In Hawaiʻi, fencing is an essential conservation tool to protect our main source of drinking water: native forests. Native forests capture and absorb hundreds of inches of rain each year, which slowly filters through the soil and replenishes our aquifers and streams. Native forests have other benefits, including providing native species habitat, decreasing erosion, and storing carbon.

Fencing protects forests, and forests provide resources with real economic value, like water: for every $1 we invest in fences and watershed protection, we get 400 gallons of water in return.

One of the largest threats to our native forests is non-native hoofed animals. Feral pigs, goats, deer, sheep, and cattle disturb forests by consuming and trampling native plants, which evolved without these kinds of herbivores and soil disturbances. These animals can also spread invasive plant seeds or plant diseases like Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD). Feral hoofed animals have caused a dramatic decline in native forest areas and the extinction of rare and unique species found only in Hawaiʻi.