May is Wildfire Preparedness Month. Why get involved?
- Wildfires are a frequent and significant hazard across Hawaii
- Wildfires impact drinking water, coral reefs, fisheries, recreations, traffic, native forests, and human lives, homes, safety, and health! These are under publicized and need attention. Spread the word!
- Nearly all wildfires are started by people.
To raise attention to this issue, OANRP will be hosting a volunteer trip at Puali’i in an area where invasive guinea grass (Urochloa maxima), a major fuel for wildfire on O’ahu, has been controlled. We will do follow up weeding along with seed sowing with native mamaki in order to restore the area to a native dry forest that does not provide fuel for fires.
TRIP DATE: Thursday, May 11 (full day event, meeting time and location will be confirmed once we receive your RSVP)
RSVP: Email outreach@oanrp.com by Sunday, May 7 with your volunteer application
TARGET WEEDS: Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum), Koster’s curse (Clidemia hirta), corky-stem passion vine (Passiflora suberosa), christmas berry (Schinus terebinthifolius) and more!
PROJECT: We will use small hand tools (hand saws and pruners) and will apply a caution-labeled herbicide (Garlon4) to the cut stems of weeds with drip applicator bottles.
HIKING TIME: 2 hours (round trip)
DIFFICULTY: Moderate; some elevation gain.
WHAT TO BRING: Long pants, long sleeve shirt and shoes with good traction (or rubber work boots). Please review the suggested packing list.
All weeding tools and gloves will be provided.
TYPICAL SCHEDULE:
- Drive to trailhead (~1 hour)
- Unload vehicles; safety briefing (~15 minutes)
- Hike to project site (~1 hour)
- Weed control (~1.5 hours)
- Lunch (1/2 hour)
- More weed control (~1 hour)
- Fruit collection and seed sowing (~1/2 hour)
- Explore nearby forest (~1/2 hour)
- Hike back to vehicles (~1 hour)
- Wash weeding gear (~15 minutes)
- Load up trucks (~15 minutes)
- Return drive to OANRP baseyard (~1 hour)
- Clean up gear; pau (~15 minutes)
Volunteer Opportunities 