Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Brush fire, another burning problem in Kodai

By K. Raju

DINDIGUL FEB. 19 . Kodaikanal, which lost its glory and charm largely owing to indiscriminate tree felling, unsustainable agriculture, unsafe disposal of garbage, climate change and pollution of water resources, has been facing a new threat — `brush fire', another man-made disaster.

Forest fires rage between January and March. But only five per cent of the occurrence is natural, say Forest department sources. Farmers, illegal tree cutters and local people set afire forests and grassland at Samakadu, Palamalai, Thamaraikulam on Kodaikanal hills just below Adukkam panchayat, B.L. Shed, Anna Nagar and Uppu Parai Mettu on the Palani-Kodaikanal road and interior forests in the Berijam lake areas, for coal and firewood, to drive out bees from hives and to hide illegal tree felling. Artificial fire destroyed the remaining grassland on the hills. About 10 acres of forest area has been destroyed.

Capitalising on summer heat, illegal tree cutters fell trees in large numbers and burn the bottom of the trunk to make it appear that the smuggled trees were destroyed in a forest fire, say the sources. Besides, local people set on fire massively-grown lemon grass, bushes and herbs to pave way to interior forests in low-level areas for collecting forest produce — gallnut, lemon and amla.

The dry summer spell between January and February has been used to camouflage anti-social activities. Fully-dried lemon grass, lantana and bracken are easily combustible, cause the fire to spread fast. The billowing smoke has also polluted atmosphere and increased atmospheric temperature. More over, small streams in forests would dry up, thanks to the excessive heat generated by fires.

The temperature at Kodaikanal, which one degree Celsius during peak winter five years ago, hovered between five and seven this year.

At Kodaikanal, only eight per cent of total land is grassland — main grazing area for spotted deer, sambar and bison. Forest officials and environmentalists expressed concern that three-four per cent might have been destroyed, causing food shortage to animals.

Lack of grazing land forces animals to come to the plains and agriculture lands at Kodaikanal town. Wild boars and bisons were a common sight on the town border.

The fires also posed a threat to rare snakes in lower forests, near the Adukkam and Berijam lake forests, and to monitor lizards living in rock cracks. Already a huge population of rare and endangered animals such as Nilgiris languor, and Malabar squirrels migrated from the Berijam lake areas to Kerala for food and safe living.

Mass migration of animals also affected regeneration of Sholas in Kodaikanal. Natural forests have been disappearing slowly owing to forest fire.

Meanwhile, the Palani Hill Conservation Council has in an afforestation drive planted 10,000 seedlings in interior forests near the Berijam lake, populated by wild boar, bison, spotted deer, sambar and Nilgiris Thar.

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