Fire destroys 99 hectares of forest in Myagdi

Myagdi, April 13: About 100 hectares of forest has been damaged in the district due to fire this year.

The Division Forest Office, Myagdi said 99 hectares of 28 community forests in the district have been damaged by forest fire.     

Forest officer at the Office, Binay Bahadur Adhikari said fire has been raging in nine community forests in Dhawalagiri rural municipality, the largest number of forest fire incidents in the district.     

According to him, four community forests of Malika rural municipality, two of Mangala rural municipality, four of Raghuganga rural municipality, six of Annapurna rural municipality and three of Beni municipality have caught fire.     

"Compared to the previous years, there has been less number of forest fire incidents this year. The rain on Friday and Saturday has helped in extinguishing the forest fires," Adhikari said.     

According to him, forest fires are caused due to the carelessness of pastoralists who light fires in the forest in the belief that more grass will grow if the existing dry grass is burnt. He said another cause of forest fire is the fire lit by poachers to chase away wild animals.     

Forest covers 229,706 hectares of land in the district.(RSS)