Dehradun, 18 May 2008
Forest fires are quite common in Uttarakhand during summers, when about 65 per cent of Uttarakhand’s forests face the threat of accidental forest fires.
This year has been no exception. There have already been over 800 incidents and over 2000 hectares has been damaged.
In fact, it seems to have become a trend over the last four years, between mid-Februray and mid-June, which is known as the forest fire season.
But now, all that could change. A team of scientists from the Forest Reasearch Institute, Dehradun is collecting and analysing data of forest cover in 13 districts.
The Forest Research Institute has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organization to build a model, which will help keeping the fires in check.
”We are trying to build up a model, so that we can predict as to how we can predict forest fires depending on various seasons and the fuel load content and what will be the extent of fire and gaseous emission,” said Dr Prafulla Soni, Head Deptartment of Ecology and Forestry, FRI.
”So the modeling part will carried out by the Space Research Organization while we will be collecting and analyzing the data,” he added.
This unique tie up between the Forest Research Institute and the Indian Space Research Organization will not only go a long way in protecting Uttarakhand’s precious forest cover, but if a success, this model will then be followed in other States as well.
News Source: http://www.ndtv.com