Recently forest fires are in Himalayan temparte and subtropical area of India mainly in Uttrakhnad state and again there will voice for eradication on chir pine from the area?? The whole issue will be viewed as chir pine main culprit but its not so and local community response, migration, lack of monitoring etc are also reasons. How these recurrent fires can be minimise or check.
There needs to be an assessment of why the human caused fires. Are they accidents or purposeful? The US has a long history of fires and the costs of fighting fires. I was loaned the book The Big Burn by Timothy Egan. It discusses the early stages of development and organization of fire fighters in the early US Forest Service. I think it has some stories to tell, and the commitment that fire fighters have when they face wildfires. Your mention of pine is something we deal with, and most pine needles and stems have more resin making them more flammable than hardwoods. The US Forest Service has much experience in the various aspects of pine and fire management and has dealt with both natural and human caused fires, and there are certainly some mitigation measures that can be implemented to reduce their frequency and severity that might be considered. I would suggest you get on the US Forest Service website and look over what might be available. In addition, the USFS has various research stations and one or more of them might be in a habitat with some similarities to your situation that you might review. Forest fire research and management are still ongoing subjects of interest. Over the years, the USFS has developed various things to help reduce accidental fires such as fire rings at campsites, signs along highways to be careful with fire, training sessions for children, increased detection and response, attention to vegetation management, incident emergency response, and use of properly designed prescribed burning as examples. I no longer officially represent the USFS and my firefighting days were decades ago, but throughout my career, the USFS has always been willing to transfer information and help when asked.
Why would you want to erradicte fire from Chir pine forests? this species is highly adapted to fire and fire is a vital component of this ecosystem functioning.
I agree with Paulo. The best remedy is to "fight fire with fire." These forests -- as with those of the western US with which I am more familiar -- can likely trace their ancestry to purposeful human-set fires thousands of years ago. Manage the fuels ("log discriminately") and use regular and purposeful prescribed fires to bring the wildfire problem under control. A lot safer and cheaper, too, if my guess is right.
Thanks to all. Dear Paulo I partially agree that the species is adapted and fire is part of its ecosystem but its becoming unusual due to encroachment of chir pine in deodar oak forest as well as other mixed species forest which are vital for local people for fodder. Further the threat to local people due to large spread.. If there is proper forest ecosystem management than it can be logical to some extent. The whole issue revolves around effective utilisation of needles of chir pine to reduce fire fuel to contain the fire.
Pines play their role in indigenous nature (biodiversity) and rehabilitation, the latter for example on man-made sand deserts in NW Europe. Pines and conifers in general are prone to fire and consequently are fire-adapted in areas with wildfire is an ecosystems component, like the European Med. Arson is common and contagious. Having said so, Burned pine forests are remarkably rare in my current area of residence and my research sites in the Apennines. In the first area the century-old prevention and control measure are strips of deciduous trees (beech; oak) as fire-break along pine plantation roads and blocks. It may stop the fire and provides access to fire fighters.
Article From monospecific to mixed forest after fire?: An early fore...
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agricultural Science
- Soil Science
- Soil Analysis