CONSERVATION CHALLENGES

Fire

	Ground fires severely affect plant regeneration

Fire in a natural landscape has several complex effects. Contrary to the popular belief that all forest fires are natural and occur due to lightning strikes or bamboo rubbing or burning coal scams, forest fires in India are almost entirely anthropogenic or man made.

At the height of the dry season, between February and May when the forests are drained of moisture and the deciduous forest floor is scattered with dry leaf litter, everything in the forest is inflammable. The most common cause being, local herders who resort to this measure to create new pastures for their cattle. They hope that fires would bring new shoots of grass for their livestock. Collectors of Minor Forest Produce (MFP), like deer antlers, set forests on fire so that it would facilitate their visibility to collect the required produce which would otherwise be very difficult to locate in the dense undergrowth. Honey collectors in their urgency to smoke out bees from the hives, collectors of dhoop (Viteria indica) are all sources of forest fires that are set either intentionally or negligently.

Poachers and timber smugglers, are known to deliberately set forests on fires as a retaliation against protection staff. At the end of the winter, the forest department carries out preventive fire control exercises like burning of fire lines. Many a time it happens that negligent staff would not have put off the fire that would set off large forest blocks on fire. Fires set to clear agricultural residues at the fringes of the forest could also spread into the forests due to negligence. Raging fires could be the result of smaller ones set to make roads clear paths. Careless tourists and villagers are also known to have started devastating forest fires for it takes just a spark from a cigarette butt to ignite the dry leaf litter.

Impacts of fire

Fires have a devastating effect on the forests and turns huge areas into ashen deserts. "Crown fires," in which the entire tree burns, normally occur in the temperate forests but are uncommon to our subcontinent. The most common type of fires in India are the "Ground fires" which are an ecological disaster. Rapid ground fires partially burn trees and plants, mainly affecting undergrowth and leaf litter. Slow ground fires burn trees completely over a period of days and also affect under-storey and litter.

Ground fires severely effect regeneration of plant and tree species, for seeds that would be collected on the forest floor get burnt out; young saplings die out choked by these fires. Leaf litter that is collected over a period of time, which can run into several years enriches the forest soil. Setting it alight effects decomposition and soil fertility in the forest, rendering the area prone to soil erosion when monsoon ensues.

Hundreds of species birds, mammals, reptiles, insects and other micro organisms are wiped out in the fires apart from killing of the micro flora. Young ones and eggs of ground nesting birds like nightjars, larks, lapwings, etc. are destroyed. The young ones of mammals, reptiles and other slow moving fauna are also not spared. Ground fires also burn down useful wild herbivore forage and replace edible plant species with inedible thick barked species.

Repeated forest fires will encourage fire hardy species and eliminate floral species that are highly susceptible to human-induced fires. And over a period of time 'Fire Climax Vegetation' will dominate the area. Fire hardy species like Anogeisus latifolia (Dhaura), Cassia fistula (Indian Leburnum) will take over, affecting the diversity and floral composition of the area as seen in some parts of Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka. Some weeds like Euputorium and Lantana have the capacity to regenerate better and flourish using the burnt plant material as fertilizing compost.

Other challenges:
>> Progressive loss of habitat
>> Illegal hunting and wildlife trade
>> Commercial exploitation of forests
>> Removal of dead and fallen trees
>> Collection of minor forest produce
>> Livestock grazing
>> Unscientific management practices