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

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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, <strong>Walia</strong>-<strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition</strong> on the Bale Mountains 146
the loss of natural forests due to fire was more than 95,000 ha. The 2000 fire incidence in the Bale eco-region is one of the worst fires in Ethiopia with extreme fires occurring also in the 2007/2008 dry season. In 2008, a total of 12,825 ha of land were burnt in the Bale Eco-region, including 10,747 ha of land burnt in the National Park (Belayneh et al. 2008). The Bale Mountains National Park (BMNP), which is one of Conservation International’s 34 biodiversity hot spots, has been encountering both natural and man made fires throughout its history. However, in recent times the influence of man made fires has posed a serious threat to the park’s ecosystem, and particularly to the Erica forest and shrub land. Forest fires which are set by people to collect wild honey (LeFevre and Pinard this edition) and prepare land for agriculture are particularly damaging to the Harenna forest of BMNP (GMP 2007). As a result, developing a fire management plan for the park has been identified as a priority activity in the GMP. In order to be able to do this a detailed fire assessment examining fire extent and frequency as well as factors which may influence the occurrence of fire needs to be undertaken. In this study we used remote sensing and GIS technologies, in particular Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), to map the extent and frequency of fires in the BMNP. Specifically, we examined if vegetation, soil type, month, altitudinal belt, distance to roads and/or distance to settlements influence the occurrence of fires and area affected. It is aimed that these findings will facilitate the development of a fire management plan for the park by identifying fire hot spots and influencing factors, thereby enabling relevant and effective mitigation measures to be developed. Materials and Methods Data sources Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) level 3 burned area products and a 2.5 m resolution SPOT Image acquired May 14th of 2008 were used for this study. In addition, ground truthing fire data collected in the park were used to verify and calibrate the MODIS images. The MODIS MCD45A1 product was downloaded from NASA - MODIS Fire and Thermal Anomalies Project /University of Maryland/ website (http://modis-fire.gsfc.nasa.gov). The SPOT image was provided by Planet Action. Nine years of MODIS data (2000-2008) were used for this study as this was as far back as the appropriate images went for the study area. For a detailed description on the MODIS products used see Abera and Kinahan (2009). Image preparation A mosaic of the four scenes comprising the park in the SPOT image was created to form one image. This image was geometrically and radiometrically corrected to remove topographic and atmospheric influences. The part of the image covering the park was extracted by masking the boundary of the park. Erdas Imagine 9.1 and ArcGIS 9.2 softwares were used to undertake this data preparation process. <strong>Walia</strong>-<strong>Special</strong> <strong>Edition</strong> on the Bale Mountains 147
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Walia Spec
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This Special <stro
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Foreword The Bale Mountains are uni
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FACTORS AFFECTING FIRE ExTENT AND F
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Introduction This Special</
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Mammals of the Bale Mountains Natio
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History and Physical Features of th
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Name of Order Name of Family No of
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wolf is a rare canid endemic to the
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Hillman. J. C. 1993. Ethiopia: Comp
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Scientific name Common name Sources
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Structuring of the Birds of the Bal
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interactions? 2) Would such classif
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feeding habit and the related bill
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Table 1. Component loadings of fora
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Assemblage 1 Assemblage 2 Assemblag
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of a community there must be a prem
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Hillman, J.C. 1986. The Bale Mounta
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1995a; Sillero-Zubiri et al. 2004,
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Monitoring Activities the Bale Moun
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Table 1. Packs monitored in the Bal
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long-term study areas. However, tot
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Creel, S., Spong, G., Sands, J.L.,
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Observations on the Status of the M
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The Bale Mountains Figure 1. The kn
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of the park’s interior, where hum
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The Ahmar (Chercher) Mountains The
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Casuarina equisetiflium lia, Hageni
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Threats Predictably, the main threa
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populations within hunting blocks a
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Population Estimates and Diet of St
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To identify the types and proportio
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Table 3. Coverage of plant species
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for eating grass species. During th
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Ecology and Reproductive Strategy o
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overall diet (36% of total prey occ
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Table 1. Ethiopian wolf density (in
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encounters between neighbouring wol
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No new packs were formed between 19
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Cooperative Breeding Role of helper
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Mean feeding rate (contributions/ho
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successful dispersal are very low,
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References Ashenafi, Z.T. 2001. Com
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Solomon, N. G., and French, J.A. Ed
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Figure 1. The Bale monkey (Cercopit
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Survey method - Dec 06-Jan 07 Line
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Table 3. Estimates of population de
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Monitoring and management prioritie
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Amphibians and Reptiles Recorded fr
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Lizards Agamidae Acanthocercus atri
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to just two montane sites in Harenn
Page 103 and 104: used for comparison. The study reve
Page 105 and 106: Mapping High-Altitude Vegetation in
Page 107 and 108: of the alpine vegetation have been
Page 109 and 110: Observers located each point by GPS
Page 111 and 112: Figure 1. Afroalpine vegetation in
Page 113 and 114: other, and class N from O, because
Page 115 and 116: J. mima mounds and grazed mineral s
Page 117 and 118: Node Clusters Species in 1st cluste
Page 119 and 120: A. Arboreal heather/lake -E 64.6 +W
Page 121 and 122: A. Arboreal heather/lake 82 ± 176
Page 123 and 124: elevations of 4100-4200 m a.s.l. in
Page 125 and 126: Miehe, G. and Miehe, S. 1994. Erica
Page 127 and 128: and managing natural resources and
