Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

Factors Affecting Fire Extent and Frequency in the Bale Mountains National Park
Kashun Abera 1 and Anouska A. Kinahan 1 *
1 FZS-BMCP, Bale Mountains National Park, PO BOx 165, Robe, Bale, Ethiopia
*Email: anouskakinahan@fzs.org
Abstract
Although fires can have positive and negative effects on an ecosystem, uncontrolled repeated fires
can devastate the environment. There have been several large and damaging fires historically in the
Bale eco-region including inside the park, particularly in 2000 and again in 2008. For these reasons,
the development of a fire management plan has been identified as a priority activity in the 2007
BMNP General Management Plan. Before such a plan can be developed a detailed understanding of
fire extent and frequency and factors influencing fires needs to be examined. This study showed that
in more recent times fire occurrences are on the increase compared to the early 2000’s where large
fires were typically followed by low fire years and that the highest incidences of fires occur in the
late dry season. Erica shrub was the only vegetation type that appeared to be burnt preferentially,
as were Chromic Luvisol soils. We found that while accessibility was the main influencing factor
for the number of fires occurring, a combination of vegetation type and accessibility and vegetation
type and distance to settlements influenced the extent of fires. This study identified fire hotspots and
provides information which will be useful toward the development of a fire management plan.
Introduction
Fires are known to have both advantages and disadvantages on ecological processes. If managed, a
fire can help improve ecosystem functioning; conversely uncontrolled fires can devastate, degrade
and reduce the availability of natural resources (Giri and Shrestha 1999). The occurrence of wildfires
not only influences the development of the plant community, but also contributes to the species
composition of the ecosystem (Levine et al. 1999). Generally, a fire occurring in any ecosystem
has the potential to cause disastrous social, ecological, and economic impacts resulting in the loss
or transformation of habitat; which in turn affects biodiversity and triggers carbon dioxide release
and global warming (Lymberopoulos et. al. 1996). Most of the present day forest loss globally is
attributed to uncontrolled burning practices (IUCN 2000).
Over a century ago, Ethiopia’s forests were estimated to cover 40% of the country, now
however only 2.5% forest cover remains (MOA 2000). Wild fire and agriculture are thought to be
two of the major causes of this forest loss (MOA 2000). According to the Global Fire Monitoring
Center the number of fire occurrences in Ethiopia increased from 4 to 20 between the years 1990
and 1993, increasing the total area of burnt forest from 1,072 to 3,159 ha. Seven years later in 2000,
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