Presented by: Arne Purves A spatially linked Fire Database as a tool for recording, managing and monitoring fire in the Fynbos Biome of the Western Cape, South Africa Presented by: Arne Purves Picture: M. Prophet – Burning a prescribed burn in the Goukamma Nature Reserve

Presentation Outline Introduction Fynbos and Fire The Fire Database and Custom ArcView extension Database Products Sharing Information Summary Acknowledgements http://www.capenature.co.za

WHY IS FYNBOS SO IMPORTANT? “Fynbos” = Fine leaved vegetation

WHERE DOES FYNBOS OCCUR? Indian Ocean Atlantic Ocean Western Cape Province South Africa Graphic credit: http://www.capeaction.org.za/

Beauty and…….

………the Beast!

CONSERVATION AREAS IN THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE: 10,154 km2 of the Fynbos is in formally protected areas and needs to be actively managed CapeNature is the Provincial Management Authority

Threat to infrastructure and life MANAGING FIRE IN THE FYNBOS! Management is complex Threat to infrastructure and life But, crucial process in the fynbos ecosystem Rejuvinates Water security Hazard reduction

The Fynbos plant community diversity is determined by the fire regime Managing for ecological objectives is very difficult Fire return interval (How old was the vegetation when it burnt?) Fire frequency (How often has it burnt, and at what intervals?) Fire season Fire intensity Fire extent (size) Local conditions, e.g. fuel biomass, aspect and topography also influence the post fire plant community. Rainfall gradients vary across the biome and affect post-fire seedling recruitment. Fire Regime => Fynbos fire management is complex

THE FIRE DATABASE

+ Fire Database – Structure and design Front End Standalone Reserve Database Front End Database Layout Back End Stores Data + fire_data.mdb e-mailed to central database Automates production of maps and reporting products Script to import fire_data.mdb CENTRAL FIRE DATABASE MS ACCESS DATABASE

+ FIRE DATABASE: DATA FLOW CENTRAL FIRE DATABASE Current Fires: (from reserve managers) Electronic fire reports are imported into the database Historical Fires: (GIS Technician) Fire records entered into the database manually + CENTRAL FIRE DATABASE MS ACCESS DATABASE ARCVIEW 3: Spatial data created Current fires mapped by Managers and checked by GIS Technician Historical fires mapped from paper records where possible

What data are captured & stored? Data is captured for all areas managed by CapeNature Unique Fire code Fire scars/boundaries are mapped using heads up digitizing in ArcView 3. Large or inaccessible fire scars are mapped from a helicopter or small fixed wing aircraft.

The Fire Database User Interface Contact Arne Purves at apurves@cncjnk.pgwc.gov.za for assistance or enquiries should you encounter any problems.

The Fire Database records chronological fire events

The Fire Database produces a paper fire report Produces, official hard copy fire report for each fire event

ARCVIEW 3 is used to digitize and upload spatial data to the database using a custom extension Fire scar boundary mapped over a Spot 5 satellite image Shapefile Functions: edit replace delete update spatial stats Calculates: Vegetation age Fire Frequency Fire return intervals

The Fire Database stores polygon vertices MS Access links the spatial data with the attribute data

The Fire Database generates a shapefile of all the fires for the Province using the custom extension 2000 fires Largest fire = 58 461 ha Smallest fire = 0.001 ha Oldest fire = 1927

Our custom extension generates: Vegetation Age Distribution shapefile Fire Frequency shapefile Fire Return Interval table Effective, adaptive management Limietberg Nature Reserve Boland Mountain Complex Jonkershoek N.R Cape Town Hottentots Holland N.R. Kogelberg Nature Reserve Important tool for managers

Vegetation Age Distribution Map – Boland Mountains

Fire Frequency Map – Boland Mountains

Burnt area versus no. of fires FIRE SEASON, Total Ha BURNT AND NUMBER OF FIRES/MONTH GRAPH Burnt area versus no. of fires Fire Season Burned 47 000 ha in 73 fires in 2005/2006 Peak fire season December to March

Fire season patterns are consistent over years 2004/2005 2002/2003 2003/2004

Biodiversity GIS (BGIS) website Information Dissemination and Sharing Important resource for fire managers Data is distributed through: Biodiversity GIS (BGIS) website http://bgis.sanbi.org Blank copies of the fire database and Arcview extensions are freely available Collaborative projects e.g. CSIR in Stellenbosch, Cape Town = Sound management decisions into the future.

In Summary: Fynbos fire management is very complex Collecting, storing and analyzing fire data is a crucial part of fire management in the Fynbos MS Access and ArcView 3 provides all the functionality that CapeNature requires in an easy-to-distribute package Challenges? There are many!

Questions? THANK YOU! SCGIS (Society for Conservation GIS) Acknowledgements SCGIS (Society for Conservation GIS) CapeNature Conservation ESRI Questions? THANK YOU! apurves@cncjnk.pgwc.gov.za http://www.capenature.co.za