•
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
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
Figure 2. Populalion of Rhixoceros JDUC()Tr.is in Kazir:!nga National Parle, Assam, India. Number of tigers 50000 In Chitwan National Parle, Nepal, theone-bomedrhino population was well protected prior IO 1950 in hunting 40000 r r-- reserves that belonged to the ruling family. In the 1950s, a pro~ for resettlement of villagers led to the destruc 30000 r tion of large areas of rilino habitat and poaching was rife (Laurie et al. 1983) producing a continuing decrease in rhino numbers (Figure 3). 1n the 1960s, stricter protec 20000 ~ tion of both habit.at and animals was enforced, and Chitwan National Park was established in 1973 leading 10000 ,-.. to a slow recovery in rhinoceros numbers. Red The total world population of one-homed rhinos in 0 L-'--...L...:c.=.Listed:...;c_ .,___,_....._~ r7_,_ _,_--''---'17 the 1980s was estima!ed at 1,500 of which 1,200 were 1800s 1969 1970 1980s 1993 living in these two reserves, Kaziranga-and Chitwan Na YEAR tional Parks, underscoring the importance ofcareful habi tat managemenL Rhinos are found in riverine grasslands where grasses Figure 1. Population of Panthca rigris tigris in India. ~ 8 m lall and in swampy areas bordered by riverine 104 Landsberg, J. -D. and LehmJ..'1lh.l, J. F. Number of rhinoceros 1000 r------~ 800
600
400
200
1950 1957 1959 1966 1968 1973 1974 1980 YEAR
Flguu 3. Population of Rhinocuos ruucomis in Cltitwan Nation,! Park, Nepal.
woodlands (Laurie et al 1983). Laurie (1975) noted rhi fires, ignited in the grasslands, ofien move into the adja nos feed tnain!Y on Saccharum sponianeum and Tmperata ceot forests where a surface fire bums the forest floor cylindrica and the charred sialks and new shoots of up to material. These fires are unmanaged - the conditions 29 spe.cies of grasses and bushes around wallows and under which the fires occur are noucgulatcd - and the along river beds. Wilh these areas decreasing in size due iniensity and frequency vary from year to year and area IO human pressures and most rhinos confined to reserves, to area. habitat management for the one-homed rbino becomes increasingly critical. "Thus, for effective preservation of rhinos . .. i1 is essential that !hey should be protected from ... lhe destruction of their habitat" (~fishra and Lehmkuhl (1989) examined the effects ofearly (Janu Mishra 1982). ary) and late (April) growing season burning on grass land production in Cbitwan National Park. The effect of burning season on production varied among grass rypes. Fire in Habitat ~nagement roe- Tigers and Rhinos Early buming of ungrazed Imperau, ey/indrica, a rela tively short, 1-m, grass, produced 20% more biomass than f'rre has been present on Earth for the last 350 10 400 late burning, and biomass production in the burned areas million years, and grasslands have been present in the was more than double the production in the unburned ar - rhino and tiger areas of the Asian subcontinent for the eas. More biomass was removed by the grazing of wild last 20 million years (Badgely 19$4, Mathur 19$4, Gaur ungulates from the late-bum units than from the early 1987). Burning by humans has been considered a pri bum units because the vegetation in areas surrounding mary facwr in the formation or south Asian plant com the late-bum units was at a later stage of development munities for perhaps the last 5,000 years (Wbanon 1968). and Jess palatable. Grnzing Jasred longer in the late-bum Tropical grasses are notoriously poor innulrientqual areas because the new shoots remained relatively more ity during mawre smges (Van Soest 1982) and are poor palatable than surrounding areas; as new shoots were forage for herbivores lilre tiger-prey or rhinoceros. How grazed down, more new and highly palatable shoots were ever, fresh regrowth initiated after fire is high in protein produced perpetuating the cycle. and is an important forage for herbivores during the dry Production of Narenga porplwrycoma, a tall grass season when forage quality is lowest (Daubenmire 1968, often >6 m high, was highest on the early-bum plots, in Christensen 1977). 1flarge ungulate populations are lim termediate on unburned plots, and lowest on late-bum ited by nutrient or resource availability (Klein 1970, plots. Very little grazing was detecred in this grass type McNaughton 1983), understanding and managing fire to regardless of burning regime. lt is, however, an irnpor manipulate forage quantity and quality will be important lanl species for use in house construction by the villagers for managing ungulates. who live adjacent to the National park. About 80 percent or the grasslands in Cbitwan Na Saccharum sponJa.Mwn, anothe, tall floodplain grass, tional Pad: bum each year between late January to May showed still anolher pattern; production on early-burned from fires ignited by the villagers to assist in the harvest and unburned units was similar, whereas production on of~for fodder and Ulall:hing (LehmJruhl 1989). The Jate.