Replacing controlled burning practice by Alternate methods of reducing fuel load in the Himalayan Long leaf Pine(Pinus roxburghii Sarg.) forests Manoj Chandran1, A.R.Sinha2 and R.B.S.Rawat3
Abstract
Himalayan Long Leaf Pine (Pinus roxburghii Sarg.), owing to its resin content and the needle fall coinciding with the hottest months form the major fire vulnerable gregarious forest type in the middle altitude Himalayas. Controlled or prescribed burning has been the traditional practice to reduce fuel load, remove slippery needle litter and promote fresh growth of fodder grass for cattle. This slow burning process allows the heat to reach the subsurface rootstock eventually leading to change in ground flora, reduction in soil moisture holding capacity, reduced regeneration of seedlings and preventing succession to the climatic climax. To reduce needle litter fuel load, without actually burning it, Forest Department of Uttarakhand, a Himalayan province in India has innovated several practical alternate techniques to utilize pine needles for different uses like pine needle check dams, coal briquettes, use in gasifiers, collection of pine cones for ornamental artifacts, better techniques of resin tapping , collection of pine seeds for edible nut and medicinal oil, salvage felling of trees, extraction of torchwood and perfumed chips from dead stumps, reduction of pine from other forest types and active fire monitoring and protection. This paper deals with these non-burning innovative techniques in detail.
Introduction Pinus roxburghii Sarg. or the Himalayan Long leaf Pine is one the major gregarious forest types in the middle altitudes of 1000m to 2000m in the Himalayan range. It is usually found on drier, sunfacing slopes where other tree species cannot perform well. The tree is rich in resin content making it a species of economic importance. However, the same property makes its needle litter highly inflammable and vulnerable to forest fires. The pine forests are also set fire annually by the villagers to remove the needle litter, which becomes slippery for humans and cattle to go around in the forests. Setting fire is also done to encourage new grass growth before the monsoon rains when there is scarcity of fodder. Fires also occur by accidents from road surfacing activity, throwing of cigarette butts in the forest and negligence of villagers passing through the forest paths in the night carrying lighted torchwood. Fires are also intentionally caused by anti-social elements and by rival factions in the village who are against the resin tapping contractors. Resin tapping activity also makes the tree vulnerable to more damage during fires. The forest floor also has a lot of fallen pine cones, which on catching fire rolls down and spreads fire to lower areas, from where fire accelerates upwards making 1
Indian Forest Service, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Working Plan), Pithoragarh Forest Division, Uttarakhand-262501, INDIA. E-mail:
[email protected] 2
Indian Forest Service, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests(Working Plan and Management), Uttarakhand Forest Training Academy campus, Rampur Road, Haldwani, Uttarakhand. E-mail:
[email protected] 3
Indian Forest Service, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand, 85, Rajpur Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, INDIA. E-mail:
[email protected]
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the wild fire more severe. Fires also spread from agriculture field, especially on windy days, where wheat stubble is burnt after harvest and this coincides with the fire season. One of the traditional methods adopted by the forest department is the cutting of fire lines and controlled prescribed burning of the pine forest floor during late winter and clearing the fire lines and forest roads and forest margins by strip burning of the needle litter. However, this activity many a times go uncontrolled and being a slow burning process from top of the hill to the bottom, results in spread of the heat to the rootstock of ground flora thereby killing it, unlike the active wildfires, which is fast and uphill and does only superficial damage to the forest floor. The soil also gets more heat in the winter burns than during the fire season. Moreover, controlled burning also do not have much impact on reducing the fuel load, because most of the needle litter fall occurs during the summer season itself, whereby the tree tries to protect itself from transpiration loss and covering the forest floor from intense heat of the sun. Hence, it is often observed that during the wildfires, the same area of forest floor gets burnt repeatedly due to continuous needle fall after the first fire has occurred. This paper deals with the innovative activities initiated by the forest department of the Himalayan province of Uttarakhand, India, to prevent forest fires by collection and alternate uses of pine needle litter, without actually burning them on the forest floor. This province has ca.25000 sq.km. forest area under this species.
