The state is moving forward with plans to build two water tanks that will feed diptanks for helicopters to use while fighting fires on the southwestern slopes of Mauna Kea.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife anticipates a finding of no significant impact for construction of two 40,000-gallon water tanks and related infrastructure to include diptanks for helicopters outfitted with buckets for use during firefighting operations, according to a draft Environmental Assessment released Wednesday. Water sources for the tanks include truck-hauled water or water collected via a catchment system.
The project is expected to cost $250,000 with most of the funding coming from the federal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Because federal funding will be used, a National Environmental Policy Act environmental review will be conducted separately.
The public has 30 days from Wednesday to provide comment on the draft assessment.
The division contends that the additional water tanks will assist firefighting efforts within the Kaohe Mitigation and Game Management areas, Mauna Kea Forest Reserve and on former cattle grazing land now dedicated to mamane forest restoration. The area is also part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Palila Critical Habitat area.
According to the draft, maps of wildfires between 1954 and 2005 compiled by the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization show that most of the nonbare lava surface between Waimea and Puuwaawaa has burned, much of it multiple times.
Dangerous fires have impacted the southern flank of Mauna Kea as recently as 2011 when 1,200 acres burned east of Mauna Kea State Park requiring the closure of Saddle Road.
The fires often destroy Hawaiian ecosystems by converting native habitats into grasslands or shrub lands dominated by non-native species, according to the service.
Native trees may recover from fire, however, native shrubs and plants are often beaten out by non-native species that do well post-fire.
“What makes fire potentially devastating in the Kaohe GMA and adjacent areas is the value of the existing habitat. The intact mamane/naio forest … is in the cross hairs of wildfire,” reads the draft. “Of particular concern is that the area is the last refuge of the critically endangered palila (Loxoides bailleui), the lone surviving finch-billed honeycreeper found in the main Hawaiian Islands.”
According to the draft, the palila relies on mamane trees and associated invertebrates for survival. The birds reside above the 6,000-foot elevation of Mauna Kea, and approximately 95 percent of the population can be found on the mountain’s southwestern slope.
“The only habitats able to sustain palila over the long term are large areas of forest that contain dense strands of large mamane trees and incorporate significant elevational or rainfall gradients to provide year-round food sources,” reads the assessment, which noted the most prominent area where dense mamane strands are located is the southwestern slopes of Mauna Kea.
Constructing the covered tanks, which will be no higher than 20 feet, will disturb approximately one half-acre of land. The lower tank will be situated about a half-mile above the Kilohana Hunter’s Check-in Station at the 5,900-foot elevation while the upper tank will be located about 700 feet south of Puu Laau at 7,375 feet.
The department said in the assessment that ideally a fire diptank should be about two miles or less from a wildfire. Currently, tanks are located at Pohakuloa Training Area equating to a distance of three to 10 miles from a fire in the Kaohe reserve area, Mauna Kea forest and the aforementioned mamane forest restoration area.
The project is expected to have no significant impact on the area’s flora, fauna and ecosystem, cultural resources and historic resources, according to the assessment.
Best management practices will be used to prevent or minimize erosion and sedimentation in the area after the tanks are built, according to the assessment.
The tanks will not be visible from any major public vantages and will not impact hunting.
In addition to the state’s planned fire diptanks, the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, with federal funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is finalizing environmental compliance needed to build tanks between Puuanahulu and Waikoloa, according to the assessment. PTA is also working on plans for additional tanks.
