Surreal Waterfall Scenic Picture Virgin Falls Vancouver Island After a strenuous drive and a short hike on a trail through a forest on Vancouver Island which spills you out onto the driftwood strewn pebble banks of a river, views of a surreal and scenic waterfall - the Virgin Falls, appear before your eyes.

Secrets of the Forest (Second Picture, Detail)" by Esther S. Brendel

A christmas gift.
Again that nice mixed media effect. In fact it's this picture, where I first tried it out. Then, because I liked it so much, I drew the other one again, with the same technique.
Hehe, guess what bird species is behind those songgryphons! :)

FOREST FIRE

 FOREST FIRE

Each year millions of tons forest all around the world are destroyed. The resulting amount of forest loss and degradation is roughly of the same order as that caused by destructive logging and conversion to agriculture. Many animal and plant species are disappearing, the main cause being deforestation and fires, both a result of human activity. A drastic reduction in forests has significant effects on the delicate global ecosystem.

During the last twenty years forest fires have increased in the many countries, taking a heavy toll in lives and property. Southeast Asia is suffering its worst drought in five decades and as a result, hundreds of forest fires - many deliberately started as method of clearing land, are burning out of control. In Italy thousands of hectares of woods are burned. This country is very vulnerable to fire because of the Mediterranean scrub and poor summer rainfall. The burned scrub needs 10-25 years to re-grow.

The Effect of Forest Fires

The immediate impacts of fires can be devastating to human communities and forest ecosystems. In the longer term, they can adversely affect the supply of environmental services necessary for the well-being of local communities, threaten the survival of endangered species, simplify the structure and composition of biologically important forest, and provide conditions suitable for entry of invasive species. However it is also important to understand that the role of fire varies between different types of forest. For example, in tropical dry forest, boreal forests and some types of conifer forests, a certain amount of fire is an essential factor for the maintenance of the forests and their associated plants and animals. Conversely, in tropical moist forest, fire is usually always detrimental. The impact of fires on the forest depends on the scale (the area burnt), frequency, distribution (or patchiness), intensity and seasonality (the season in which fires occur) of the fires. These elements combine to produce what is known as a fire regime. A change in any one of these elements, or the balance between them, will impact on a forest's structure and species composition and its capacity to maintain its full complement of biodiversity and ecological services. For example, increasing the frequency of fires often favours plant species which can quickly regenerate at the expense of slower growing species, thus gradually changing the species composition of the forest and in-turn affecting the animal species which rely on certain plants for food or shelter. In areas that are very regularly burnt, some plant species may never reach sufficient age to produce seed, and will thus eventually become locally extinct. Conversely, decreasing the frequency of fires can result in loss of species that rely on fire to regenerate. Decreasing the frequency of fires also often results in the build-up of more fuel in the forest and thus eventually results in more severe fires, which are more difficult to control and can have serious negative impacts on fire sensitive plant and animal species as well as being a threat to human life and property.

Direct Causes of Forest Fires

All forest fires have a direct cause (an ignition source) – either natural (e.g. lightning) or human. Although the proportion of natural fires compared to human-caused fires varies widely between regions and types of forest, overall the vast majority of forest fires can be attributed to the deliberate or accidental actions of people. People light forest fires for many reasons. Some fires are started for practical and beneficial reasons, some are accidental, others are deliberately lit to cause damage. All of these fires have the potential to be harmful to the forest ecosystem or human communities, depending on both the condition of the forest at the time and how they are managed once they are burning. Just how harmful a forest fire can be is strongly influenced by the amount and condition of fuel available for the fire (leaf litter, bark, leaves and branches).

In most cases forest management practices help shape these factors. Humans are often directly responsible for causing forest fires and influencing their destructive potential by changing the forest conditions, altering the natural fire regime, providing the ignition source of the fire itself and, finally through the management of the fire once it is burning.