Alternate use of Pine needles The pine needles are locally used by villagers for laying litter in their cattle sheds. The litter is removed along with cattle dung on it after a few days and heaped outside to become valuable farmyard manure later on. However, this activity utilizes only a meager amount of pine needles from the forest floor. Moreover, this activity has no motivation to the villagers in economic terms; rather it becomes a cumbersome activity to bring the pine needles to the villages without any economic result. The villagers, especially the ladies, undertake this activity and can carry head loads of 35kg or more dry needle litter per trip. The forest department has initiated the following innovative activities for large scale collection and removal of pine needle litter for alternate uses to reduce fire vulnerability as well as to create employment opportunities to the resident population.
a.Pine needle check dams Pine needle was collected from the forest floor and spread on 2inch mesh coir nets. They were then rolled over and tied tightly to form cylindrical logs. (Manoj Chandran, 2009) These pine needle logs were then transported and plugged across eroding gullies and streams and secured with vegetative pegs. These check dams not only conserved soil and moisture by decreasing the speed of runoff, but also contributed to reduction of Calcium content in water (Vasudha, 2010). The increased moisture regime around the check dam area also helped in preventing the occurrence and spread of forest fires. About 70kg Pine needles were utilized for an average check dam of 2-3, length and 50cm diameter. The mud and calcium deposited in the spaces within the pine needle check dam helped to further strengthen the check dam by cementing and the vegetative pegs sprouted to form vegetative barriers across the stream. The reservoir formation on the upstream side of the check dams also served as waterholes to wild animals.
b.Pine needle bailing and briquetting Pine needle charcoal briquettes were made by partial combustion of pine needles in cylindrical barrels and immediately mixing it with mud and drying them to be used later on as fuel. The briquettes made by this process were inefficient and released a lot of smoke. Hence, a newer technique was innovated where Pine needles were collected and passed through a simple briquetting machine to compress the needles to briquettes of different sizes and designs. The pine needles were fed from one end of the machine and a hydraulic press was used to compress these needles. The heat generated by the machine helped in extraction of resin which helped to glue the needles together to form a solid brick. The briquette coming out from the machine was then tied securely to prevent
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falling of the briquetted mass. These briquettes were supplied to industrial areas for use in furnaces and boilers, where they showed very good efficiency and were cheaper than other fuel. Small scale coal briquettes were also made with specialized machines, with additional mixtures like sawdust and some adhesives. These small briquettes could be used in smokeless stoves for cooking purposes and also in fire places for heating rooms in winter. The briquettes had high calorific value up to 4800Kcal/kg when used as such and 4000Kcal/kg when mixed with saw dust. The briquettes had a bulk density of 800kg/cum. The combustion was uniform due to uniform size and the wastage was also less due to easier handling. The other advantages over other forms fossil fuels were the low or absence of toxic gases of sulphur or phosphorus, low ash content (2-10%) as compared to coal (2040%) and also less emission of black smoke (Carbon). However, one of the disadvantages in use of pine needles in low temperature furnaces requiring temperatures less than 1500 degree Celsius was the evaporation of resin and their condensation in the canopy of the furnaces thus blocking the exhaust. This situation was not present in high temperature furnaces, which could completely burn the resin content. Better designs of low temperature furnaces have to be researched to solve this issue.
c.Use of pine needles in bio-gassifiers The pine needles were also tried as such and also in bailed form in bio-gassifiers. The bails were more efficient with respect to reduced transportation costs as well as more quantity of fuel per batch due to reduced bulk. It was observed that 13kg dry pine needles could produce 9KWh of electricity using standard gassifiers. Approximately 400kg of dry pine needles can produce approximately 10KW of electricity for the whole day, which is a substantial amount of power required for rural electrification for at least 40 households. Hence the per household consumption of pine needles can be estimated at 10kg per day or 3650kg per year, which can be easily collected from just 1ha of pine forests in a year. The approximate no. of rural households in Uttarakhand is 0.25million and will require an area of 10million ha of Pine forests. The total area of pine forests in Uttarakhand is 2.5 million ha and hence, this activity can be sustainably used to electrify the whole of the province’s rural areas.
d.Use of pine needles for making composite wood Pine needles proved to be very good material to convert into composite wood by cutting them to standard sizes, mixing with adhesives and pressing them into panels in a hot press. These panels could be used for several structural purposes like partitions, false ceilings, etc. and other temporary constructions and also could be used to make low cost furniture. Pine needles can also be used in cooling pads after removing their outer lignin content by chemical processes to form a soft flexible spongy mass.
e.Use of pine needles for manufacture of chemical products Pine needles are also a source of valuable chemical products like needle oil, alpha-pinene, turpentine, ligno-cellulose products and also food grade flavours like vanillin. Bioeffectives having neutraceutical antioxidant properties are also being extracted in countries like China and Russia. Alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages are also prepared from Pine needles in several countries.
