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Wildfire Risk Reduction and Mitigation
Natural and Cultural Resources
High
Low
Planning
County
State
County & State
Private
Wildfire likelihood in Maui County
Project Description
This project includes several multidisciplinary actions to reduce and mitigate wildfire risk for the town and increase community resilience and preparedness for future fires, as mentioned in the County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan:
- Work across County, State, federal, community, and private groups to establish a green break and/or fire break at the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) around Lahaina town
- Update and implement actions in the current West Maui Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
- Update and implement the Upcountry Maui CWPP and South Maui CWPP
- Update the West Maui CWPP
Purpose
This project is key to reducing wildfire risk for Lahaina in the future. The grasslands around Lahaina pose a fire risk to the town, and a multiagency approach is needed to establish a green break and/or fire break at the WUI around the town. While holistic reforestation, agroforestry and ungulate grazing plans on private lands can reduce fire risk for the town, those efforts take time, and an immediate need is to protect the town. CWPPs outline specific actions to take to protect a community from future wildfires and are a prerequisite for some federal funding opportunities for wildfire protection projects. The current West Maui CWPP, Upcountry CWPP and South Maui CWPP identify and prioritize key place-based actions in need of funding and implementation. CWPPs are typically updated every 10 years, and the West Maui CWPP and Upcountry CWPP are both due for an update.
Interdependencies and Roadblocks
Challenges including funding, cross-coordination among agencies to establish a green break/fire break and long-term maintenance of the green break/fire break, political and community buy-in for new policies, and the identification of leadership for project implementation.
Next Steps
- Meetings among County, State, federal, community, and private landowner groups to develop an approach for implementing a WUI green break/fire break
- Updates by Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO) to the Upcountry CWPP with funding through US Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program
- Identify funding for update of the West Maui CWPP and the implementation of key actions in the current Upcountry and West Maui CWPP
- Continued work across County agencies to propose new policies to reduce wildfire risk
- To develop a community wildfire education campaign
Project Details
Cost Estimate:
$TBD
Existing Funding Sources:
HWMO received Community Wildfire Defense Grant $130,309 to update the Upcountry CWPP
Project Lead:
- County Department of Fire and Public Safety
- State Fire Marshal
Potential Funding Sources:
• U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service Community Wildfire Defense Grant
• Philanthropic
• County, State and Federal Partners
Project Partners:
- Various Community Conservation and ‘Āina Organizations
- Watershed Partnership groups
- Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization
- Large Landowners
- State Department of Transportation
- County Department of Public Works
- County Department of Agriculture
- State Department of Land and Natural Resources
- State Department of Health, Surface Water Protection Branch
- County Department of Planning
- Maui Emergency Management Agency
- Hawai’i Emergency Management Agency
Alignment with West Maui Community Plan (WMCP)
- Goal 2.1 Ready and resilient systems
- WMCP Action 1.13 Develop wildfire information campaign with signage to build public awareness of wildfire hazards and engage the community to create and maintain f ire breaks and to encourage native dryland plants in landscaping.
- WMCP Action 1.14 Proposed amendments to the MCC to required developments to incorporate defensible space around structures and communities.
- WMCP Action 1.15 Propose amendments to the MCC to require landowners of large vacant land in high fire hazards areas to prepare and carry out a fuel management plan