For The Sake Of Oaks

Uttarakhand should use inflammable chirpines to generate power. This would contain forest fires that are threatening native oak trees and provide employment

- Arvind Bijalwan

MY HOUSE, located in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district, has a panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains and forests. I spent my childhood surrounded by luxuriant oak forests, which are gradually disappearing. The forests are threatened by alien species such as chirpine (Pinus roxburghii) that are highly inflammable and increase forest fires.

Oak, scientifically known as Quercus leucotrichophora, belongs to the Fagaceae family and has great social and ecological relevance in the Western Himalayan region. It provides a large array of ecosystem services such as structuring the upper soil, sustaining the hydrological regime and governing the hydrological cycle of hills. Uttarakhand people also use it as fodder and fuelwood. In fact, oak-based agroforestry has traditionally been popular in the region as it conserves soil and water in the rain-fed area.

But oak plantations have in the recent past been replaced with chirpine, a pioneer species which can survive and flourish in extreme conditions and can endure forest fires. Today, chirpine covers 16 percent of Uttarakhand’s forest area. Chirpine, a variety of pine, is mainly responsible for the infernos and is not good for biodiversity. Also, the needle-like leaves of the tree are highly inflammable and prevent regeneration of undergrowth on the forest floor.

The recently released the State of Forest Report 2017 by the Forest Survey of India shows consistent forest fires in the subtropical pine region since 2003. In 2009, there were 1,615 forest fire incidents which dropped to 346 in 2011 and peaked to 1,778 in 2012. In 2016, it was 1,158.