Woods under fire

Despite tall claims by administration, fires continue to reduce state's forests to ashes, year after year

P.S. Chauhan

With temperature soaring high, the forest officials are having tough times, as the raging infernos are wreaking havoc in the forests of the state. Each summer the forest fires devastate vast tracts of forests in the state which has two third of its geographical area under forest cover. Flora and fauna are the most precious natural resources of the state and it is really tragic that the state forests are so vulnerable to these wildfires. The forest sources say that this year so far 1,544 hectares of forests, including reserved forests, community forests and private forests have been destroyed in 746 incidents wildfire. Last year, more than 4,000 hectares of forests were charred in 1583 incidents of wildfires which also took 13 human lives. In the last five years, 12,294 hectares of forests have been gutted by wildfires.

The wildfires, which reduce the lush green forests into vast stretches of black stumps, also cause irreparable loss to bio-diversity, including wildlife and avifauna. Besides claiming human lives and property worth lakhs of rupees. These fires also cause huge damage to the ecology of the region. "Due to these wildfires water level goes down in the forests, resulting in the shortage of water and fodder for the wildlife," says Dr. B.D. Joshi, professor of environmental sciences in Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar.

The director of the Rajaji National Park, S.S. Rasailly says that natural fires are very rare and most of the incidents of fires which engulf forests are manmade. In summer season, when temperature shoots up and humidity is low, the dry leaves and twigs, scattered in the forests, easily catch a spark and winds fan out fires rapidly. Fires are sometimes caused by the human beings unintentionally, for example, by a burning butt of a bidi or cigarrete thrown in the forests by a passer-by. Sometimes, however fires are caused intentionally, for example, by the village folk on the fringes of the forests, who burn grass in their fields, believing that vegetation, such as grass and fodder for their cattle, will grow better in the burnt fields. Sometimes, the Van Gujjars also burn dry leaves, branches and trunks of trees to scare away the wild animals.

The principal chief conservator of forests in the state, Dr. R.B.S. Rawat claims that they have a network of firelines which have been put in place with the help of Van Panchayats or forest communities. "The local communities are being increasingly involved in fire fighting measures. We have formed forest fire defence committees and also conducted awareness programmes in all the forest divisions, but still a lot needs to be done," says Dr. Rawat. This year, puppet shows and Nukkad Nataks are also being staged to create awareness among the village folk about protecting the forests from wildfires.

The chief conservator of forests (environment), K.S. Samant admits that there is some resource crunch, including that of personnel and equipments, but the forest department, with assistance from the central and the state governments, is doing its best to minimize the loss caused by wildfires. "We have set up 33 master control rooms and 1151 crew stations, equipped with all the facilities, to combat wildfires. Computer technology is also being used during this season," says Samant. The forest department is also using the Geographic Information System (GIS) technique under the Uttarakhand Space Application Centre. With the help of this technique, the information of breaking out of fires in remote areas will be readily available and disaster management steps will be initiated at the earliest. Moreover, the use of satellite will keep watch on fires caused with bad intentions and the culprits will be brought to book. The Forest Survey of India (FSI), this year has also launched SMS Alert Service to facilitate control forest fires in the country, including Uttarakhand. For this service a software has been prepared which will function with the help of a satellite. "When fire breaks out in any part of the country, its information will be passed to the Tatkal Seva Kendra of the FSI at Dehradun, which in turn will at once pass on this information through SMS to the concerned forest officer of the area," says K.S. Vaypayee, the deputy director of the FSI.

Rajendra Aggarwal, the state representative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), says that the forest department needs to be given additional resources to tackle the crisis, particularly in the forests of the remote areas which can be reached only on foot due to difficult terrain. The experts also suggest that considering the vital importance of the forests, along with their bio-diversity, a forest protection force, should be raised. "Also there is need to be realized that forests are national assets and every person needs to be sensitized and given training to save the forests," says Rakesh Sharma Rakesh, a noted lover of nature.