Flammable invasive grasses, like buffelgrass and Guinea grass, were found to have fueled the Maui wildfires on Aug. 8, 2023. In the aftermath, many have wondered if anything can be done to replace these non-native grasslands with fire-tolerant native grasses and shrubs.
The issue is going to be hard to uproot. The National Interagency Fire Center recently reported that Hawaiʻi has “above normal” potential for a significant wildfire this spring and summer.
U.S. Forest Service rangeland scientist Stephanie Yelenik has researched invasive grasslands in Hawaiʻi and several western states, as well as in South Africa.
She spoke to The Conversation about a new study she led on invasive grasslands on Hawai’i Island — and what it could mean for efforts to reseed landscapes with native species after a destructive fire.
"In places that are closer to sea level, you just tend to have more long-term disturbance over time. There's fewer native species around for a seed to be there in the first place," Yelenik said.
"These places that burn over unfortunately, you know, my expectation is whatever you saw before, that's what's going to be there after. So if you want to see something different, yeah, a management strategy needs to be in place," she added.
Yelenik said planting is also an option. While plants are more expensive than seeds, they're more likely to survive to adulthood — and then they can create their own seed.
Her paper, "Invasive-dominated grasslands in Hawaiʻi are resilient to disturbance," was published last month in the journal Ecology and Evolution.
This story aired on The Conversation on April 8, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