-bumed units was about one-fillh their value. This -Tigw.; and Rhinos, and Fire Management in India- 10S grassland type is pezhaps the most imponant for grazers. Discussion Low production in all types from late burning primarily resulted from destruction of advanced regroW!h initialed The utilization of prescribed fire in Indian and during January at the start of the growing season. Lehmkuhl (1989) recommended staggered bu.ming of Nepalese grasslands for habitat management for the Ben gal tigei: and the one-homed rhinoceros, or both, follows grasslands in small paiches to provide fresh, high-quality a long history of using frre for various pwposes by local forage for a longer time during the dry season than pres villagers. Before British rule, the use of fire was com ently occurs with a single bum. A staggered, paich bum Jnon, and although the British and their Germ.an foremer panem would produce a mosaic where some areas would associaies believed fire to be a menace and introduced have oow shoots for fodder, some areas would have older that philosophy into Indian forestry education, villagers material for cover; and other areas would be -at stages in did not necessarily change their practices. Since at least between. Similar suggestions have been made by Laurie the eighi=th century, grasslands have been burned regu (1978) and Dinerstein (1979) to increase carrying capac larly to provide grating for thousands of cattle and buf ity for large mammalian herbivores in Nepalese reserves, and by Roy (1986) wbodosc:ribedasuccessful paich burn fulo in tbedryseasoo (Sunquistand Sunquist 1988). Ftre was still prevalent after many years of British rule. The ing program in Manas Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, In British botanist., Sir Joseph Hooker, descn'bed bow, dur dia Rodgers (1986) provides a good review of this and ing his descent from the Himalayas in lhe early 1850s, be other fire management practices for wildlife habitat man agement in south Asia. saw the plains of Bengal immersed in smoke, the product om.res "raging in theTerai forest" (1855a). He described In addition to creating a paich mosaic, staggered burn the grasslands as "supporting a prodigious undergrowth ing may foster thefonnation of pasture-like grazing lawns of gigantic tall grasses that reached to our heads though by concentrating grazing pressure on limited areas we were mounted on elephants. These gigantic grasses (McNaughron 1984). Grazing lawns would produce high seem to be descroyed by fire with remarkable facility at quality forage year-round and increase herbivore carry one season of the year and it is well that this is the case, ing capacity. They might decrease crop depredation by for whether as a retainer of the miasma or a shelter for attracting wild herbivores away from agriculture. Paich wild beasts. .. these grass jungles are a serious obstacle size would be critical for success: a patch tbo large would to civilization" {l85.5b). hard for hcrbi vores to crop fast enough to keep Lite be An astute Anglo forester, writing under the pen name grass short. and a patc·h to0 small might overgrazed be "An Aged Junior," (1890), observed that fire had not been and not provide adequale benefits to warrant management random and ravenous but had been applied ro particular Fue suppression may have less-obvious detrimemal siies at particular seasons for particular pwposes by par effects on rhino and tiger habitat. Commurtity analysis ticular peoples. Those selective bums had ordered the and model simulations by Le!unl:uhl (1989, 1994) re landscape. Thanks to fire, fresh browse appeared at the vc.iled complete suppression of fire _would affect grass proper ~ at lhe proper time; deer migrated to those land succession to riverine faresL Riverine forest, which sites; tiger followed the dear; and hllillers knew where ro occurs in a landscape mosaic with grassland and is ooe of find rogue tigers. the most productive and valuable habitats for rhinos and Nonetheless, the suppression of fires was obtained in wignlale tiger prey, may increase or decrease with fire some areas. usually by villagers beating out the flames suppression. Conventional thinking says that riverine especially when their villages were threatened. Bums et forest would increase with fire suppression; but, al. (1925) noted how "an unforeseen result of the policy Lehmkuhlis observations suggest riverine forest could of non-interference with the vegetation" was the accu decrease instead. moiation of dead straw that defiantly withsulod ·'rotting" Patch burning would also increaseco,·er for other wild and evenrua!Jy had to be burned, an act which quickly life that are negatively impacred by widespread burning. yielded a variety of useful results (Pyne 1994). The Pi Oliver (1980) coocluded that widespread burning was one rcc10r of Kaziranga National Park which is a rhino re of the factors contributing tQ the decline of the en
