Natural or man-made? Finding the drivers of forest fires within the protected area habitats: a case study from the lower Shivalik Landscape, Western Himalaya

Fire is one of the most severe hazards to the world’s forests, causing massive biodiversity loss and alterations in various ecosystems. Weather and climatic conditions, terrain properties, fire-inducing agents, and anthropogenic variables can trigger forest fires. Multiple studies have shown that in India, anthropogenic activity is the most common cause of forest fires, with the spread and extent determined mainly by the severity of the weather. We used the generalized linear mixed model to identify the drivers behind forest fire occurrences within Rajaji and Corbett tiger reserves in the northern Indian Terai Arc landscape. These two tiger reserves are spanning in a large area of the lower Shivalik Himalayas and share similar bio-geography, climates, and topography. We used 22 variables as drivers of forest fires for our analysis and found significant differences in the drivers of forest fires in Rajaji and Corbett, Tiger Reserves. Both the reserves’ topographic and climatic conditions contribute to fire incidents rather than anthropogenic factors. Though anthropogenic pressure is responsible mainly for forest fires triggering globally, other natural conditions can still ignite forest fires under favorable climatic conditions and the availability of dry leaf litter. Identifying the drivers of fires in the targeted habitat or landscape is essential for controlling and managing large-scale fire incidents. Our results will help the concerned authorities frame the fire management protocol for larger landscapes.