Impressed by the claim of Red Adair, a US based organisation, universally known for providing training in fire- fighting, in the early nineties, the then Uttar Pradesh government had sent some sixteen Indian Forest Service officers to undergo such training there. These officers, who were sent there at a considerable cost, were never tested on the ground and the summer fires continued, especially in the forests of what is now Uttarakhand as ever before. Why their services were not utilised, no one knows to this day.

One wonders what kind of training these officers must have gone through, given that wild fires continue to engulf prime forests in the US in an uncontrollable way and Red Adair and its trained manpower is totally helpless in dousing the ongoing fires. Never mind, this organisation has not diluted its claim that it provides a high- grade training on fire- fighting. Well, the question still remains: if such a state- of- the- art training has not been able to help douse fires in the US itself, how could have it help in controlling fires in Uttarakhand forests?

Anyway, the purpose behind mentioning this particular episode is to highlight what kind of concern the then UP administration had for saving the prime forests in the region which is now Uttarakhand. Hopes were raised soon after the formation of the state in the year 2000 that serious efforts would be made to save state’s rich bio diversity. There again nothing moved, no serious efforts were made in that direction. Thus, apart from wild fires, unabated poaching and felling of trees continue. Some incidents get reported, while some others go unnoticed.

Despite the existence of Wild Life Conservation Act 1972 and seven sequential amendment Acts, wild life conservation and forest protection have always posed a serious challenge to the forest ground staff. Ill- equipped forest guards and deputy rangers are not able to cope up with the number of problems encountered by them on a routine basis. They have no police powers, nor are they well-armed. A forest guard cannot control a vast tract of forest with one staff. This is a serious matter needing immediate attention.

As per a research finding by the Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun, owing to scores of man made factors, some ten key species of alpine trees have gone into extinction. Available reports say that even some faunal species are fighting for survival. These include the Himalayan brown bear, blue sheep, flying squirrel, musk deer, cheer pheasant, Burmese python and some reptile varieties which are fighting for survival. This has been officially acknowledged by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

No doubt, the continuous loss to the bounty of nature in this nascent state is caused basically by wild fires since time immemorial. People tend to express a great deal of surprise over the incalculable damage caused by such recurring fires. As per the available records, some of the very devastating, serious forest fire incidents occurred in 1911, 1921, 1930, 1931, 1939, 1945, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1995. Today one can hardly imagine the estimated loss to the forest wealth of the region both in terms of loss of floral and faunal species. According to foresters, some of these fires are man- made and some accidental. They say that sometimes sudden outbreak of fire takes place at the sensitive forest floor, mostly comprising of heaps of pine needles, due to intense heat of the day. An effective solution to check forest fires and conserve plants and wild life is being sought by one and all. Some years ago, at one time former Union environment minister Saifuddin Soz, while on a visit to FRI in Dehradun, had agreed that there was a need for creation of a separate forest protection force on the lines of Railway Protection Force. But nothing was heard on this subject ever after. There is a view that till such a force comes into existence, state’s low level forest staff should be strengthened. Comparatively, fewer number of forest guards and deputy rangers alone cannot control either the forest intruders or raging wild fires. Some point out that while the number of lower staff in the state’s forest department is insufficient to meet the exigencies, the strength of senior officers is much more.

By the way, the National Green Tribunal could do well to oversee ever- expanding urbanisation drive at the cost of green cover. Continued construction activity in the state during the past few decades has led to felling of enormous number of trees. Over the years, Uttarakhand has witnessed mushrooming of scores of educational institutions, government buildings, hospitals, business centres, private apartments and villas and so on and so forth. In fact, participants in the Commonwealth forestry conference held in Dehradun last year had singularly stressed upon the need to minimise the tree- felling activities and finding ways and means to check wild fires.

(The writer is a veteran journalist based in Dehradun)

Protection of forests: A great challenge