Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences ______________________________ ____ ISSN 2320 - 6063 Vol. 1 ( 5 ), 1 - 4 , June (201 3 ) Res. J. Agriculture and Forestry Sci. International Science Congress Association 1 Fire Risk Zone Assessment in Chitrakoot Area, Satna MP, India Rajpoot Pushpendra Singh and Kumar Ajay Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidhyalaya, Chitrakoot, MP, INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in Received 25 th March 201 3 , revised 7 th May 201 3 , accepted 25 th May 2013Abstract Chitrakoot is pilgrimage place of India and situated on boarder of MP and UP. It is known for its natural environment and scenic beauty at present natural environment of this area is degrading due to conversion of forested land in to agricultural land. This is a tropical forest and characterized by mature dry deciduous species. Factors responsible for Forest fire is fue l type, elevation, slope and aspect. Fire risk zonation map gene rated shows, very high risk zone is scattered on high altitude of area, highly risk zone is scattered in forest, and moderate risk zone is found in small patches in forest and in entire agricultural land. Low risk zone is found in north and north east part of area.Keywords: Chitrakoot, f ire risk zone, w eight analysis and fuel type. Introduction Land and forest degradation process is one of the major environmental problems, which has lead to a variety of environmental disasters. The incidence of fire i f effected by land use pattern, anthropogenic activities and change in the weather condition. During summer due to high level of water stress, especially in tropical deciduous forest, fire is a natural. It is a main cause of forest degradation and decrease in the growth of grass and shrub. Leading to increased soil erosion and decrease in natural habitat of floral and faunal species 1 . For understanding the behavior of forest fires, the factors that contribute to making an environment fire prone and the fac tors that influence fire behavior is essential for forest fire risk zone mapping 2 . Majority of induced fires in the Indian forests are mainly caused people who are harvesting the timber, cattle grazing, and crossing the forest. Fires set on farmlands to cl ear agricultural residues, sometimes spread into the forests 3 . As such this paper deals with forest fire risk zone mapping of Chitrakoot to minimize the frequency of fire by taking appropriate fire prevention measures, avert damage etc. S tudy area (2346.7 8 sq km) falls on the boarder of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, in northern part of MP in Satna District and lies in between latitude 24°30'40"N to 25°11'6"N and longitude 80°28'40"E to 81°7'57"E. in the study area rocks exposed are mainly Sandstone, sh ale and Dolomitic limestone of Vindhyan group. Southern and eastern part of study area is hilly undulating topography with ravenous land all along the drainage streams. During summer forest fire is noted almost every year. In study area most of the fores t falls under protected and reserved forest. Floral species of this area is characterized by dry deciduous with Bamboo and Teak. Mandakini (Paisuni) is important river, flowing from south to north in the study area and has markedly periodic climate, charac terized by dry and increasingly hot season from March to June, a warm humid monsoon season from July to September and dry and cold weather from October to December. Maximum temperature of this area goes up to 47 0 C and minimum 3 0 C. Material and Methods To obtain fire risk zone mapping, fuel type, elevation, slope and aspect are used and LISS III imageries 3 . The 12 yr data between 2000 to 2012 was obtained from National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad for study of fire affected area. Besides the sate llite data topographic maps on 1:50,000 scale are used. Contours are prepared by toposheets for Digital Elevation Model. Slope and aspect map prepared from DEM of study area. Weight to each factor is assigning in decreasing order of its influence. Results and Discussion By the interpretation of satellite images of different years, forest fire is noted every year on the about to same region ( f ig ure 1) and influencing factors are as given. Forest / Fuel type : Forest type of the study area is categorized in 7 categories depending upon fire sensitivity 4 , 5 . Forest characterized by dry deciduous with bamboo and teak. Dry bamboo is very sensitive for fire 6 . Ravenous and scrub forest is scanty and dry with grass. Dry deciduous forest covers about to 781.7 sq km ar ea. Detail forest type is given in table - 1 and fig ure - 2. Elevation : Elevation influences vegetation structure, fuel moisture and air humidity. It is mentioned that humidity and temperature have higher influence on fire at upper altitude