Aloha Kākou, Summer is upon us which means its a time for enjoying the outdoors. Summer is also a time for us to be vigilant of possible safety hazards like Wildfires. Many of us here on kauai enjoy camping from the mountains to the ocean. There are many invasive plants out there that pose a threat to our communities and ecosystems as they are prone to catching fire.
Fire is increasingly recognized as an important natural disturbance in Hawaii. The most recent Fire near Kokeʻe brings attention to how we should all be aware of how to we can try to minimize the growth of fire prone invasives around our homes.
Nonnative grasses such as Guinea grass, Beardgrass, and Pampas grass typically degrade native plant communities and are prone to feeding wildfires. We can focus on protecting remnant native species and communities, by trying to manage the invasive grass-wildfire cycle and prevent the growth of these plants.
guinea grass is a nonnative invasive grass in Hawaii, forms dense stands that outcompete native plants and has very high fine fuel loads that greatly increase fire potential, spread, and severity.
BEARDGRASS is a grass that can grow up to (6 ft) in dense clumps. Each plant produces millions of seeds and Dry grass promotes fires and quickly regrows after wildfires.Drought tolerant, yet is able to flourish in wetter areas such as kauai.
PAMPAS GRASS giant bunch grass with long, slender, bright green, saw-toothed
leaves. At its base are dried, corkscrew-shaped leaves. It has large showy flower plumes that extend 2-3ft beyond the foliage. Pampas grass grows rapidly, produces thousands of seeds per flower plume, and can accumulate large amounts of fire prone biomass.
For more info about all fire prone grasses in Hawaii page here: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/hisc/info/species/invasive-grasses-in-hawaii-and-their-impacts/
