A file photograph of a forest fire in Kudremukh Wildlife Division
BENGALURU:Space research satellites have recorded a shocking 115 forest fires in the Kudremukh Wildlife Division since January 2013, but the Forest Department’s count is less than half that number.
The reason, wildlife activists say, is that the forest staff are themselves responsible for many of those fires. By setting fire to meadows and forests ahead of the summer, they save themselves the responsibility of monitoring and preventing fires. But this has adversely affected flora and fauna in the biodiversity hotspot, the activists allege. NASA’s fire alert satellite system detected 66 forest fires in 30 days over five months in 2013, while in 2014, it recorded 38 incidents over 23 days over four months.
This year, 11 incidents have been recorded on eight days between January and February 2015. The Kudremukh Wildlife Division authorities claim only 39 to 40 fires broke out over this period, and that too small ones.
Dr Ramesh Kumar, Deputy Conservator of Forests, said, “In 2013-14, 34 incidents were reported in less than 10 hectares. In 2014-15, only four or five fires occurred, and in less than five hectares.”
Sceptical wildlife conservationists, who track and monitor fire incidents, say it is alarming that so many fires break out in a protected area.
Criticising the department’s method of setting fire to forests in January and February, before the onset of the fire season, Sripathi Bhat, naturalist from Dakshina Kannada, alleges hundreds of acres are affected by what the staff call ‘cool burning’.
“The biodiversity hotspot has turned into a bio-dead hotspot as many hills have been completely kindled out. A national park, which has to
assure safety for wildlife, has become a frying pan for birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians and other flora and fauna,” Bhat rues.
When the grass expanses are burnt, the micro food chain is broken.
But the Deputy Conservator of Forests blames locals. “About 40 per cent of the Kudremukh National Park (KNP) is grassland. Here, 1,382 families are still residing. So these forest fires are 100 per cent man-made.”
‘Cool Burning by Forest Staff Destroying KNP’
He says people booked for forest offences set fire to the grass expanses. “Also, some villagers burn the grasslands to get free grass for their cattle. Some fires are caused by trespassers accidentally. Fires cannot be prevented completely but only controlled,” he says.
Satellite image showing the areas affected by forest fires in the Kudremukh National Park area between 2013 and 2015Referring to a fire at 12.26 pm on February 13 behind Bhagavati Prakriti Shibira in Kudremukh range, Ashokha Vardhana, naturalist and conservationist based in Mangaluru, says, “On an average, every month, the forest witnesses 10 to 13 large fires, that is one incident every two to three days. A majority occur in remote areas where there are no human settlements, which is evidence enough that the forest staff are up to early burning.” If the forest is burnt year after year, what is the point in spending huge sums on fire-watching and prevention, Vardhana wonders.
NASA satellite alerts cover every patch of grassland inside the national park. Its data suggest the wildlife inside the national park are denied 40 per cent of their habitat from January to May as a result of the burning, he says.
Department’s Take
“Let them submit their complaints, I will definitely get them investigated,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Vinay Luthra, responding to the charge that forest staff were setting fire to grass expanses. He did not dispute the accuracy of NASA fire alerts, and said they provide both GPS positions and timings. He said private owners may have set fire to vegetation on their holdings inside the Kudremukh National Park, thereby adding to the numbers.
A file photograph of a forest fire in Kudremukh Wildlife Division
