Residents raise
a stink about
cow firefighters
In Makakilo, cattle have been
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
brought in to graze and reduce
the risk of brush fires
Star-BulletinAmor Soquena of Makakilo needs to get up by 4 a.m. so she can get to work on time, but her sleep has been disrupted by dogs barking at some recent additions to the field just behind her back yard: cattle.
"The thing is, it's so close to our back yard," Soquena said. "When we open the kitchen door, it is there."
Added her husband, Paul: "When they come down here, the cows have a pretty good smell."
The cattle are there to do what cattle do best -- namely, graze. But they aren't just fattening up. Rather, they are part of Campbell Estate's effort to keep brush fires away from the consistently dry Makakilo and Kapolei regions.
Two major brush fires have swept through the back of Makakilo in recent years, destroying one house and scorching acres of land. With the low-tech bovines keeping vegetation down, Campbell is hoping there will be less dry brush to go up in flames.
By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
The fence to contain the cows comes close to the
property boundaries of homes along Nohona Street
near Wainohia Street. A resident across the street
said the cows come here in the evening.
"Most of the area is quite difficult to mow down because it's craggy and hilly," said Theresia McMurdo, Campbell's public relations manager. "It's really more practical to have the cattle grazing in that area."Campbell has hired two ranchers to roam 45- and 135-acre fields that are "strategically located" to prevent fires, according to McMurdo.
The cattle aren't there all the time, but only when the weeds and brush are long enough to graze, she said.
The larger field is grazed by some 100 cattle owned by rancher Buddy Gibson. McMurdo said the cattle arrived five weeks ago, were removed last week, and probably won't return until November or December.
Rancher Ralph Fukushima has about five head on the smaller parcel, and wants to keep them there year-round. The ranchers are paying Campbell Estate $1 a year to use the land, McMurdo said.
Some residents are less than enthusiastic about their bovine neighbors.
"They were just munching on anything that was green and doing their toilet work," said Jack Dameron, who has lived in what is known as Old Kapolei Village since the subdivision was put up in 1978.
"We had a particularly bad week, when we had the Kona winds coming in here, and it was smelling kind of stinky."
Dameron, who has complained to the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board, said fences Campbell put up at the perimeter of the fields, at a cost of $100,000, are too close to property lines.
A firebreak was created about 30 to 40 feet from the property lines, and Dameron believes the fences should have been built there.
"But they made it so close, the big bulls come down and stick their heads over the fences over onto our side," he said.
Elsie Bontanes, another neighbor, has had similar experiences.
"They come very close to our fence and doo-doo all over," she said. "We really don't like the cows to come over here."
Cattle even have frightened her 14-year-old daughter, whose room is right next to one of the fences, Bontanes said.
"If they're there all the time, then it's going to be a problem," she said.
But homeowners could be causing some of the problems themselves. "My understanding is some people have used the fence to hang plants because of their attractiveness," said Campbell community development director Henry Eng. "Unfortunately, they're also attractive to the cows."
Meanwhile, Fukushima -- who keeps the rest of his cattle on Campbell Estate land in Kunia -- said one man cut through the fence and rode around his field on a dirt bike.
The rancher also said he's had water hoses and other items stolen or broken, and some residents have thrown rubbish over to the grazing side of the fence.
"But I'm trying to play ball with them," he said.
McMurdo said residents were worried when the proposal was first presented in October, but Campbell has received only one complaint since the operation began.
Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the area's neighborhood board, said she knows of three complaints since the cattle began grazing, dealing with noise and odor, she said.
While "we have to be sympathetic to the neighbors," she said that the biggest worry is over the possibility of fires.
In that regard, McMurdo said Campbell land managers believe the program is a success -- with a test coming when Independence Day fireworks are ignited.
"We've grazed the grass down," she said. "This will probably be the first year we don't have a traditional Fourth of July fire."
Fire Department has faith in cattle, too
Jaymes K. Song
Star-BulletinBrush fire season is here.
The season starts exactly "when school's out," said Makakilo Fire Capt. Clyde Shimabukuro.
So will the cows help reduce the risk of fire around Makakilo? Fire officials think they might.
The cattle will keep the brush shorter, which cuts down on fuel for a fire, officials said. The cattle might also create a natural fire break by trampling on the grass.
"I think it'sµ in the hands of Mother Nature," said Shimabukuro. "But I kinda think it will help."
Shimabukuro said last summer wasn't as bad for fires as many years because the previous winter's fires consumed so much brush.
He said this winter was normal, with conditions dry, but not as dry as in previous years where someone lights the brush and the fire "takes off."
