Fire Fighting
Skip the list below and go directly to the project information
Seasonal, human-induced fires are a major threat to the survival of the remaining 35 Amur leopards. Local people burn the vegetation on the forest floor in order to stimulate the growth of ferns, which form a popular food ingredient in both Russia and China. The fires kill young trees, thus preventing regeneration, and eventually mature trees also die after suffering from repeated fires. As a result the forest habitat on which the Amur leopards depend is slowly destroyed. Open grasslands (which now already cover 30% of former forest areas) form the final stage of habitat degradation by fires. Research by ALTA partner WCS and the Tigris Foundation has proven that both leopards and tigers do not occur in the open grasslands. They prefer primary mixed forests to fire degraded forests with open patches.
We will repair the bulldozer of the small Amur leopard reserve Kedrovaya Pad and use it to renew the firebreaks around the reserve. The firebreaks with total length of 41 kilometres have not been maintained for at least 15 years and as a result they are now covered with bushes and trees. We will purchase a tractor and plough to maintain the firebreaks after the vegetation has been cleared with the bulldozer. In addition, we will provide fire-fighting equipment to the reserve. We expect this project will reduce the damage by fires with 85%. The fire reduction results will be monitored with use of satellite imagery. We have successfully tested this method and developed a spatial database with 11 years of historic fire data for our monitoring project.
Tigris
RUSSIA - In the Southeastern tip of Russia, not far from Vladivostok, the last 400 Amur tigers and 40 Amur leopards roam the forests. Tigris Foundation, a Dutch organization founded in 1996, is dedicated to the survival of these endangered ...
Featured projects