Nandur bird sanctuary fire an eye-opener for villagers, forest officials

A fire that broke out at the Nandur Madhmeshwar Bird Sanctuary in Nashik district has brought to fore the need for better awareness among villagers and seriousness on part of the forest department.

A fire broke out on Sunday afternoon at the Nandur Madhmeshwar Bird Sanctuary, in Niphad tehsil, 40 kms from Nashik.

The source of the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon is said to be a fire lit by a farmer near the sanctuary in Niphad tehsil, which is 40 km from Nashik, to clear his own field.

Though not intentional, as forest officials have said, the fire blew with the wind and the tall blades of typha grass were engulfed in the blaze in no time.

It was around 2pm on Sunday when the guides of the sanctuary and the villagers saw fumes and in no time the blaze that rose from the bird habitat. The guides, who are local villagers, did made attempts to douse the flames along with the forest officials. While the flames were controlled in about 5 hours, it took more than a day to put to rest the habitat that kept on fuming.

"We rushed into the habitat with all that we could gather. Many of us actually went inside the fire area to stop it from spreading further. One or two persons were also injured but our concern was to protect the habitat," stated Gangadhar Aghav, a guide.

Amol Darade, another guide, said, "The forest officials were informed and they rushed to the site. All made attempts to prevent the fire from spreading."

Nandur Madhmeshwar is a habitat for wetland birds, many of them migratory. However, as the migration season is over, most of them have left in February.

While the fire has engulfed about 8 hectares of the habitat, the birds are safe. "Also, this is not a nesting season. It will begin from June- July and till that time, with the rains, the grass will grow again," stated KM Ahire, range forest officer.

The long bladed typha grass, the small threaded ground hugging grazing grass and the white balled beshram grass bore the burnt of the fire. "In fact, it is good that the beshram grass was gone as it causes problems for the birds and their habitat. The ground grass will grow with the rains," stated Darade.

On Tuesday, after the fuming fire was completely extinguished, villagers and the forest officials held a meeting. "We have increased the number of watchmen around the sanctuary. We have also decided to create more awareness around the adjoining villages so that such instances do not occur again," stated Ahire.

While it is hoped that the grass will grow again and birds will nest, some opine that the fire is likely to impact this season's nesting.

Guide Aghav opines that measures like increasing protection, maintaining the habitat, filing cases against the defaulters as deterrent, must be done.