Research by Lehmkuhl indicates utili2ation of pre needed for grassland and forest management This fire scribed fire in !he grassland habitat of thinos and Bengal management sysiem, inslirutionalized at the state bvel tigers can increase the amOUOl of biomass produced, alter with strategic inpatS from the Central government in the the time of peak production, and increase the time grass fonn of training, research, and awareness-building, will is available for forage. Increasing the amount of a par ,enhance the survival potential of these splendid animals ticular grass at a time when otbec grasses are less palat - the Bengal tiger and the Indian ooe--homed rhinoceros. able and less nutritious, and exlellding the grazing season for palaiable grasses are helpful and beneficial tools in ~ the management of habitat for threatened and endangered References species dependent upon these grasslands. These results \ suggest it may be feasible to increase the density of large An Aged Junior. 1890. Same remarks on titles and tigers. Indian grazers and their predators in these grasslands. l.n Foresta 16(1-3): 182-184. Ranthambhore National Park the population density of lladge.ly, C.1984. Pteisroconcfaunal succession in India. In: R. Bengal tigers is much great.er than in other areas, possi 0. Whyte, editor. Evolution of the East Asian environment. bly due to the herd-forming charncteristic of the sambar Vol lL University ofHong Kong. Hong Kong. popes 746- 776. in that area (SunquisL and Sunquist 1988). Bums, W., LB. Kulkarni. and S.R. Godbole. 1925. A study of The planned and monitored integration of fire into some Indian g,asscs and gn.sslaruls. In: India. Oq,anm,,1t of perpetu grassland and forest management may aid in the Agriculture. Memoirs. Botanical Series 14(1): 1-S7. ation of healthy, vigorous grasslands and forests and of Christcasc.n. N.L. 1977. F=andsoil-plarunuuientrebuions in their lhrealened and endangered fauna. a pinc-wiregnss savanna on the coastal pWn ofNorth Caro linL Oerologia 31: 27-44 Daubenmire, R. 1968. Ecology offirein pllSS}ands. Adv'"""" Research needed in Ecological Research 5: 209-:lU. Dinemein, E. 1979. A.necologico!surveyoftheRoyal Kamali· Managers of the grassland reserves for tigei:-s and rhi Bardia Wildlife Reserve, Nepal Part I: Vegetation, modify ing [OCIOrS, and ~onal relationships. Biological Con nos need to know how lO best maintain and enhance these servation 15: 127-150. areas for the benefit of the threatened and endangered. F AO of the UN (Food mdAgrieultureOrglllliuliot1of the Uuilcd species. InfoJ:l!l3tion needed includes the response of the Natic,ns). Forestry Dep3J1lnenL 199 I. Uniled Nations Devel grasslands. to prescribed fire, cspecially staggered patch opment Programme. Modern fora! fire ccnirol: lndia. fires: When to bwn? How large a pateb to bum? What Projoct findings and recommendations. FAO:DP/IND/841 intensity to burn? How often to bum? Additionally, the 003. Rome. 24 pag.._ response of grasslands to fire suppression needs to be de FAOof the UN (Food and AgriculrureOrganizationofthe United termined: Does fire suppression increase or decrease the Natio,,.,). Forcsuy Depanmcru. 1995. Tcmis of Refere,u; rate of succession from grassland lo riverine woodland? TCP/IND/4452 • Training in Forest Fire Maru,gcment P!Jn. ning. Rome. 1 Jantl81)'. 13 pages. How does fire suppression affect tiger and rhino popula Forum for Fore. Proceedings courtesy of: Organized by: : -C~~-- ;:_') --~.-.:.. -\; 0 TIOJUU. ASSOCLIOlON :r-- ·~ :::... ex OF ·-:?/' Washington LAHDARE Wildlife Foundation for • Forever the Environment . . ' Proceedings: First_Conference on Fire Effects on Rare and Endangered Species and Habitats Coeur d'Alene, Idaho November, 1995 Dr. Jason M. Greenlee· Editor Conference organizer: llHITIONAL ASSOCl.lmON OF l.ANDRRE Co-sponsors: . . International Association of Wildland Fire The Nature Conservancy Wildlife Forever . U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NIFC Washington Foundation for the Environment Abundant Life Seed Foundation Dr. Jon Keeley Montana Prescribed Fire Services, Inc. Colorado Natural Heritage Program Environmental & Botanical Consultants USDA Forest Service (Reg-6) Proceedings courtesy of: & Washington Foundation for the Environment - Dedicated to preserving and enhancing our state's Wildlife environmental heritage by supporting educational • Forever and Innovative projects