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Tigers, Rhinos, and Fire Management in India

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Tigers, Rhinos, and Fire Management in India • Procuaing.s- Fir,. F,Jfeas Q't Ron. OM &dangucd S~ci.cJ aNl HabiJaJ.s Coefc'-flJC,., Nov. H-16, 199S. Co<..-d' Akn<, ldalw. C IAWF, 1997. Prinud iA CI.S.A, 101 Tigers, Rhinos, and Fire Management in India Johanna D. Landsberg ao_d John F. Lehmkuhl USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwes1 Research Station, Forestry Sciences J.aboraiary 1133 N. Wesiern Avenue. Wenatchee, WA 98801 Tel (SQ9) 662-4315; Far(5Q9) 664-2742; E-mail ls-=j.landsbugloul=r06fl7a@mhs1swa. .attma;J,eom Abstract. Fire management capabilities in India are lim­ Rllinos depend on grasslands to provide forage and cover. ited both in suppression of Wildfires and useofprescnoed Successful managemeru of grasslands, therefore, is a key fire. Fire has Jong been a modifier of the grassland habitat t6 the development and maintenance of viable populations (Asian) upon which the Be,,gal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris of Bengal tig~ and one-homed rllinoceros. Implicit in Linnaeus, 1758:14) and the Indian one-homed rhinoceros the management of grasslands is the role of fire in these (Rhi.rwccros unicornis Linnaeus, 1758:56) depend, di­ community types. Here we present the cwrent fire man­ rectly or indirectly. Both the Bengal tiger and one-homed agement situation in India as backdrop to the use of pre­ rhinoceros are "red listed" as threatened and endangered scnoed fire in habitat management for tigers and one­ species. TheBeo_galtigerdependsuponhealthygrasslaods homed rllinos; the status of tiger and rhinoceros maoage­ to suppon the ungulale species that are ics primary prey. mcntinooeortwo reserves in India or Nepal; the response Toe Indian rhino is depe,,dent upon grasslands for forage of Nepalese grasslands to prescnoed fire; and the role of and cover. Grassl.ands that are not burned become impen­ fire in the future management of habitat for tigers and rhi­ etrable, even by rhinoo. noce~. Research in the zrass}.ands of Cllitwan National Park, Nepal, showed season of burning altei:ed production--bio­ mass, the time of appearance of young succoleot shoocs, Fire Managell)ent in India and the length of the grazing season-of various grass spe­ cies. Applied rese=h is needed to detenn.inc size, ini.en­ Fi.re has long been used in India's forescs and grass­ sity, and frequency of prescribed fires for management of lands. Native villagers set fires to light the way ahead for grassland habitat for Bengal tig~ and one-horned rhinoc­ walking. remove tigers from forested areas near villages, eros. The creation of a strong fire Jill!Illlgement program, clear land for slash-and-bum (jhwn) agriculture, bare the which includes the use of prescnoed fire, will provide In· ground for collection of mahua flowers, keep woodlands dia with additional options for the management of ics rich and prairies in grass, assist bunters in localing game, and forest and resources. grasslands open sites Lhal might Olhe:wise hide cobrns {Pyne 1994). When the British came to India, European - particu­ Keywords: India; Bengal tiger; Rhinoceros; One-homedrhinoc­ larly German - forestry came with them. 1n the Euro­ cro.s: Fire man3&ement; Grasslands; Po.nl.hera 1igris; Asian tiger. pean trad.iiion. forescs were to be rationalized and fires to be suppressed. Ignored w~ the fact lhlll fire bad co-ex­ lntroducfioo isted with India's forescs and grasslands for millennia. Io India, " ... fire is iraditionaU y ~ved either as an act of Gcxl about wllich one is helpless or a narural phe­ India's rich biodiversity includes some ofEarth's most nomenon hannless to the foresL There is no focus on fire magnificent and largest terrestrial mammals. Among the in economic or ecological le!JllS. and the curriculae of for­ species ofIndian fauna on lhe "red list" of threatened and esters training at all levels are rather inadequate in fire sci­ eiidangered species {lnternatiooal Union for Conservation ence and technology. Toez:e is no clear fire s1raiegy. Only of Nature and Na.tural Resources 1974) are the Bengal ti­ now is an awareness of strategic planning fur fire man­ ger (Pamhcra tigris tigris Linnaeus, 1758: 14) and the one-­ agement beginning to e,,gage the an.ention ofplanners, and homed rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis Linnaeus, the awareness of fire effects . .. is severely 1.im.ite,i-{Mutch 1758:56). The habitat for bolh Bengal tigers and one­ et al. 1995a). horned rhinoceros includes specific vegeuuioo types, cs­ p::cially grasslands. Tigers depend on grasslands IO pro­ vide prey, which include several species of ungulates. 102 Landsberg, J. _D. and Lehmkuhl, J. F. Fire Stalistics Current Fire Management Capability It has been said that hisIDrically, in India ".