Term paper on Biodiversity conservation and restoration

1. Agriculture and Forestry University,
Faculty of Forestry, Hetauda
Fire as a Management Tools in Protected Areas of Nepal
Presenter
Gagan Sharma
M.Sc. 2nd Semester
Agriculture and Forestry University,
Faculty of Forestry, Hetauda
603 EES Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration

2. Introduction
• Fire is the major disturbance of the earth ecosystems, and it is impossible
to understand plant and ecosystem evolution without considering their
impact (Pausas and Kelley 2009).
• Fire is a natural component of our ecosystems; however wildfires often
pose important threats to public safety, properties, and forest resources
(Martell 2007).
• Fire is an important ecological agent and can improve and restore
ecosystems, and it is important for biodiversity (Simberloff 1999).
• Wildfire is a common visitor of protected areas, leading to environmental
degradation, including landscape destruction, soil erosion, nutrients
depletion, biodiversity loss, ecosystems change and air pollution (McKenzie
2010).

3. • Fire is good servant but bad master, depending on how we deal
with it.
• Fire is neither constructive nor destructive it simply causes
change.
• Prescribed fire is a complex management tool, and should be
used only with care under controlled conditions.
• Though in many protected area of Nepal, fire is used as tools in
habitat/grassland management but, generally fire which are
intentionally set as control burning are not mopped- up or
properly extinguished.
Review Findings

4. a) Hazardous Fuels Reduction
 The sustainable use of fire can be an
opportunity to maintain traditional land-uses,
restore ecosystems and fuel management
(Taggart et al. 2009)
 Strict protection for the biodiversity point of
view
 Continuous deposition and piling of fuel in
ground
 For example: fire burns inside the duff layers
and is just like fire in husk stove.
 Ultimately very difficult control fire
Some specific reasons of fire's value in PAs wildlife and biodiversity
Carbonised Timber
Unburnt fuel load

5. b) Plant Community Restoration
 Mangers usually use fire as either setting back succession or advancing
succession for the restoration of plant community
 Plant communities in PAs have developed and were historically maintained with
periodic fires.
 These communities contain plant species that have specialized adaptations to
fire that allowed them to flourish..
 In Shuklaphanta and Parsa Wildlife reserve, the park authority usually burns the
whole patches of grassland to restore plant communities and in a mean time
which also enable new flush of shoot, which is very important in term of
grassland management.

6.  Removing accumulated material before harvesting also provides greater safety for
timber markers and loggers, owing to better visibility and less underbrush.
c) Improve Access
 Burning underbrush prior to the sale of forest
products improves the efficiency of cruising,
timber marking and harvesting.

7. d) Improve Wildlife Habitat
Prescribed burning is particularly appropriate for wildlife
habitat management
A mosaic of burnt and unburnt areas maximizes "edge
effect", which promotes a large and varied wildlife
population.
Fire can also increase the nutritional value of this food by
increasing nutrient.
Habitat preferences of several endangered species of
Pheasant, Swamp deer and many more amphibians and
reptiles in Shuklaphanta and Parsa wildlife reserve were
increased and enhanced by control burning.
New Flush of Shoot
Grassland

8. e) Control Insects and Disease
The leaf of some broad leaved species, especially Shorea
robusta lying in the ground takes time to decay.
During that time the moisture in the ground under leaf are
high. Due to high moisture fungus grows fast as it provides a
viable environment to replicate.
Brown spot disease is a fungal infection that may seriously
weaken and eventually kill longleaf pine seedlings.
 In these cases burning is the most practical method of
disease control; if implemented properly it eliminates the
diseased needles without killing the terminal bud.
Trichoderma, Cladosporium
Bark Beetles

9. f) Induced Natural Regeneration
 Prescribed fires are used to increase natural
regeneration of trees and improve access to sites for
planting of young trees.
 Fire reduces the amount of forest floor litter
allowing better germination of seeds in mineral soils.
 For example: Pines are “serotinous” their cones only open and seeds germinate
after they have been exposed to fire. Also, Shorea robusta seeds have viability of
7-10 days. Once the leaves are shed then the flower appears in the branches of
trees. The time taken by leaf to decay is less that the flower that turns into viable
seeds.
 If the fallen seeds are not in contact with the ground then they do not germinates.
To regenerate and plant seedlings, excess logging debris frequently needs to be
reduced. Prescribed fires are used to burn this woody material, thereby allowing
crews to plant trees more efficiently.

10. g) Cultural Landscapes and Historical Monuments
 Wildfires have important impacts on land use. They
have calamitous impacts on protected areas lives,
property and culture lost.
 Shuklaphanta and Paras Wildlife reserve have many
religious and historical monument inside core zone
and the aborigines of those area have their Kul
Devata or God inside PAs.
Baidanath Siddhanath Temple
Vulnerable Post Kitchen
Shila Lekh

11. h) Manage Competing and Unwanted Vegetation
 Many of the ecosystems that we protect were
actually influenced or created by fire. Grassland
ecosystems around the world were strongly
influenced by fire. Without the existence of fire,
such ecosystems would be substituted by forests
(Bond et al. 2005; van Wilgen 2009).
 Managers use prescribed fires to eliminate undesirable competing tree species and
favor more valuable tree species.
IAS Infestation

12. • Wildfire is increasing in protected areas, one of its causes being our excessive
protection, especially with the policies focused mainly on fire suppression.
• Without fire, forests and rangelands became choked with dense underbrush,
overstocked with less fire-tolerant plants and more susceptible to insect and
disease attacks
• Policies focused on wildfire prevention must be considered with great care to
deal with such concerns
• Fire management training to reserve staffs and security personal with provision
of firefighting tools and safety gears to deal with fires.
• The incorporation of fire in protected areas management will strongly enhance
management effectiveness, creating a link between traditional land uses and
landscape sustainability, and, as consequence, will reduce potential conflicts with
local communities.
Conclusion

13. • Kilgore, B.M., Fire management in parks and protected areas: Introduction and
summary, The George Wright Forum, 22(4), 2005, 8–11.
• Pereira Paulo, Pranas Mierauskas, Xavier Úbeda, Jorge Mataix-Solera & Artemi
Cerda. Fire in Protected Areas - the Effect of Protection and Importance of Fire
Management
• Sharma, SP, 2015. Forest fire management strategy of Shuklaphanta Wildlife
Reserve.
References

14. • Agriculture and Forestry University
• Dean, Dr. Balaram Bhatta, FOF, Hetauda
• Asst. Dean Prof. Basudev Pokharel
• Adjunct Professor, Dr. Dinesh Raj Bhuju
• PG In charge Mr. Jeetendra Gautam
• Faculty Members
• Colleagues
Acknowledgement

15. Thank You
Queries and Comments are Heartly Welcome