Chainsaw Class Aids Hawaii Refuges Clearing invasive trees from
a ditch supplying water to critical wetlands and taro fields
became a learning opportunity for 16 employees from national
wildlife refuges in the Hawaiian islands. As part of the hands-
on exercises during a nationally sanctioned course in Wildland
Fire Chainsaws, all of the students fell trees and bucked logs
to improve refuge irrigation. The week-long instruction included
chainsaw safety, operations, maintenance, and procedures for
effectively using power saws to accomplish refuge management
tasks. Three instructors, all firefighters from national
wildlife refuges in Washington, along with a chainsaw expert
from the State of Hawaii Department of Forestry, partnered to
teach the required skills based on national interagency wildland
fire standards. Upon completion of the course, all of the
participants were officially certified to operate a chainsaw.
The training was held at the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge on
the island of Kauai. The wetland