•• every Fire management in India is SllJ)ported in federal policy forest thal would bum was burned almost every year­ by the National Forest Policy (1988) which lays down a (Shcbbeare 1928). The current number of fires and the strategy for protection of the forests including protection area affected by fire in India are not known with any cer­ from fire and allows for the use of prescnlled fire. A tainty. Recent fire statistics, collected by the Centralgov­ United Nations (UN) Development Programme project ernment (federal) from the State governments (Mutch et from 1984 ID 1990in"ModernForestFireConlroJH (Food al. 1995a), show a minimal namber of fires in the States and Agriculrore Organization {FAO) of the UN 1991) that reported (Table 1). As is seen, many States reported began the process of installing fire suppression in two no fires. This is inconsistent wilh the nature of moch of Indian siaies. Some of the technology brought in at that lndia's forested area which is fire-prone, dry-deciduous, time, however, was not appropriate for India because fuel, thorn, or pine forest (Table 2) (Mutch et al. 1995a). financial suppon after 1990, and replacement pans for imported equipment were not available. Table L Numbc<of fon:st fires for thzu fue seasons from saJes F1re management in India is receiving new attention that repan,d. under the 1995 UN Technical Cooperation Program, "Training in Forest Fire Management Planning" (FAO of State 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 the UN 1995). Under the aegis of this program, a irain­ A,,dhn.Pmlcsh Nom: N..,. None ing course in forest fire management planning was devel­ Arunadioll'ndc,h I 2 2 oped and presented to three groups of Indian Forest Ser­ Anam Nooo Nooe Nooe vice Officers. As an outcome of this program, too Minis­ Bihu 7 IS 10 tty In­ Guj&ru Sf11 633 654 of Environment and Forests of the Government of lhl)'ana None None Nooe dia requested a proposal from the FAO for fire manage­ ~ 106 16 Nooo ment in all of lndia. The proposal that was developed K,,w 211 90 112. (-Mutch et al 1995b) recommends the creation of a Forest M.a.'1:arubtn 1456 1428 Nooe FlfC Research and Training Institute for lndia. Toe lnsti- Manipur 2 4 6 11lte will be responstl>le for the development of appropri­ Ml10!lffl Nooe Nooe Nono Punjab IS 31 107 ate fire management for India utilizing technology that is Tim.ii NacbJ 101 93 90 relevant ID the local situation and Incfia 's vast labor pooL Tripma None None N"ooe Technology appropriate (or India· will include, among Andanwu N"ooe N- Nono other things, very basic equipment as indicated by the Deputy Director of Jim Corbett Nalional Pan:. who shared A very recent example of the inconsis!ellcies in the that in 1995 they were able ID provide, for the first time, reported fire statistics is the discrepancy between reportS equipment-shoes, water bottles, and whistles-to their from two agencies on the same 1995 Himalayan fires in "tire watchers• (personal communication'). Uuar Pradesh: the forest administration reponed about 19,000 ha of its own forests and 80,000 fl<! of other for­ ests were affected; whereas, satellite imagery inte,p,reted Bengal Tigers by the Forest Survey of India put the tot.al at 536,000 ha - almost five and a half times the area reported by the Tiger habitat and fire management are intertwined forest administration. Some of the difference. could be because, "The only apparent requisites of tigers for sur­ due to different interpretations of what is fire "affected,• vival are some fonn of plant cover, water supply, and suf­ but the large difference indicates the laclc of a unifonn ficient prey- (Schaller 19:67). Fire management is im­ reporting standard. JJ()rtant because the habitat upon which tiger-prey depend can be fire dependent in itself. Tigei:s were placed on the red list in 1%9 because of Table 2. Patt.st area by type. tlleir critically low numbers. As late as the 1940s. eight F0re1t Type b.u 10" subspecies of tigers roamed Asia. Now five subspecies remain and lhree are extinct Toe Bengal tiger is the only Moist deciduous 23.6 tiger in India and has the g:reateSt number of individuals DI)' dociduow 29.1 of any remaining subspecies. Bengal tiger numbers Thom forert 5.2 dwindled from an estimated 40,000 in the early 1800s to Pinefor= 3.7 TOTAL 6L6 'Rajiv Bhartari, Deputy Direcror, Corbett Tiger Reserve, Ramnagar, District nainital, Uttar Pradesh, India. -Tigers and Rhinos, an,d Fire Management in lndia- 103 an all time low in the 1960s. 1n the 1972 census, 1,800 One-horned Rhinoceros Bengal tigers were coonie<L With the development of tiger reserves by Project Tiger (Forum for Forest Further­ The Indian one-horned rhinoceros depends primarily ance 1994) in India in the 1970s, the number of tiger re­ upon grasslands for forage. Management of these grass­ serves has increased to 20.
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