Removal of other Dry fuel load a.Use of pine cones for ornamental products Pine cones are the main culprits of rapid spread of forest fires from one part of the forest to another. The pine needle on catching fire acquires kinetic energy and rolls and bounces down to ablaze a different area. The energy also causes the pine cones to explode causing missiles of burning
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pieces to far away areas across natural fire breaks like streams and fire lines. The collection of these cones is traditionally done to a limited extent by some villagers near tourist places to make ornamental artifacts to be sold to tourists. This potential was exploited by allowing large scale transport of pine cones to other parts of the country from the forest areas. The damaged cones not fit for ornamental purposes could also be used as an efficient fuel in furnaces due to their resin content. The seed production and regeneration of pine forests were also not affected as the cones mature on the trees itself and fall after the seeds have dispersed.
b.Use of dry wood and knots for perfumery and medicinal oil extraction The resin content in pine makes the dried wood unfit for timber purposes to be used to make perfumed chips for use in rituals and offerings to God. The heart wood remains are also very rich in resin and are locally used as torch wood. The knots present in twisted grained pines and at branch junctions are also rich in pine oil, which is extracted and used for curing joint pains and arthritis. The villagers are encouraged to start small scale industries to utilize all left over and dried timber in the forest area, thus reducing the fuel load.
b.Use of pine seeds for edible purposes and extraction of medicinal oil Pine seeds are highly nutritious and edible raw as well as after roasting. Monkeys are seen to relish roasted pine seeds on the forest floor after wildfires have occurred. This property can be commercially utilized by sustainable collection and extraction of pine seeds and their processing. The seeds also contain valuable oil which is a panacea for spondulitis and other joint pains. The improvised oil extractor is being designed for efficient extraction of pine seed oil.
Administrative intervention The total amount of needle litter fall in pine forests ranges from 1000 to 8000 kg/ha per year (Pande, 1996) depending on the density and maturity of the crop. The amount of pine needle litter that can be sustainably collected from different forest areas was assessed. An Expression of Interest was published in different newspapers to invite entrepreneurs who could utilize large quantities of pine needles for different uses. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the forest department and the entrepreneur on allotment of different forest areas for collection. The collection was done through local villagers who would bring the needles to the nearest motor road, from where the entrepreneur would arrange for its bailing and disposal. The entrepreneur would pay the collection charges to the villagers directly, whereas the royalty to be paid to the government was fixed at a very nominal cost of Rs.2 per ton (approx. 4cents). This intervention not only encouraged entrepreneurs to avail a sustained supply of cheap fuel and raw material, but also had a major impact on the livelihood and income levels of the villagers, especially women. The government also allowed the entrepreneurs to directly have a Memorandum of Understanding with the village headman for access and collection of needles from forest owned by the village communities. They were also allowed to do on-site bailing in order to reduce their transportation costs. The transit fee was kept on per truck basis irrespective of the load. The villagers were also encouraged to establish small scale cottage industries for briquetting, bailing, gassifier units, chipping units for perfumery, etc.
Other management techniques Better techniques of resin tapping Resin tapping was one of the anthropogenic causes which increased the damage due to forest fires in pine forests. The normal fires used to burn only the forest floor and did not do much damage to the fire hardy trees. But, with the opening of resin tapping channels, the cambium of the trees were directly exposed to fires as the main season of tapping coincided with the fire season. The resin channels on catching fire stayed long and burnt the internal tissues, thus making it impossible for the channels to heal and recover later on. The French Cup and Lip method of resin tapping was in practice till 1990. This caused heavy damage to the pine trees, which became vulnerable to breakage during
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heavy winds. After 1990, a new method called the Rill method of tapping was introduced and later on made compulsory. In this method, the tapping was restricted to only 2mm deep channels after removal of the bark. The tapping was to be done in total 36 weekly channels to finish the tapping operations in 9 months. This method reduced the exposure of internal tissues of the tree in case of wildfires and thus saved the trees from excessive fire damage.