Underlying Causes of Forest Fires

In many cases, harmful forest fires are a symptom of the same underlying causes that drive forest loss and degradation, such as perverse economic incentives, ill-defined or inequitable land tenure, failure to enforce laws and regulations, failure to recognize and respect customary law, lack of economic opportunities for rural dwellers living in and around protected areas, and weak or under-resourced government institutions. These factors play a major role in determining how forests are exploited and managed, thus influencing both the likelihood of harmful wildfires to occur and their ultimate destructive potential.

1. INTRODUCTION :

            1.1 It has the total geographical area of 10,434 sq. K.M.s. Which accounts for 13.3% of the total geographical area of the State. It mostly consists of undulating and hilly terrain with numerous rivers and streams.

        1.2 The district can be broadly divided into two physiographic units viz. hills and plains. About 85 percent of the district is covered by the hills. The highest peak in the district rises to a height of 1360 meters. The area located between the northern and southern hills in Diphu sub-division is characterised by undulating plains of subdued relief. The plain areas consist of valleys of the Jamuna, Kapili and Dhansiri rivers lying in its eastern part. Besides these three major rivers of the district, other minor streams include Kaliani, Barapani, Patradisa and Dikharu. The landscape ecological studies of forests of Karbi Anglong indicate a high amount of landscape heterogeneity promoting greater bio-diversity. These forest areas are natural museums of living giant trees, a treasure house of rare, endemic and endangered species, a dispensary of medicinal plants , a garden for Botanists, a gene bank for economically important organisms, a paradise for nature lovers and a laboratory for environmentalists.

        1.3  According to 1991 Census, the population of Karbi Anglong District is 6,63,000 and is dominated by Karbi Tribe. Besides Karbis, Lalungs (Tiwas), Dimasa Kacharis, Rengma Nagas, Kuki, Garos, Khasis and Shyams occupy various pockets of the District and maintain their own ethenic identity.

		SACRED GROVES , RONGHANG RONGBONG, HAMREN

Talladega National Forest - High Waterfall

Splendid scenic waterfalls are dispersed throughout the Talladega National Forest. A short hike on the Odum Trail, located near the Cheaha State Park, will bring any recreationist to this picturesque locale, simply named, High Waterfall. This glorious experience will be imprinted in the mind of any outdoorsman finding solace due to the conservation and protection of our natural resources.

The forests of Pakistan reflect great physiographic, climatic and edaphic contrasts in the country. Pakistan is an oblong stretch of land between the Arabian sea and Karakoram mountains, lying diagonally between 24° N and 37° N latitudes and 61° E and 75° E longitudes, and covering an area of 87.98 million hectares. Topographically, the country has a continuous massive mountainous tract in the north, the west and south-west and a large fertile plain, the Indus plain. The northern mountain system, comprising the Karakoram, the great Himalayas, and the Hindu-Kush, has enormous mass of snow and glaciers and 100 peaks of over 5,400 m. in elevation. K-2 (8,563 m.) is the second highest peak in the world. The mountain system occupies one third of this part of the country. The western mountain ranges, not so high as in the north, comprise the Sufed Koh and the Sulaiman while the south-western ranges forming a high, dry and cold Balochistan plateau. Characteristically, the mountain slopes are steep, even precipitous, making fragile watershed areas and associated forest vegetation extremely important from hydrological point of view. The valleys are narrow. The mountains are continuously undergoing natural process of erosion. The nature of climate with high intensity rainfall in summer and of soil in the northern regions render these mountains prone to landslides.
The Indus plain consists of two features; the alluvial plain and sand-dunal deserts. The country is drained by five rivers; namely, Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. Of these Indus arising in snow covered northern mountain ranges flows towards south through the Punjab and Sindh plains into a wide delta before entering Arabian sea. Other rivers join it on the way, together feeding one of the largest irrigation systems in the world. The great river system of Indus in Pakistan derives a part of their water supply from sources which lie in the highlands beyond the Himalayas and the western mountains, and part from countless valleys which lie hidden within the mountain folds. Much of the silt of the alluvial plain is from natural geological erosion of mountains in the north brought down by rivers. Thal desert lies between the rivers Indus and Jhelum, while Cholistan and Thar deserts occur on the south-east of the country.
A great variety of parent rock types occur in Pakistan, which exert considerable influence on the properties of the soil. The rocks found in Pakistan can be classified into three major groups, viz. the igneous rocks, the sedimentary rocks and the metamorphic rocks. In the Himalayan regions, the common rock types are metamorphic which are gneisses, schists, slates and phyllites with some quartzite and marble. In the northern part of Indus plain, between Sargodha and Shahkot small outcrops of phyllites and quartzites occur. Granite, syenite, diorite, gabbro, dolerite and peridotite are more common types of igneous rocks, which occur in Dir, Swat, Chitral, Gilgit, Zhob, Chagai, Las Bela and Nagarpark.
Forest area of Pakistan reported in different official documents has varied over the years with administrative and political changes in country as well as with changes in methods of reporting data. Different government departments have been publishing different forest statistics since 1947 when Pakistan was created as an independent country. Most recently, data of land use including forest area have been reported by Forestry Sector Master Plan (FSMP) Project in 1993, with the help of Landsat Satellite Thematic Mapper Images at a scale of 1:250,000 covering the whole of Pakistan.
The total area of forests in Pakistan is 4.224 million ha which is 4.8% of the total land area. However, it may be mentioned here that the farmland trees and linear planting along roadsides, canalsides and railway sides covering an estimated area of 466,000 ha and 16,000 ha respectively do not constitute forests within the context of legal, ecological or silvicultural/management definition of forests. The situation is also similar, but to a lesser extent, in the case of miscellaneous plantations over an area of 155,000 ha. If the area of these three categories of plantations is excluded from total forest area of 4.224 million ha, then the latter is reduced to 3.587 million ha which is approximately 4.1 % of the total area.

