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Organized Oral Session

Hybrid Session

Session: : The Future of Fire: Sociocultural and Biophysical Contexts for Fire Stewardship Under Climate Change

OOS 67-3 - Wildfire in the Hawaiian Islands: Insights from historical Hawaiian language newspapers

Thursday, August 10, 2023
4:00 PM – 4:15 PM PDT
Location: 255
Wildfire is a significant, yet underappreciated issue in the Hawaiian Islands that threatens ecosystem health and services from ridge-tops to reefs, including natural and cultural resources. Fire regimes in Hawai’i have shifted from infrequent wildfire occurrence prior to human arrival to greatly increased frequency, intensity, and size over the past 100+ years, almost all of which is driven by anthropogenic ignitions and fuels associated with invasive species, particularly grasses. Despite recent fire science work on contemporary drivers of fire in Hawaiʻi, the social dimensions and historical perspectives from Hawaiian language primary sources have been largely overlooked. This study presents the potential of 19th and early 20th century Hawaiian language newspapers to inform contemporary fire science and extend wildfire records. The complexities of wildfire drivers, including anthropogenic ignitions, novel fuel types, and extreme heterogeneity in climate over short spatial scales, pose significant challenges to fire risk assessment and fire management, and conservation and restoration of endemic biodiversity. As communities in Hawaiʻi face increased wildfire risk due to climate change and continued plant invasion, collaborative bio-cultural stewardship approaches to adaptation and mitigation will be critical to wildfire management.