VIDEO: Hawaii is in the middle of fire season. That threat has some in Waianae Valley taking a unique approach to fire prevention – using wildlife to try to tame wildfires. In the back of Waianae Valley you will not only find historic archeological sites, you will also find an ancient form of fire prevention using sheep. “Our sheep are pretty much our weed whackers, they help us with maintenance,” said A.K., a farm manager at Ka’ala Farm.
A.K. herds more than a dozen sheep around Ka’ala Farm. The animals don’t eat kalo, which is the main plant grown there, but they eat everything else.They are used to mow down grass and plants to reduce the fuel load if there is a fire. Because Waianae Valley can turn into a tinder box.
“Every summer we have fires. We’ve had major fires. We had one fire that started about 12 years ago, it came over the ridge and then burned the entire back of the valley. And there was another in 2018, that fire was the most devastating,” said Eric Enos, Ka’ala Farms director. When fires burned in the valley, fighting them was a challenge and not just because of the hilly landscape. Also because of the archeological sites found around Ka’ala Farm.
