Khasan district in the Southern Primorye is famous for its unique
animal and plant species. Nature reserves and protected territories
cover 37% of the district. Forest fires engulf up to 50% of the
district annually. If the leopard population is to survive, urgent
measures need to be taken so as to prevent these fires destroying
the forest at such a large scale. Despite an increase in number
of fires since the date, the actual territory affected by fires
has decreased due to the preventive efforts of the team. 
A fire-fighting team began operations in Khasan
in January 2000, fighting seasonal forest fires
that have destroyed large areas of Amur leopard habitat. Fires
usually occur in November-December and March-April when farmers
burn their fields to improve fertility. Unfortunately, many fires
do not stop at the forest edge. Since its establishment, the fire-fighting
team have extinguished over 200 fires. Besides extinguishing forest
fires, the team members are trying hard to emphasize the importance
of preventing them among the local community, by carrying out
environmental art contests, during which children draw fire-fighting
posters, which are then set along the district roads.
During the first three years of its existence, the "Fauna" fire-fighting
team operated on a large area that included Kedrovaya Pad nature
reserve, Barsovy wildlife refuge, areas in two hunting leases,
and the Gamov deer farm and peninsula, that make up the Amur leopard
habitat.
Starting from 2004, the Phoenix Fund together with the Tigris
Foundation took a difficult decision to limit the efforts of the
fire-fighting team to a model area. A relatively small (around
100 km2) priority model area in a form of triangle makes part
of the wildlife refuge that is not managed by the forestry service.
It consists of open forest areas degraded by frequent fires, and
the fire-fighting team activities represent the only protection
against fires there. The area was defined based on past records
of leopard's and tiger's presence in this region and the immediate
proximity to good habitat.
There are several factors that made for this decision. As a result
of insufficient funding and greatness of the initially protected
territory, the team did not manage to reduce fires in statistically
significant way. Besides, the Barabash Forestry Service, located
very close to the protected areas, and Barsovy wildlife refuge
already provide reasonably good protection to primary forest lands,
that are home to the Amur leopard. Moreover, fires that start
in open areas often spread up quickly to primary forest over a
broad area, and there are all reasons to believe that fire-damaged
forests will recover and become more sustainable for leopards
and tigers, if they are protected from fires over a longer period
of time.
Ever since the team started working on the model territory, the
number of fires has reduced by more that 50%.
Matching funds: Tigris Foundation, ZSL, AMUR
Fire-Fighting
Team report, Khasan, Southern Primorye, 2003 (Adobe PDF file)
Fire-Fighting
Team report, Khasan, Southern Primorye September-December 2002
Fire-Fighting
Team report, Khasan, Southern Primorye March 10 - May 25, 2002
