LUSH V.2

Wildfires are uncontrolled, rapidly spreading, and raging huge flames enhanced with wind action and firebrands that can wipe out an extensive forest or vegetation land area within minutes. Wildfires are among forces of nature that cause huge devastation to humans and environment. According to the world Fire service, more than 700 wildfires occur every year, burning down approximately 7 million acres of land and destroying more than 26,000 structures. Central and local organizations work together to control ten thousands of fires each year. The whole world spends over 5 billion dollars to fight against fires each year. That money is channeled to funding a brigade of firefighting forces including deployment of airplanes that drop water to cool the fires, drop phosphate fertilizer to slow down its spread and trucks to cut off the spread of fire. Wildfires are also referred to as bushfires, forest fires, woodland fires, grass fires, vegetation fires, and peat fires depending on the kind of vegetation being burnt. Those are unwanted, unpredictable and unplanned fires that occur in wild lands. Wildfires are so extreme that they can burn at a temperature more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature is twice as hot as the surface of Venus. The flames of wildfires have the capability to reach 50 meters high. Wildfires can grow big that they change the weather patterns of a given area. They also spread fast on the ground, moving twice as fast an average human can run. With that said, it’s quite difficult to stop something like that. And within past four months several wildfires are noticed in Sri Lanka especially in Uva and Central province. Ex: Knuckles mountain range, Wangedigala Mountain and Narangala Mountain and Bibila madagama area. The department of Forest Conservation states that approximately 4,000 acres of land has been destroyed within past few years, owing to fires. Forest Conversation Department Director, Anura Sathurusingha stated that the highest numbers of fires were reported from the Badulla District, Sri Lanka. Then to combat this issue in a sustainable way the project LUSH has evolved as a signature project of Rotaract club of Badulla since its inception in 2018 as “LUSH Phase 1" that touched the Bambaragala Mountain.

With the decreasing forest cover in the world the nations are contributing in various ways to restore the greenery on earth. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. Basically trees are like the life source on earth. Therefore it is our own responsibility to save the green on earth and restore the existing green lives. As the increasing pollution destroys the world day by day, the young hands of Rotaract club of Badulla have joined hands together to protect the future of our own. “LUSH phase 2” is a project of reforestation to re-energize an existing forest cover, bringing it back to life.

Project objectives were to reforest the wild fire affected area, to improve the soil condition and reduce soil erosion in wild fire affected area, to increase the awareness among the villagers about the wild fires and encourage them to continue and maintain the project as the sustainable initiative.

 

As planning the project, our first step was the species selection and matching the species to the site. For that we considered about the soil type, amount of precipitation, slope aspects, and frost pockets. And specially checked the survival rate of selected species in wild fire affected area. For that we used previous reports of LUSH V.1. To increase the value of the plantation mix of indigenous plants along with the some fruits and medicinal plants were selected. We used special plant species like “Sudu Handun”, “Kaluwara”, “Nadun” and “Burutha”. Hadabima authority of Sri Lanka provided the high quality plants for a reasonable price. Then in order to select an affected area, we got the help of Bibila divisional secretariat. According to that, we contact, the Mattagala mountain which is located in Bibila madagama area was selected. And permission was got from the required institutes and authorities for reforestation process. The Rotaractors joined together at Uva wellassa University of Sri Lanka and travelled into Bibila madagama area and then hiked the way up to the Mattagala hills carrying the plants to be planted on the top of Mattagala. First the site preparation was done to ready the soil to receive the plants, reduce fire hazard, and/or control pest and diseases. All the new plants were given a place on the mountain top. The project was not an individual effort but a team work of Rotaract club of Badulla, officials from the Divisional Secretariat Office and the villagers of the area. Rtr. Charutha dayarathne, Rtr.Lasitha Harshana, Rtr. Indunil senarathne and Rtr. Mindada amila were the team members. All the parties worked hard to restore the greenery on Mattagala destroyed by the recent forest fires in the area.

 

From this project we were hoped to restore forest cover, to help the landscape recover from wildfire and to prevent soil erosion and protect water quality in downstream rivers and lakes and to create awareness about wildfires and reforestation among the villagers.

We were able to create a lasting impact by creating awareness about the replanting of trees in wild fire affected areas and to highlight the importance of indigenous varieties of trees. This project was helped to build up a green revolution in Uva province to increase the interest of planting trees. Especially the reforestation process helps to restore the energy of the forests and ensures that forests can provide important wildlife habitat, sequester carbon dioxide and offer beautiful recreational opportunities for visitors. And this process positively effect on reduces biodiversity loss, reducing carbon dioxide in the air and most importantly helps to reduce the global warming.

Both LUSH phase 1 and 2 were focused on reforestation of wild fire affected areas. We are planning to expand this into other areas in Uva province as well.