Abstract

Traditionally, fire has been used as a management tool to control vegetation structure and composition. Habitat management does not only include planting of a few trees and other crops, manipulating all necessary life forms round the year; but introducing control burning is a key to habitat management. Increase in the incidence of uncontrolled wildfires with the damaging effect on national parks, indigenous forests, forest plantation, rangelands communal grazing areas and agricultural lands have raised concerns to look into techniques in the management wildfire. Annual bush burning exercise at the Kainji Lake National park is usually characterized with prolonged smoke and displacement of wildlife species. Structured questionnaire were administered to both staff of Kainji Lake National park (KLNP) as well as 8-villages randomly selected around Borgu sector of the park to elicit information from people who have indicated their involvement with the use of fire one time or the other from the reconnaissance survey carried out. The results shows that male (55%) was more involve in the use fire than the female, youth ages 21-40 are the active respondents involve in the use accounting 80%. The results also show that the major culprit of wildfire associated incidences were those who uses fire for farming, honey harvesting and livestock keeper (28%, 24% and 23% respectively). Also the effect of the fire were more pronounced on farmland and disturbance to people especially respiratory associated ones (45% and 43% respectively). Base on this it is recommended that the community be sensitized often on the consequences of uncontrolled fire as well encourage them to participate in conserving the park.

Key Words: Wildfire, National Park, Borgu, Controlled-fire, Farmland