Maintaining the Many Societal Benefits of Rangelands: The Case of Hawaiʻi
This paper is authored by subject matter experts on culture, soil health, diversity, carbon sequestration, water, fire, and invasive species and outlines the benefits of well-managed rangelands. Ranchers play an important role in stewarding the land and ensuring that these ecosystem services benefit the community.
The cattle industry in Hawaii provides many ecosystem services each day to the benefit of the surrounding community at no direct cost to the general public. These services are performed as a part of a prudent rancher’s science- based management of its natural resources as the “boots on the ground.” The resource sustainability goals of a progressive rancher closely parallel those of any good conservationist. These services provide intrinsic and measurable value to both residents and visitors and continue to provide the open green spaces that we all enjoy. A few of these benefits of well-managed grazing lands in Hawaii are:
- Invasive Species Control & Protection of Native Species
- Wild Fire Fuel Load Reduction & Management
- Conservation & Watershed Protection
- Endangered Species/Critical Habitat Management & Conservation
- Providing View Planes & Protecting Green Space
- Carbon Sequestration