Wildfires are a serious concern, in the Islands as well as on the Mainland. Wildland fire expert Clay Trauernicht (NREM) recently gave a presentation on this timely subject on Maui, in which he explained that since 72 percent of wildfires with known causes are accidental, that means they can be prevented, and the time for prevention is now!  

Shannon Sand (NREM) will be the new assistant Extension agent in Agricultural Finance. Based out of the Komohana Agriculture Research & Extension Center in Hilo, she will have state-wide responsibilities. Shannon has earned master’s degrees in Agriculture, Agricultural Economics, and Food and Resource Economics. Please welcome her when she starts work in June!

A new study, co-authored by NREM’s Kimberly Carlson, suggests that only one third of global sugarcane production complies with Bonsucro, the leading sustainability standard for sugarcane. “Voluntary Sustainability Standards Could Significantly Reduce Detrimental Impacts of Global Agriculture” was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

A new research paper by Dr. Clay Trauernicht is the first study to link climate change to increasing wildfire probability in Hawai‘i, and one of the few that looks at this question for tropical regions more broadly. He used the “footprints” of historical fires mapped on the Big Island to quantify how vegetation, ignition frequency, and climate contribute to wildfire probability.

A new research paper published by Clay Trauernicht (NREM) in the journal Science of the Total Environment is the first study to link climate change to increasing wildfire probability in Hawai‘i. His analysis indicates that climate change will increase the annual risk of wildfire by as much as 375% for parts of the Big Island and most of this change will happen within the next several decades.