Thursday, January 31, 2013

How to help wildlife during the season of forest fire?


As per ISDR, Forest fires are a major cause of degradation of India's forests. While statistical data on fire loss are weak, it is estimated that the proportion of forest areas prone to forest fires annually range from 33% in some states to over 90% in others. About 90% of the forest fires in India are created by man. The normal fire season in India is from the month of February to mid-June. Forest Survey of India predicts that about 3.3 million hectares of forests are annually affected by fires in India.

Already incidences of Forest Fire are breaking up across the Karnataka state, the latest report states the fact that we need to do early detection and help the forest department for minimum damages.

Above is a recent image reported on Conservation Threats shows the fire lit in strange elliptical shape is indeed the work of man, being lit up in a linear manner.

            Threats by a Forest Fire:
  • Fires  destroy seedlings affecting regeneration of native plant species
  • Fires also increase the growth of fire hardy plant species such as Anogeisus latifolia (Dhaura), Lantana, Cassia fistula (Indian Laburnum) affecting the diversity
  • Forest fires also kill small and slow-moving species


Two Steps to prevent the Forest Fire Damage

Many a Forest Fire are detected and reported by the public. Public wildfire reports have resulted in immeasurable savings for our forest and wildlife.

STEP 1: Inform the Forest Department

How to Report a Wildfire?
If you see a wildfire, please report it to the nearest forest department office. The list of phone numbers of Forest Department whom you can contact in case of Forest Fire and other conservation threats to the region are downloadable from the KFD website

What details to be provided?
When reporting a wildfire, kindly mention the below:
Name and phone number (Optional)
Location of the fire
What the fire is burning (grass/ bamboo?)
Size of the fire and how quickly the fire is spreading

The details that you provide are critical in determining the type of response that the fire will receive from forest fire suppression authorities. Your help is greatly appreciated as it helps the department to allocate resources more efficiently and respond quickly to wildfire activity

STEP 2: Report on Conservation threats Site

Why to Report on Conservation Threats Site?
Conservation Threats aims to compile data and analyse from different perspectives and summarizing it into useful information (patterns and relationships) that can be used to plan for preventive measures.

How to Report?
Go to www.conservationthreats.org
Sign In to "Report a Threat"
Select Threat category ‘Forest Fire’ and Location from the list
Type in Report title and description
Choose the Date of incident from the prompt
Upload Pictures or provide video Link
Use the Map to pinpoint the incident (zoom in for accurate location marking)
Click on Submit Button

2 comments:

Bharath said...

Is forest fire not a natural phenomenon? More of a natural circle of returning back some nutrients back? I might be wrong for all I know :)

Aparna K said...

Forest Fires in India are most man-made. Naturally occurring fires are a rare phenomena. Majority of trees and seeds are not tolerant to fires. Repeated fires on the same place would mean only a few fire-hardy species remain, no new generation of trees and spreading of invasive species like Lantana. Nutrients are returned back more effectively by decomposition than by burning down.