areas Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences ___ ______________________________ ______________ ISSN 2320 - 6063 Vol. 1 ( 5 ), 1 - 4 , June (201 3 ) Res. J. Agriculture and Forestry Sci. International Science Congress Association 2 than lower ones 7 . According to fire risk zone, study area is divided in to four categories and highly prone area is found in central, west and east of study area ( t able - 2, figure - 3). Figure - 1 Fire Spots in previous year Table - 1 Forest/Fuel type of study area with their distribution Forest/Fuel Types Area sq km Weight Distribution Area Dry Deciduous 781.69 4 Scattered in upper Half Part Dry Deciduous with Bamboo 176.71 4 Scattered in entire Forest Teak Dry Deciduous 0.42 3 Very small patches in North Mixed Deci duous 0.17 3 Very small patches in North Mixed Scrub 159.63 2 Big patches in East, North, West and South Riverine forest 0.48 2 Very small patches in East Agriculture 985.13 1 North and Lower Half Part Table - 2 Elevation classes of study area with thei r distribution Elevation Area sq km Weight Distribution Area 401 – 483 247.51 4 In Centre West to East Patch 301 - 400 1683.28 3 In North, North - West and South 201 – 300 256.11 2 In North - North - East, North - North - West and Southern 130 – 200 159.35 1 Nor th and North - west Part Fig ure - 2 Forest/Fuel type of study area Fig ure - 3 Elevation Map of study Area Slop : Slope is one of the parameters that influence fire behavior. Fire moves most quickly up slope and least quickly down slope 8 . Also, in steeper slopes, rate of fire spread might rise, since flames are angled closer to the surface of ground and wind effects can supply the process of heat convection for the fire produced 9 . Depending upon the fire risk mapping, highly risky area is found in central a nd northern part ( t able - 3, fig ure - 4). Aspect : South aspect slopes are higher temperatures, robust winds, minor humidity and lower fuel moistures because Southern aspects receive more direct heat from the sun 10 . In the earlier day East aspects get more ult raviolet and direct sunlight Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences ___ ______________________________ ______________ ISSN 2320 - 6063 Vol. 1 ( 5 ), 1 - 4 , June (201 3 ) Res. J. Agriculture and Forestry Sci. International Science Congress Association 3 than west aspect, as a consequence east aspect dries faster. To achieve the fire risk zone, highly prone area is found in central from west to east ( t able - 4, f ig ure - 5). Fig ure - 4 Slope Map of study area Table - 3 Slope classes of study area with their distribution Slope Area sq km Weight Distribution Area 10 – 17 58.54 4 Scattered in Upper Half 17 – 23 14.66 4 Very Small Patches in Upper Half 3 – 10 317.97 3 Small Patches in Upper Half 23 – 37 8.43 2 Very Small Patches in N orth 0 – 3 1946.65 1 Extreme North and Southern Fig ure - 5 Aspect Map of study area Table - 4 Aspect of study area Aspect Area sq km Weight South East 349.37 4 South 349.44 4 South West 302.62 3 West 257.85 3 North 251.17 2 North East 279.56 2 Eas t 318.39 2 North West 229.95 1 Flat 7.89 1 Fire Risk Model : Based on above studies of elevation, slope, aspect and forest/ fuel type, obtained from different sources are classified based on subjective weights. Each class has an own rate that shows the degree of fire sensitivity. All the thematic maps (layers) were then integrated using the weight analysis of GIS. Fire risk zonation map showing that Very highly prone area is found in to small patches and cover 65.24 sq km area. Highly prone area is scatt ered in to entire forest and cover 890.00 sq km area. Moderate prone area cover a small area in forest but mostly found in agricultural land and cover 1093.92 sq km area. Low fire prone area is found in North and North West part of study area. It covers a 47.3 sq km area ( t able - 5, fig ure - 6). Table - 5 Fire risk zones of study area with their distribution Fire Risk Area sq km % Area Distribution Area Very High 65.24 3.11 Very Small Patches in Central Region High 890.01 42.45 In Upper Half Part of area Moder ate 1093.93 52.18 Small Patches in Forest and Lower Half Part Low 47.31 2.26 Small Patches in North Fig ure - 6 Fire Risk Zone Map of study area Research Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences ___ ______________________________ ______________ ISSN 2320 - 6063 Vol. 1 ( 5 ), 1 - 4 , June (201 3 ) Res. J. Agriculture and Forestry Sci. International Science Congress Association 4 Conclusion Factors responsible for forest fire are elevation; slope, forest and aspect are mapped. Their spat ial analysis and area is calculated. Depending upon the risk factor, each factor is divided in to very high risk zone, high risk zone, moderate risk zone and low risk zone and weight - 4, 3, 2 and 1 is assigned. 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