Introduction
Location Map
Base Map
Database Schema
Conventions
GIS Analyses
Flowchart
GIS Concepts
Results
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Introduction

Bale Mountains National Park is located in southeastern Ethiopia, situated atop of a volcanic plateau.  The park is unique to Ethiopia and Africa because it is the location of the largest Afroalpine area in Africa (Wesche, 2003) and is a major center of faunal and floral endemicity (Hillman, 1988), including the endangered Ethiopian Wolf (Sillero et al., 1995).  The altitude of the park ranges from 2500 to over 4000 meters.  Historically, the area was only used by transient pastoralist for livestock grazing and hunting because the grasslands and soil have low productivity due to the extreme conditions of the high altitude (Hillman, 1988). In recent years, population pressure has forced more people to settle into the Bale Mountains region looking for farmland and grazing pastures (Hillman, 1988).

As the population has encroached on this remote and sensitive area, poachers and pastoralist have learned that burning the vegetation improves hunting conditions (Wesche, 2003) and grazing for cattle (Johansson et al., 2009).  The two primary species of the Afroalpine shrub community are Erica arborea and Erica trimera.  Above 3200 meters, both species are kept in a shrubby state by recurrent fires and have low protein values (10%) that are temporarily increased in younger shoots emerging after burning (Johansson et al., 2009).

The fire return interval in the Afroalpine shrub community is 6-10 years (Johansson et al., 2009) and it is widely assumed that the vast majority of fires are human-caused (Wesche et al., 2000). Some alfroalpine experts believe pastoral burning is of ecological concern (Wesche et al., 2000) and others state they would never advocate "zero-burning" managment (Fetene et al., 2006). Those who blame pastoralists for ecological damage site frequent fire and intense grazing pressure as the cause of community conversion from shrub to forb and the increase of invasive plant species. Those who do not blame pastoralists, do however advocate for moderation in burning frequency and intensity to avoid ecological damage.

Our analyses are based on this later premise, that human-caused burning is now a part of the ecological disturbance process of the alfroalpine shrub community. However, with increased population and grazing pressures, it is judicious to identify those areas of greatest concern for negative consequences as a result of fire.