Of the four forest cover percentage groups (> 70%, 40-69%, 10-39%, 0-9%), Pakistan lies in the last category: 0-9%. Between 1981 and 1990, there had been a 4.3% decrease in forest areas of the Tropical Asia and Oceania, which Pakistan is a part of. During the same period, a 0.6% deforestation had been occurring each year. This is an alarming situation and needs to be stalled and then reversed, if possible.

As recognition of the multiple values of forests has grown, so have concerns for their disappearance. In Pakistan, subtropical, temperate, riverain and mangrove forests are being lost because of questionable land use practices and the ever-increasing demand for timber and firewood. As a result, more responsible management approaches are being demanded that can accommodate complex economic and ecological needs. Designation of selected forestlands as national parks, area for agro-forestry practices and the development of plantations and afforestation practices are needs of the hour.

Total Forest Area under the control of the Forest Departments (including Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas) is 4.26 million hectares. The per capita forest area is only 0.037 ha compared to the world average of ONE ha. Main reason for this is that more than 70% land area of Pakistan is Arid and semi-Arid with annual rainfall of 250-500 mm: too low and erratic to sustain natural vegetation and to plan afforestation/regeneration programmes.

Forest Areas and Rangelands (in ha.)

Forest Type	NWFP	Punjab	Sindh	Balochistan	Northern Areas	Azad Kashmir	Total
Coniferous	1105	29	-	131	285	361	1911
Irr. Plantations	-	142	82	-	2	-	226
Riverain Forests	-	51	241	5	-	-	297
Scrub Forests	115	340	10	163	658	1	1287
Coastal Forests	-	-	345	-	-	-	345
Mazri Lands	24	-	-	-	-	-	24
Linear Pltns.	2	4	-	-	-	-	6
Private Pltns.	159	-	-	-	-	-	159
Range Lands	150	2683	490	787	2104	195	6409
TOTAL:	1555	3249	1168	1086	3049	557	10664

The following forest types are found in Pakistan:

• Littoral and Swamp forests
• Tropical dry deciduous forests
• Tropical thorn forests
• Sub-tropical broad-leaved evergreen forests
• Sub-tropical pine forests
• Himalayan moist temperate forests
• Himalayan dry temperate forests
• Sub-alpine forests
• Alpine scrub

Forest loss and management

 

 





The scientific study of forest species and their interaction with the environment is referred to as forest ecology, while the management of forests is often referred to as forestry. Forest management has changed considerably over the last few centuries, with rapid changes from the 1980s onwards culminating in a practice now referred to as sustainable forest management. Forest ecologists concentrate on forest patterns and processes, usually with the aim of elucidating cause and effect relationships. Foresters who practice sustainable forest management focus on the integration of ecological, social and economic values, often in consultation with local communities and other stakeholders.

