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| Kaua‘i Watershed Alliance Management Programs |
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| Ungulate Management Program: The ungulate management goal is to maintain or improve the structure and composition of the watershed’s forest by intensively reducing ungulates in Core 1 management areas and managing ungulates in Core 2 management areas (see Core Area map below). |
| It has long been recognized that nonnative ungulates are a primary threat to native watershed forest. Managing ungulates across the large and rugged terrain of the primary watershed of the island of Kaua‘i requires a strategic plan and current information about where these threats are greatest. Information gathered from ground and aerial surveys, landowners, resource managers, and hunters formed the basis of the ungulate management plan. In addition, simulations using the Vortex model were used to better understand ungulate population dynamics, particularly for pigs. Such information helped develop various management scenarios toward realistic and effective objectives across the landscape. |
| Differences in the biology and behavior of problematic ungulate species result in significantly different impacts to watershed resources and processes. Some ungulate species may have serious impacts on a particular forest type, with less impact to other forest types. Characteristics such as habitat preference, reproductive biology, and foraging behavior all play a role in influencing potential damage. |
| Feral pigs pose the greatest threat to wet forest types, because they reproduce very rapidly, and forage by digging and upturning the ground to access roots and soil fauna. Feral Goats, although sometimes present in wet forests, prefer drier ecosystems, reproduce at a slower rate, and browse vegetation. However, their impact on steep slopes along the fringes of the core watershed areas can be severe. Deer, in contrast, can thrive in a variety of ecosystem types. They are also browsers, causing relatively little soil disturbance while numbers are low, but have significant impact on preferred plant species. |
| Ungulate management
priorities:
Pigs (Sus scrofa) Goats (Capra hircus) Black-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) |
| Ungulate Management Areas The three primary areas of the watershed that warrant immediate and strategic ungulate management are: Core 1: Remote, Core 2: Semiaccessible, and Core 3: Accessible. These areas contain both valuable ecological and hydrological assets, as well as unsustainable levels of ungulate damage. |
Ungulate Management Approach Ungulate management and eradication has occurred in Hawai‘i for over a century, especially during the territorial period when early foresters aggressively removed ungulates from upper watershed areas. More recently, government and non-governmental agencies such as the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Army and Navy, the State Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have engaged in ungulate management on each of the main Hawaiian islands with varying degrees of success. |
| This extensive and long-term experience has confirmed that there are four essential components of a successful ungulate management program: • Construct barriers to isolate populations (e.g., strategic protective fences); • Remove population at rates significantly greater than replenished by reproduction and ingress; • Inspect and maintain barriers frequently and effectively; • Monitor for signs of increasing population and respond quickly. |
| Ungulate Management Objectives are based on the following information: (1) recent ground surveys and interviews, (2) a thorough review and analysis of ungulate management programs throughout the state, (3) current DOFAW game management guidelines, and (4) mathematical simulations of various management scenarios using the Vortex population model.
Objective 1: Intensively reduce ungulate numbers from Core 1 remote management areas. Objective 2: Suppress ungulates in both semi-accessible and accessible Core 2 areas. Objective 3: Foster more effective ungulate management outside core areas. |
| Core 1- Remote: Upper Lumahai, Upper Wainiha, and East Alakai (A4). Core 2- Semi-accessible: East Alakai (A3), Lower Wainiha, and Lower Lumahai. Core 3- Accessible: West Alakai, Kohua Ridge and Kokee Mesic. |
| A combination of factors influence these areas: inadequate hunting intensity, frequent ingress from areas of high ungulate density, hunting pressure driving pigs into remote and sensitive native habitat, and lack of effective management methods.
The three priority ungulate management areas were determined with information from ground surveys, interviews with knowledgeable individuals, and a review of project reports from bog fence projects and other surveys in these regions. Defining three core areas based on accessibility and watershed value helps define both the type and the intensity of management effort applied across the watershed. |
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| A Feral Goat |
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| Trae Menard of TNC points to damage due to pig digging. Exposed soil causes stream sedimentation. |
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| Fences are essential for effective ungulate control, and the protection of native forest. The picture at left shows the recovery of the forest after fencing and pig removal (left side of fence). Pigs continue to damage the forest on the right side of the fence. |