Copious summer rain cheers up wildlife managers in Wayanad

Showers stave off wildfire threat, help replenish waterbodies in district’s forests

The summer showers in various parts of Wayanad in the last few days have brought succour to the flora and fauna in the district’s forests, a major haven for the wildlife in Mudumalai and Bandipur tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka States respectively during the summer, and have staved off wildfire threat for the time being.

Though no major wildfire has been reported from the sanctuary this year, close to 3.5 hectares of forest land was ravaged in forest fire in three incidents last month. Close to 13 hectares of grassland was ravaged in the forest at the tri-junction of the South and North Wayanad forest divisions and Kozhikode territorial forest division on the Banasura mountain ranges.

The region has now received moderate to heavy rain, uniform and widespread across the three forest divisions. The Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary received an average rainfall of 8.5 mm to 32 mm in March.

“The threat of a fresh outbreak of forest fire has considerably abated after the summer rain recently,” Warden S. Narendra Babu told The Hindu. “The resultant moisture will stave off any fire for at least a few weeks, by which time the pre-monsoon showers are expected, and monsoon in June,” he added.

The showers have also helped replenish many of the waterbodies in the forests. There are 311 waterbodies in the sanctuary, including 106 check dams and earthen dams. Most of the waterholes had recovered considerably and it would be a great relief for the animals, said Mr. Babu. In 2022, the sanctuary officials had constructed as many as 200 brushwood check dams to ensure water for the wildlife, including the wild guests migrating from adjacent sanctuaries, he added.

Moreover, many temporary check-dams were built across the rivulets in the sanctuary with the support of the public at the start of summer and it also helped the denizens of the jungle. However, the adjacent tiger reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were yet to receive good summer showers, he said.