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Emergency Environmental Workforce hilo progress Report


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From: Kim Tavares, Operation Miconia Hilo
Emergency Environmental Workforce HILO Progress Report

15 February – 28 February 2002


Field Work:

Onomea Scenic Drive


During the past two weeks EEWF crews destroyed 32,634 Miconia plants along the Scenic Drive at Onomea. About 87 acres of backyards, orchards, river drainages and the railroad cut were surveyed and maintained during this period. The drop in acres covered is relative to the rising number of plants destroyed. Average: 375 plants per acre, Percent mature: 9.13%.

Onomea work continues to provide challenges for most of the crew. Because of the steep, muddy terrain and complex drainage systems, work at the core is difficult most of the time. EEWF operations thanks the many land owners and residents for cooperating, and often welcoming, crews to their properties. The friendly neighborhood atmosphere provided by Onomea residents is appreciated, and makes the work that much more meaningful and a lot easier to do.
The following diagram shows the areas where EEWF crews have worked, colored by week. Within these blocks and along the edges, many large mature trees still exist that require special treatment. Most of the remaining trees are in the steep river gulches, and a special crew is being formed to handle them. The crew will be trained to use safety ropes to access a majority of the remaining plants in the shaded areas. Some of the unfinished areas are due to access problems, either no response, no way to contact the owners, or a stated refusal. Some people are handling it on their own. All work so far has been east (makai) of the highway.

Mountain View & Kurtistown, Puna


Crews participated in one field work day away from the river drainages during this reporting period. Work was cancelled for one day, when a storm came in that made outdoor work impossible anywhere. The day following the flash flood watches and warnings, the crews worked in Kurtistown and Mountain View, to give the rivers a chance to drain out to a less dangerous level.

A recent call to the Miconia Hotline resulted in confirmed miconia in a high elevation site, west of S. Kulani Road. Operation Miconia typically responds to these sites as quickly as possible, and the large number of crews the EEWF provides makes allows for more thorough inspections. A landowner recently discovered a near-mature plant and several saplings in an area east of Site: Ihope (circled in red near the left edge of the map). The Maui resident was happy to have crews respond to this site immediately, and Operation Miconia is happy to provide this service. This high-priority site is on the perimeter, or high-elevation boundary of Miconia’s known East Hawaii range. It should get field crews for another week of sweeps (yellow outline), to further define this edge of the infestation as soon as possible. A large part of this site was once a quarry for the sugar plantation. The ground is rocky and concealed by thick vegetation. The first day at the site about 30 acres were covered, and no miconia were found. Crews ran out of time and stopped short of the location described by the caller, and expect to find the immature plants on the next trip out, some time in March.
While the rapid response effort was happening on Kulani Road, the other half of the crews maintained a site monitored by Operation Miconia over the last several years. Ola’a Road on the east side (makai) of the Volcano Highway (circled red on the top right corner of the map), is an alternate route into lower Puna, with Miconia frequent along the roadsides. This is the first complete survey & maintenance effort for this section, which has needed more resources than the project has ever had for a long time. EEWF provided the necessary workforce to reclaim this area from seed production. 87 acres were surveyed, and 1 mature tree was found along with 5 immature plants.

Weekly and Overall Totals 2002 February 15 - 28:
Kurtistown / Mountain View

Maintained Acres

Seedlings

Saplings

Trees

Largest DBH (cm)

Flowers or Fruit

88

4

1

1

7.5

1


Onomea

Maintained Acres

Seedlings

Saplings

Trees

Largest DBH (cm)

Flowers or Fruit

87

17,497

12,159

2,978

30

200


Since DECEMBER 2001:

Kurtistown / Mountain View

Maintained Acres

Seedlings

Saplings

Trees

Largest DBH (cm)

Flowers or Fruit

1,940.7

29,950

12,104

1,069

30

217



Onomea


Maintained Acres

Seedlings

Saplings

Trees

Largest DBH (cm)

Flowers or Fruit

287.7

50,515

24,766

7,582

40

1,153


______________________________________________________________________________
Project Total: [ 125,986 ] Miconia plants destroyed over [ 2,228.4 ] Acres ______________________________________________________________________________

Training: The change in sites from Onomea to upper Puna offered field crews the opportunity to learn a little about the overall project strategy (perimeter to core). Until now, all of the work the crews were doing were in core areas, an important step in stopping the spread is to stop seed production. As it is with most new workers, the crews seems to come alive in dense stands of miconia, and tire easily when hardly any are found. Surveying for Miconia is as important as destroying mature plants at the core. The one plant found in 200 acres is one that will not spread to 2000 more.
Some of the crews were introduced to new safety techniques for easier access to and from river bottoms along the slippery banks. Safety ropes called tag lines were installed so crews have a secure anchor to grip.
Logistics: Some difficulty in contacting land owners occurred during this period. Office personnel are doing a great job of locating the majority of the land owners, and work is progressing steadily. Crews walk up to a mile or so to reach some of the job sites. It is a good warm-up before hitting the slopes. At the end of the day it’s a little harder. Smaller busses would be able to drop crews off closer to the planned work area, and allow more time for sweeps.
Supplies: Supplies are being consumed at an alarming rate, budget and time make it difficult to keep things stocked. Herbicide applicators and personal protective equipment, and a variety of gloves for different purposes, are hard to keep in stock. It is a good learning experience, allowing budget managers an example of supply needs over the long term, how and when to place orders for upcoming work, and the costs.
Performance: Productivity is excellent for this entire EEWF group. The acres covered and the number of plants detected / destroyed have exceeded project expectations already, and there are still a few more weeks to go. The services and great attitudes of the crews could be utilized in several locations around East Hawaii, for any given amount of time. Extending the project for the same size crew, and additional vehicle and supply budgets would go a long way towards seed source reduction necessary to the success of this project. The progress being logged to the database provides valuable information for more work, well into the future. Two workers found higher paying work elsewhere and left the project.
Accidents & Injuries: A few slips caused strained muscles to some workers, however nothing out of the ordinary or life threatening occurred in the past two weeks. One person has missed several days of work due to an illness, and all of the crews are wishing for his speedy recovery and return to work.

Next Week:
Most accessible areas between the Belt Highway and the coast around Onomea have been surveyed, but several days of spot treatments at key rope sites will still be required. Drier weather is best for this work. This coming week will be split between ocean side (east of the highway) or mountain side (west, in the ranch gulches). Another HOTLINE Report came from an area on the north border of the planned maintenance area west of the highway, at an elevation of 700 feet. A few people will survey this site before the larger crews are brought in to do the work.
If it rains again this coming period, work will resume at the Kulani Road and Ola’a Road sites in upper Puna.


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