Anthropogenic factors that can affect forests include logging, urban sprawl, human-caused forest fires, acid rain, invasive species, and the slash and burn practices of swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation. The loss and re-growth of forest leads to a distinction between two broad types of forest, primary or old-growth forest and secondary forest. There are also many natural factors that can cause changes in forests over time including forest fires, insects, diseases, weather, competition between species, etc. In 1997, the World Resources Institute recorded that only 20% of the world's original forests remained in large intact tracts of undisturbed forest.^[8] More than 75% of these intact forests lie in three countries - the Boreal forests of Russia and Canada and the rainforest of Brazil. In 2006 this information on intact forests was updated using latest available satellite imagery.
Canada has about 4,020,000 square kilometres (1,550,000 sq mi) of forest land. More than 90% of forest land is publicly owned and about 50% of the total forest area is allocated for harvesting. These allocated areas are managed using the principles of sustainable forest management, which includes extensive consultation with local stakeholders. About eight percent of Canada’s forest is legally protected from resource development (Global Forest Watch Canada)(Natural Resources Canada). Much more forest land — about 40 percent of the total forest land base — is subject to varying degrees of protection through processes such as integrated land use planning or defined management areas such as certified forests (Natural Resources Canada).

'Loss of old growth forest in the United States; 1620, 1850, and 1920 maps:
These maps represent only virgin forest lost. Some regrowth has occurred but not to the age, size or extent of 1620 due to population increases and food cultivation. From William B. Greeley's, The Relation of Geography to Timber Supply, Economic Geography, 1925, vol. 1, p. 1-11. Source of "Today" map: compiled by George Draffan from roadless area map in The Big Outside: A Descriptive Inventory of the Big Wilderness Areas of the United States, by Dave Foreman and Howie Wolke (Harmony Books, 1992).

By December 2006, over 1,237,000 square kilometers of forest land in Canada (about half the global total) had been certified as being sustainably managed (Canadian Sustainable Forestry Certification Coalition). Clearcutting, first used in the latter half of the 20th century, is less expensive, but devastating to the environment and companies are required by law to ensure that harvested areas are adequately regenerated. Most Canadian provinces have regulations limiting the size of clearcuts, although some older clearcuts can range upwards of 110 square kilometres (27,000 acres) in size which were cut over several years. China instituted a ban on logging, beginning in 1998, due to the destruction caused by clearcutting. Selective cutting avoids the erosion, and flooding, that result from clearcutting.^[9]
In the United States, most forests have historically been affected by humans to some degree, though in recent years improved forestry practices has helped regulate or moderate large scale or severe impacts. However, the United States Forest Service estimates a net loss of about 2 million hectares (4,942,000 acres) between 1997 and 2020; this estimate includes conversion of forest land to other uses, including urban and suburban development, as well as afforestation and natural reversion of abandoned crop and pasture land to forest. However, in many areas of the United States, the area of forest is stable or increasing, particularly in many northern states. The opposite problem from flooding has plagued national forests, with loggers complaining that a lack of thinning and proper forest management has resulted in large forest fires.^[10]
Old-growth forest contains mainly natural patterns of biodiversity in established seral patterns, and they contain mainly species native to the region and habitat. The natural formations and processes have not been affected by humans with a frequency or intensity to change the natural structure and components of the habitat. Secondary forest contains significant elements of species which were originally from other regions or habitats.
Smaller areas of woodland in cities may be managed as Urban forestry, sometimes within public parks. These are often created for human benefits; Attention Restoration Theory argues that spending time in nature reduces stress and improves health, while forest schools and kindergartens help young people to develop social as well as scientific skills in forests. These typically need to be close to where the children live, for practical logistics.