Removal of salvage wood A large quantity of fuel load in the form of dry standing timber and fallen timber present in pine forests is a great concern with respect to forest fires. The government issued orders to dispose of such timber by giving them to resident villagers for their bona fide use at concessional rates, over and above the traditional timber rights allotted to them during the reservation of forest areas. The villagers were also free to utilize any amount of dry fuel wood for their household purposes. In the situation of large scale availability of dry and fallen trees over and above the demand from villagers were, these timber and fuel wood was disposed through the State Forest Development Corporation for commercial purposes. Such allotment to villagers also reduced the illicit removal and intentional drying of green trees due to the demand pressures. The availability of legal timber with the State Forest Corporations also could meet commercial timber demand at reasonable prices, which in turn reduced smuggling of illegal timber.
Active Fire monitoring and control All the above activities to reduce the incidence of forest fires were synergized with active monitoring of forest fires using GIS based fire reporting and quick response systems. The MODIS Web Fire Mapper was also used extensively to detect large fires. A system of widespread fire crew stations were established which during the fire season would regularly clear the fire lines, roads and paths by sweeping the needle litter and collecting them for later disposal. The regular presence of the staff in this activity not only deterred forest fires, but also gave opportunity of quick response in the case of a fire outbreak. A fire danger rating system is also established for fire warning and vulnerability forecast.
Results The removal of pine needles from the forest areas had more than expected response and outcome. Several entrepreneurs came forward with demands for allotment of more and more forest areas for raw material collection. Though all the forest areas could not be allotted, the most fire vulnerable areas, close to habitation and road network could be cleared off the needle litter at least in patches and strips at several places of easy accessibility. By coincidence, these patches were also the places of high fire risk due to accessibility to people setting fire, proximity to the roads and villages. The availability of market for pine needles also discouraged the villagers from setting fire to the forest floor for grass growth and movement of cattle. This also resulted in better fodder grass growth, which otherwise would have resulted in growth of only fire hardy grass species, which on maturity becomes non-palatable to cattle. The removal of the litter, though in patches, served a great purpose as these clear patches prevented the spread of forest fires if any in the uncleared areas around. It was found that for effective fire protection, clearing of litter in whole of the forest area is not required. The removal of other fuel load also had similar impacts in reducing fire and fire damage.
Apprehensions A few apprehensions on the whole activity came up during the process. These were a) Whether the removal of needle litter has any adverse impact on the soil cover and the forest floor as a whole and b) whether the collection of cones and seeds has any impact on regeneration. It was found that the amount of litter removed was only in patches and the whole forest floor cannot be cleared of litter. Moreover, there is regular litter fall even after the removal of litter or after a forest fire and 5th International Wildland Fire Conference ::: South Africa
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immediately covers the soil. Hence, there is no question of this activity having any major impact on the forest floor. Regarding cones, the cones usually fall after the seeds have dispersed. In the case of collection of cones from the tree itself for seed extraction, it was observed that only a meager percent of the total production of cones could be actually harvested. A large no. of seeds is produced and due to the winged nature of the seeds, dispersal to far away areas is a rule. Hence, the activity does not affect the regeneration of the forest area. The areas far away from habitation have less incidence of fires and such forest areas act as a buffer to cure any ill-effects of any activity in the sensitive areas.
Conclusion The alternate arrangements for disposal and utilization of fuel load, especially the pine needles on the forest floor, instead of burning them in the name of prescribed burning, not only reduced the fire incidences and their spread, but also had a great positive impact on the livelihood and standard of living of the local residents. It has helped a lot in creating employment to village women, increasing the biodiversity of the area and also in sustainable utilization of the forest produce resulting in increase in the gross domestic product and gross national happiness. This is also a strategy for adaptation in the scenario of global warming which directly relates to more wildfires. The use of pine needles as fuel will also result in reduced use of coal and fossil fuels and hence can be an effective activity under the Clean Development Mechanism. The reduction in forest fire vulnerability and resulting reduction of degradation of forest makes the activity also eligible under the proposed REDD activity in mitigating climate change. Table 1— Calorific value of Pine needles vs. other fuels Adapted from Biomass Energy centre (www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk)
Name of fuel Wood chips (30%moisture) Miscanthus (Bale 25%moisture) Log wood (stacked 20%moisture) Wood pellets Wood (solid, oven dry) Pine needles House coal Anthracite Natural Gas LPG Heating oil
Calorific value (Kcal/kg) 2895 3105 3511 4060 4538 4800 6448-7404 7881 9100 11058 10150
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Figure 1—Pine forest cover of India and Uttarakhand
Figure 2—Pine forests
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Figure 3—Pine forest fires – during and after fire
Figure 4—Pine needle bales and briquettes
Figure 5—Pine needle check dams – before and during floods after three years
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