Imogen Piper, Joyce Lee, Elahe Izadi, and Brianna Sacks of The Washington Post report on Maui’s neglected grasslands which made the Lahaina fire worse.
- Lahaina’s wildfire, which is the deadliest in U.S. history, was started by a downed power line that rapidly grew because of highly-flammable non-native grasses in the area.
- Invasive species cost the world more than $400 billion each year and make natural disasters more impactful and devastating.
- Public-private partnerships and empowering local landowners to actively manage their property will be essential to reducing the risk that invasive species pose.
“But what’s really necessary to keep communities safe, Pickett said, is action from large private landowners and elected officials. Neither party has meaningfully engaged with HWMO’s proposals, she said, including large-scale investments in brush abatement programs and putting resources toward enforcing fire codes.”
Read the full article here.
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