By JOHN BURNETT By JOHN BURNETT ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer Coffee farmers in Ka‘u are in the process of assessing the damage caused by two Pahala wildfires, but haven’t yet come up with a dollar amount for the destruction. “Right
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Coffee farmers in Ka‘u are in the process of assessing the damage caused by two Pahala wildfires, but haven’t yet come up with a dollar amount for the destruction.
“Right now, we’re just trying to assess what trees will be salvageable and which ones won’t. It’s hard to assess until we get a better handle on the extent of biological damage to the trees,” Chris Manfredi, Ka‘u Farm and Ranch Co. manager, said Tuesday afternoon.
Seven coffee farms suffered damage, with one sustaining severe losses. Manfredi said that all of the affected farmers lease from Ka‘u Farm and Ranch. He told Stephens Media in May that 50 coffee farms produce 500 acres of beans, and the crop is worth about $10 million a year.
“We’re doing all we can to help the farmers recover, and I expect we’ll fully recover by working together,” he said. “The silver lining is that the fire cleared some land that we wanted to plant anyway. So we’re going to take advantage of the land clearing to create some new farms.”
The Ka‘u Calendar News Briefs blog reported that ML Macadamia “is looking at heavy losses with as much as total loss on some 150 acres of trees makai of Hwy 11, plus huge costs in rebuilding irrigation systems after pipes and tubing melted in the flames.” The Pahala-based website also stated that eucalyptus trees grown by Forest Solutions were damaged by the fire. The Tribune-Herald could not independently verify those reports by press time.
The 400-acre mauka fire above Pahala has been about 95 percent contained for several days. The 4,800-acre makai blaze closer to Pahala town is about 60 percent contained, with firefighters monitoring and maintaining the perimeter along fire breaks on the northern and southern flanks.
Fire Battalion Chief Jerry Lum said that the only firefighters still involved in battling the two fires, both of which ignited on June 18, are from the Pahala station.
“It’s pretty much the status quo,” he said late Tuesday afternoon. “They’re out there working on the hot spots.”
State Rep. Clift Tsuji (D-South Hilo, Puna), the state House Agriculture chairman, said he had also spoken with Manfredi on Tuesday about the plight of the affected coffee farms.
“One had procured crop insurance, how much was not available to me. But I was told the chances of recovering something from the crop insurance was favorable,” he said.
Tsuji said that a disaster declaration by Gov. Neil Abercrombie would be “the ultimate desire” of those who suffered damages, but that a more extensive assessment would need to be done before that could happen.
“A request would have to be fast-tracked, especially now through a non (legislative) session time,” he noted. “But this is where we would have to … assess the monetary damage, the potential for future economic damage and the need for governmental aid.”
A U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster declaration for protea farmers and cattle ranchers in the Ka‘u district was renewed in February. Those industries were hit particularly hard by vog from Kilauea volcano’s Halema‘uma‘u crater in 2008 and 2009.
“That was much more severe, I think,” Tsuji said. “The protea industry was terminated; no farming going on. They don’t plant protea anymore.”
Email John Burnett at
jburnett@hawaiitribune-
herald.com.
