Prescribed grazing of sheep helps native ecosystem to recover function and service on Hawaiian Home Lands in Humu’ula Hawai’i?

Background/Question/Methods

Humu’ula is a 56,000 acre land parcel on the western slope of Mauna Kea, owned by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.  The landscape which hosted mature, pristine native Hawaiian forest less than 100 years ago, is now critically affected by its large populations of unmanaged sheep. Beneficiaries of Hawaiian Home Lands (BHHL) recognize the threat sheep pose to native ecosystems but because sheep are valued for food and contemporary hunting traditions, there is a need to find balance between goals for restoration and hunting in Humu’ula.  We proposed an experiment using sheep populations in fenced units at Humu’ula to examine the effect of varying the intensity and duration of grazing on measures of plant cover and composition as well as, site hydrologic properties.  The leadership of local indigenous communities in the design and implementation of place based conservation plans can offer novel and practical perspectives on the direction of scientific inquiry and the development of socially sustainable conservation policies (Alaback 2012).  Accordingly, before implementing this project, phase one of our work consisted of meeting with a hunting advisory group and attending several community meetings to seek BHHL input and appropriately apply modifications and additions to the research plan.

Results/Conclusions

The Aina mauna demonstration project uses a 1600 acre representative sample of degraded pasture on Hawaiian home lands in Humu’ula Hawaii to serve as a model system where beneficiaries of Hawaiian Home Lands (BHHL) are empowered to partner their local values and traditional ways of knowing with the tools of scientific inquiry to address pressing conservation problems in the region. Through an iterative process of community meetings and working groups, BHHL have come to define a vision for Humu’ula that uniquely interconnects the elements of research, restoration and recreation to conserve the biological and cultural heritage of the area.  These preliminary efforts have resulted in a three part project for Humu’ula - Restoration, Research, and Hunting Zones, each with their own designated teams and tasks.  This work will enable greater understanding about the capacity of targeted sheep grazing to limit invasive species and reduce fire fuels in Hawai’i. Taken together, the Aina mauna demonstration model will provide new insights about ways in which human and natural systems may interconnect and adapt to restore and sustain biological and cultural resources.