- First training course results in 8 Armonia staff members and 1 regional government technician trained in creation of backburn firebreaks and general fire management techniques
- Increased communication with satellite internet service at both headquarters of the Reserve plays an important role in effective fire response
- Newly acquired fire-fighting equipment tested and proven
Around 85% of the 11,000 hectare Barba Azul Nature Reserve comprises natural tall grass savannas. It might sound strange, but this is an ecosystem that is dependent on fire. The additional 15% of Barba Azul are forest habitats, not compatible with fire and must therefore be protected from being burned. These forests are key foraging sites for Blue-throated Macaw and therefore have tremendous conservation values. In Barba Azul we aim to control wildfires that originate in neighboring ranches where fodder is created for livestock through the annual burning of their grasslands while also studying the ecological role of fire in this fire-dependent grassland ecosystem. We aim to create different age classes of savanna in order to increase the total biodiversity where species like Maned Wolf, Pampas Cat, Giant Anteater and threatened grassland bird species like Cock-tailed Tyrant and Black-masked Finch will highly benefit from proper fire management.
Important grassland ecosystem-dependent species benefiting from proper fire management. Maned Wolf (Photo by Fabian Meijer) and Cock-tailed Tyrant (Photo by Lennart Verheuvel).
2021 has brought exciting advances in fire management to the Reserve that give us great hope for the future of the Blue-throated Macaw and for all species that find a haven within Barba Azul’s territory. This year marks a major turning point that will allow Armonia to move forward from simply reacting when fire poses a threat to organizing, communicating, and acting in a strategic, coordinated effort to assure that fire does not put at risk all we have worked diligently to protect.
Fire management is a complicated struggle throughout the lowlands of Bolivia. Barba Azul has presented unique factors such as limited communication, difficult access where a river prevents easy crossing with fire fighting material , and complex climatic conditions that have made an organized response to fire season seem impossible. Thanks to the accumulation of experience from the last few years, the assistance of experts, and important improvements in technology and machinery, these difficult conditions are being met with creative solutions that will make fire management at Barba Azul safer and more effective in the years to come.
Fire Management Training
In early July, Barba Azul hosted fire experts Carlos Pinto and Pedro Pablo Rivera from Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN). A total of 9 people participated in this workshop, including all Barba Azul and Barba Azul East staff, one ranger from Armonia’s Laney Rickman Reserve, and one representative of the departmental government. The experts shared their experiences, the use of basic techniques for combatting wildfire, and prescribed burns.
Four days of intense fieldwork followed, making up the practical component of this training and resulting in the first 700-meter long (20 meter wide) parallel backburn firebreak, the type of firebreak most appropriate for protecting the open grasslands in Barba Azul.
Workshop led by Fire Experts from Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN) in Barba Azul Nature Reserve. Photo by Luz Natalia Mercado.
Impenetrable firebreaks
A parallel backburn firebreak is the combination of a plowed firebreak with a 20 meter burned area north of the prevailing winds resulting in a low fuel area. When fire hits the low fuel area, it will go down in intensity and then die out when it hits the bare soil firebreak. Once a full set of parallel backburn firebreaks is created, Barba Azul will have a sort of grid system of savanna plots. These plots can now be burned over a period of multiple years, mimicking natural fires, creating a mosaic of different grassland age classes that increase overall grassland biodiversity in addition to providing reliable fire protection. This system should allow us to effectively manage the areas dependent on fire and improve habitat at the same time.
The parallel backburn firebreaks in the open grasslands will complement natural firebreaks like rivers that we already rely on to protect areas of Barba Azul that aren’t fire dependent, like Isla Barba Azul and the other forest islands. In the future we hope to create a system of raised firebreaks in areas that stay moist to protect the forest islands without exposing them to fire.
Communication
In a communications advance that leapt straight from radio-contact-only to satellite internet at both operational bases of Barba Azul, fire response has emerged as the clear winner in terms of improved communication. Not only can Barba Azul and Barba Azul East staff maintain constant contact for coordinating response to fire outbreaks, they can also consult with Armonia staff offsite for extensive weather information, consultation with experts on specific conditions, and any additional information required.
Key fire fighting equipment
Each new piece of machinery acquired for Barba Azul helps in a multitude of conservation tasks and progress has been steady in this area over the past few years. The fire training workshop made clear just how useful the latest investments will turn out to be. The full complement of firefighting safety gear and equipment provided by World Land Trust in 2020 was tested and proven, along with the Barba Azul tractor now pulling a 1000-liter water tank used to refill backpacks.
Barba Azul tractor pulling 1000-L water tank. Photo by Tjalle Boorsma.
Armonia’s fire management team. Photo by Luz Mercado.
The road to complete fire protection for Barba Azul Nature Reserve is a long and arduous one. The advances we have seen so far in 2021 are amazing, mapping out a clear path ahead. What remains is to continue along that path, putting in the hard work of creating, improving, and maintaining firebreaks and remaining alert, organized, and dedicated as a team to achieve Barba Azul’s conservation goals. With Armonia’s increasing knowledge on combating grassland fires, managing the savanna ecosystem with the use of fire for biodiversity and implementing other conservation activities, we aim to become an education and research center for ecologically-friendly fire management in the Llanos de Moxos of Bolivia.
