Experts Point Finger at This "Ignitable" Grass Species for Deadly Hawaii Wildfires

 Experts Point Finger at This "Ignitable" Grass Species for Deadly Hawaii Wildfires

They pose a significant concern in the western United States, where deadly fires are on the rise. They are drought-resistant, capable of colonising tough terrain, and progressively muscling out native species.

Washington: In the wake of a devastating wildfire that claimed more than 100 lives in Hawaii, attention has been drawn to an unlikely suspect: alien grass species that have been spreading widely around the archipelago for decades, providing the ideal fuel.

They pose a significant concern in the western United States, where deadly fires are on the rise. They are drought-resistant, capable of colonising tough terrain, and progressively muscling out native species.

"Invasive grasses have a high ignition point. Carla D'Antonio, an ecology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP that they alter the terrain.

We now have a lot more fire because they create conditions that are more favourable for it.

D'Antonio, who has been researching these species for more than 30 years, claims that instead of dissolving after they die, they remain "standing there for a long time, dry.

species, replacing them gradually

The majority of these grasses, such as buffelgrass, Guinea grass, and molasses grass, were imported from Africa as grazing for cattle without realising the risk they would later come to stand for.

Huge swaths of land were abandoned in Hawaii as a result of the globalization-related collapse of sugar cane plantations in the 1990s, which opened the door for the spread of exotic species.

According to Clay Trauernicht, a fire ecologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, "yes, a lot of areas of Hawaii are trending regarding dryer conditions, but the fire problem is mainly attributable to the vast expanses of non-native grasslands left unmanaged by large landowners as previously entered a "post-plantation era"."

According to Trauernicht, Hawaii's yearly burn area has grown by 300% in recent years.

According to a Maui County study on fire prevention from 2021, invasive grasses, rising temperatures brought on by climate change, extended droughts, and the potential of fires were all developing threats.

Despite its reputation as a tropical place, Hawaii is becoming drier. According to a 2016 research, 90% of the state receives less rain than it did a century ago.

The study for Maui County suggested "an aggressive plan to replace existing hazardous fuel sources with native plants to reduce fuel that can be while increasing groundwater retention."

Nothing about it seemed natural.

The issue is not exclusive to Hawaii. D'Antonio described the interior of the United States of America as having "deserts of the West and conifer forests, then shrub lands in the vicinity of the coast, invader weeds are here to stay, one is now part of the electric source ecosystem."

She works alongside neighbours in a hilly region close to Santa Barbara, California, on certain Saturday afternoons to weed the sides of the road. Their objective is to stop a fire from beginning because of a cigarette butt or a hot car.

She also mentions the Camp Fire of 2018, which burned the small California town of Paradise and left more than 80 people dead, saying that the majority of the big fires in the Mojave and Great Basin have been caused by exotic grasses. Dry grass ignited by a power wire caused it to start.

The scientist emphasises, "(I'm) not making the mistake of calling it a natural disaster since there's absolutely nothing natural about it.

Buffelgrass, one of the invaders, threatens the iconic cactus of Arizona's Saguaro National Park by suffocating young specimens and igniting nearby fires. Clearing activities are frequently organised by organisations. Australia and Mexico are both seeing an increase in the same species.

A 2019 study found that six invasive grass species increased the incidence of fire in US ecosystems by up to 150 percent.

Dr. D'Antonio of UC Santa Barbara believes that several causes, including human-caused landscape alteration, alien species invasion, droughts made worse by changes in the climate, and lack of preparation, contribute to catastrophes like the one in Hawaii.

Widespread conifer forest cutting in the 19th century and a lengthy history of severe fire suppression in the 20th century both led to the buildup of tinder on the forest floor in the American West.

"The potential for disaster is huge," declared D'Antonio, presenting society with difficult issues to resolve.  Not for the typical fire, but the severe fire instead?"