Page 129 and 130: The Bale Mountains National Park is
Page 131 and 132: The ground-truthing points made up
Page 133 and 134: Table 2. Table showing the area for
Page 135 and 136: Table 5. Description of patchiness
Page 137 and 138: Acknowledgments This study was fund
Page 139 and 140: Characteristics and Origins of Glad
Page 141 and 142: Figure 1. Map with the approximate
Page 143 and 144: Table 1. Main characteristics of th
Page 145 and 146: Table 2. Soil Properties at two dep
Page 147 and 148: Total aboveground biomass ranged fr
Page 149 and 150: There might be some evidence for th
Page 151 and 152: Appendix 1. Attributes for soil pro
Page 153: Ogate (altitude 1753 m) Water Site
Page 157 and 158: Results Fire extent and frequency A
Page 159 and 160: Soil type Over 50% of the total num
Page 161 and 162: Distance to settlements The frequen
Page 163 and 164: than expected given there available
Page 165 and 166: MOA 2000. Ethiopian Forest Status R
Page 167 and 168: among seasons are usually only a fe
Page 169 and 170: In contrast to the northern highlan
Page 171 and 172: Table 1. The distribution, species
Page 173 and 174: it was absent from the central subz
Page 175 and 176: Figure 2. Population structure of t
Page 177 and 178: Fetene, M., Gashaw, M., Nauke, P. a
Page 179 and 180: Bale Mountain Lakes: Ecosystems Und
Page 181 and 182: occurrence above 4000 m. Rainfall i
Page 183 and 184: Table 1. List of the sampled waterb
Page 185 and 186: total nitrogen, chlorophyll a, cond
Page 187 and 188: Eggermont H., Russell, J.M.. Schett
Page 189 and 190: Direct Consumptive Use Value of Eco
Page 191 and 192: As more literature seeks to explore
Page 193 and 194: Table 1. Ecosystem goods and servic
Page 195 and 196: Figure 1. Map of the Bale Mountains
Page 197 and 198: 2(a) Crop Production HH Crop Value
Page 199 and 200: 3(a) Mean Household Annual Direct C
Page 201 and 202: accruing to households. Although no
Page 203 and 204: Acknowledgements This study was mad
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Livestock Grazing in Bale Mountains
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evidence that low levels of grazing
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wildlife, especially the mountain n
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and control sites (areas where live
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several of the Bale ecosystem compo
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Paine, R. T. and Vadas, R. L. 1969.
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their hives. Hive and tree types we
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HOROqqA (Bersama abyssinica, Melian
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Value Chain Analysis for Bamboo Ori
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data recorded by the Development Ag
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Amongst the interviewees, 80% of pe
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Producers As reported previously, b
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The above figure shows the various
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(6) BERSMP and all other stakeholde
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The Distribution, Properties and Us
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preliminary data. From the prelimin
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Figure 1. Map of the southern part
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Addeye All the 11 horas in Addeye a
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Tabalas are used for healing purpos
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Cultural value and history The use
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(Barrett-Lennard 2003). Finally, pr
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Appendix ph Colour Salinity (mS) Ta
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Villages using the hora Animals vis
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General Management Planning for the
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BMNP Management History Since its i
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effectively and efficiently impleme
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Problems and Issues A problems and
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understood threats were also identi
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Park Operations Programme This prog
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according to its core vision and pr
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People in National Parks - Joint Na
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pastoralists, as part of pastoral s
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of wild animals (Stephens et al. 20
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have experience in the implementati
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2004) or conservation and livelihoo
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• The redefinition of protected a
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Risk of Disease Transmission Betwee
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aspects of these factors, including
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ecorded as “point vegetation” f
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Table 1: Composition of 326 ungulat
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Table 3. Distance from road at whic
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Transmission risk Clearly, disease
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Dunn, A.M. 1968. The wild ruminant
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however continues to rise and in 19
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Tourism in the Bale Mountains Natio
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the past 5 years tourism activities
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assist with implementation of the t
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An increase in tourism investment i
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at a loss of approximately ETB 10,0
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Can Carbon Contribute to Conservati
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emains. The more recently coined RE
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Benefits The implementation of such
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or meet the minimum costs necessary
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Table 1. Financial forecast for 20
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across Africa. Biological Conservat
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sets, extract relevant bits of info
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What to Monitor? The question of wh
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scale as a balance where one side r
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through existing databases not only
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The moral of these stories are that
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anger based monitoring system is a
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spatial and temporal extent of the
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IUCN Red Listed Species Description
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Appendix 2: Metadata form A digital
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and climate data, AVHRR NDVI data,
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http://www.mentorsoftwareinc.com Me
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Individual Arrest Form Index No. Lo
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If for Commercial Market: □ in yo
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• Improve research work on wildli
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• Development Partners (donors) a
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Sustainable Development of the Prot
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I. Personal details Ethiopian Wildl
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Publication Financially Supported b
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