native forested areas
include: Pigs, Goats, Cows
and Deer
Notice the stark contrast in
this photo between protected
area behind fences on the
right and areas where
ungulates are allowed to roam
free on the left.
For educational pilot project use only.
Photo Credit: Oahu Invasive Species Committee
INVASIVE SPECIES - WEED CONTROL
Invasive weeds can change the structure of
the native forest from a multi-layered, healthy
ecosystem to a single species deadzone.
Management teams remove invasive species
and prevent their spread by cutting, digging,
and hauling out weedy plants.
A Strawberry Guava Thicket – a native
species deadzone.
Photo Credit: Jack Jeffrey, US Fish and Wildlife Service
Certain species of weeds can have huge
impacts.
For example, recent research (Giambelluca et. al
2007) demonstrated that during dry periods,
invasive strawberry guava removes 53% more
water from the soil than the native ‘ohi‘a trees,
thereby reducing stream and aquifer recharge2.
Another example is that the Maui Invasive
Species Committee has a dedicated crew simply
for controlling invasive Miconia because of its
Clearing Miconia on O‘ahu.
potential to disrupt watershed function5.
Photo Credit: Josh Atwood For educational pilot project use only.
WATERSHED THREATS – HUMANS
Despite good intentions, humans can be
one of the biggest threats to native
watersheds.
Sadly many areas have seen an increase
in:
• Uncontrolled recreational motorbike
riding
• Unauthorized creation or extension of
hiking trails deep into the watershed.
• Unknowingly stepping on rare species or
bringing in invasive weed seeds hiding in
your boots, packs or stuck to your
clothing.
Illegal dirt bike trails can accelerate
erosion and bring weeds into pristine areas
of the forest.
Photo Credit: West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership
For educational pilot project use only.
Watershed crews go through great lengths
to decontaminate gear before entering
the watershed. The best solution is to
admire the Watershed from legal
trails. Doing so will help stop the
degradation of our native flora and fauna
and in turn, preserve the watershed.
WATERSHED THREATS – HUMANS
Educating the public on Low Impact fun can be one of the best tools for a
watershed team. The more you know, the more you can help to protect our forests!
• Respect kapu or "no trespassing" signs marking watershed management
areas. These areas are sensitive to human activity and take a long time to
recover, if at all.
• Avoid riding ATVs, mountain bikes or motorcycles in non-designated
areas. These activities can increase erosion and decrease water quality. You
may be killing native plants and disturbing the nest sites of endangered birds.
• Brush boots, socks, backpacks and tents before you head out to minimize
spreading seeds and eggs that may be invasive.
• Stay on designated trails. New trails = dead plants and insects, more erosion,
newly opened habitat for invasive seeds (that fell off your unbrushed boots), and
makes a nice invitation to feral pigs and other humans to use it too, thus creating
even more damage.
• Leave no trace. Respect the 'aina and hike out what you hiked in. Food crumbs,
wrappers, and other trash provide fodder for rats and feral cats that thrive in the
forest and threaten Nene and other native bird populations.
For educational pilot project use only.
THREATS – CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change is proving to be a difficult
threat to manage.
There are a variety of ways that Climate
Change is already threatening our native
watershed ecosystems:
• Warmer temperatures expand the range
of mosquitoes which breed avian
diseases. For native honeycreeper birds
which live in higher, cooler mountain
refuges, this will introduce new stresses
and disease vectors into their
environment3.
• “Recent studies suggest that there will
be less frequent but higher intensity
rainfall patterns across the Pacific
Islands due to climate change”4.
• Climate zones are shifting upslope,
decreasing the habitat for native species
and forcing them to compete with
invasive species for food and shelter4.
The endemic Kiwikiu honeycreeper
currently only lives in wet forests in East
Maui. As habitats change, that could make
this rare bird go extinct!
For educational pilot project use only.
Photo Credit: Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project
THREATS – CLIMATE CHANGE
Watershed crews are working to protect
native forested watersheds to help ease
the transitions of climate change.
To this effect, management strategies
include:
• Monitoring watershed changes in
habitat and water collection to find
stressed areas that need more
protection
• Preventing the further spread of
invasive species that could outcompete native species that are slower
to adapt
• Coordinating protection efforts
across ownership boundaries
• Restoring native species to help
increase the bank of ecosystem
biodiversity which has been shown to
help during times of ecosystem change.
Planting native plants can help to maintain
the biodiversity of the islands, even in the
face of climate change.
Photo Credit: Art Medeiros and Auwahi Forest Restoration Project
For educational pilot project use only.
REFERENCES
1. Hawai‘i Wildfire Management Organization, 2016. Wildfire in Hawai‘i Factsheet. Accessed from:
http://www.pacificfireexchange.org/research-publications/wildfire-in-hawaii-fact-sheet . Last Accessed
09/13/2016.
2. Giambelluca, T. W., et al. "Impacts of Alien Tree Invasion on Evapotranspiration in Tropical Montane
Cloud Forest in Hawai'i." AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. Vol. 1. 2007.
3. Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, 2016. “Avian Disease.” Accessed from
http://www.mauiforestbirds.org/articles/17. Last accessed on 12/01/2016
4. Gray, Steven, 2013. Forecasting climate change impacts on watershed-based
ecosystem services in Hawaii: A participatory modeling approach. Accessed from:
http://www.wrrc.hawaii.edu/research/project_gray/ecosystem.pdf . Last accessed on 09/13/2016.
5. Maui Invasive Species Committee, 2016. “Where we work.” Accessed from
http://mauiinvasive.org/where-we-work/. Last accessed on 12/01/2016.
For educational pilot project use only.