Atlas of Russia's Intact Forest Landscapes - World Resources Institute

causes.” (Ivanov, 1985). It is likely that the portion of fires caused by lightning is overestimated. As shown by
Ivanov, the currently used method does not produce consistently correct information on the cause of fires.
Even though the amount of spontaneous fires is likely to be exaggerated, most authors point to the overwhelming
dominance of anthropogenic fires (Noga, Tikhonov, 1979; Zakharov, 1977; Sofronov, Vakurov, 1981;
Odintsov, 1995; Sergienko, 1996, 1999; Furyaev, 1996, etc.). The average proportion of anthropogenic fires is
estimated to be 80-90 percent for Russia as a whole. The proportion of spontaneous fires is higher only in areas
with a pronounced continental climate, such as the area around the Irtysh River and in Evenkia and Yakutia
in northern Siberia, where it has been estimated that 33-67 percent of fires are spontaneous, depending on the
time period (Noga, Tikhonov, 1979; Ivanov, 1985). However, the occurrence of fires is connected with population
density and land use even in these areas (Valendik, Ivanova, 1996).
The published statistical evidence shows that spontaneous fires may dominate in number only in unusual
years and in remote regions. Land use is one of the main causes of forest fires. A considerable amount
of fires were probably caused by people even in the distant past. Causes range from slash and burn agricul-
2
1
2
Picture 2. Proximity to infrastructure affects the fire regime. The satellite image shows a ground fire burning in an
old fire scar, which is adjacent to infrastructure (1). Similar old fire scars are visible nearby (2).
12 Atlas of Russia’s Intact Forest Landscapes