Nearly 90 per cent of the nestling and mid canopy birds have been affected by the forest fires which have engulfed the Uttarakhand, say the environmentalists. Some were incubating, some ready to fly and some protected in the egg shell, but the blazing fires spared none. While the villagers blame on foresters and vice versa, exact causes of the devastating fires are still unknown.
A team of scientists which left for the analysis early this week in different forest ranges have started sending its observations. It is high time that the government reframes its policies of conservation of forests and make amendments in the forest Acts before it is too late, say the experts.
A team of researchers headed by known environmentalist and dean of Gurukul Kangri University, faculty of life Science, Dinesh Bhatt headed for laldhang, Dugadda and Kotri forest ranges early this week for which results have started coming. Speaking to The Pioneer, he said, “Though the exact findings would come after a week’s time prima facie it seems more than 90 per cent of the nestling birds have been destroyed by the razing fires.”
Moreover, “The nestlings in the nest, the bird hatchlings are totally dependent on their parents for feeding who brings grains and feed in their beaks. The adult birds are unable to find food for the young ones with the middle canopy of forests being wiped out by the blazing infernos,” added Bhatt.
The worst affected are those birds which breed during spring and summer season. The chaitra month (mid April) is considered ideal for the birds to breed. After engaging in nest- making for 20 days and incubating for another 15 days, the hatchlings had just started coming out. “This was the time of their maiden flight out of the nest when the fires engulfed their nests. An egg shell breaks in two minutes of getting the heat and 60 percent of the bird species have been affected by these fires,” says the research team of Gurukul Kangri University. The ground nesting and lower canopy birds like Magpie, Robin, Pied Bush Chat, Beaver, Warbler, Woodpecker, Bulbul, Tree Sparrow, Purple Sun are few of the bird species which are worst affected.
When asked to comment on the measures to be taken to evade damaging fires, Bhatt said, “For this the Forest Protection Act and Policy needs to be reviewed. For decades there have been no changes in the Act.”
It is wrong to condemn the villagers for having instigated the fires, say the experts. The land of Uttarakhand being known for ‘Chipko Movement’, why would any villager destroy its own habitat, question the environmentalists. The lack of maintenance of forest fire line by the forest department and several other factors may be responsible for the forest fires and not the poor villagers who have been living for so long in their shelter, they say.