Looking at forest fire prevention from the perspective of nomads

Turkey has been battling forest fires for days. Experts have drawn attention to many issues, from the lack of equipment and personnel to the lack of merit in preventing fires.

However, almost none of those who appeared on TV looked at preventing forest fires from the perspective of nomads.

To a very limited extent, a speech made in 2021 by Pervin Çoban Savran, President of the Sarıkeçililer Survival and Solidarity Association, was shared, in which she said, "Fire awaits us in forests where goats do not enter."

In her speech, Pervin Çoban Savran drew attention to the importance of goats in preventing forest fires and explained that the climate crisis has accelerated as a result of people abandoning their natural lifestyle:

"Due to climate change, our forests have become ready for fire. In areas where goats do not enter, in areas where goats do not graze, fire is waiting for us in such a ready state... Why? Because when goats do not eat the grass at the bottom, prevent the diseases at the base, and do not wander in a way that prevents fire, the forests become capable of burning without even a match being lit.” she said.

As an agricultural scientist, I agree with Pervin Çoban Savran's views.

WHY HAVE WE MOVED AWAY FROM THE GOATS RAISED BY NOMADS?

It is observed that there is a move away from goats in Turkey due to various factors. The most important justification for moving away from goats and reducing their numbers has been the issue of protecting forests from hair goats, which make up the vast majority of our goat population.

Starting from primary education, people have been conditioned to see the goat as an enemy of the forest. The direct share of hair goats in the reduction of forest areas has not been objectively determined, while the real factors—the destruction of forests for tourist areas, the cutting of scrubland and even mature trees to build golf courses, the clearing of fields, and the share of summer fires—have been ignored.

Apart from the justification of protecting forests, the brains of those living in our cities have also been washed into believing that the meat and milk of sheep, and especially goats, cause problems for cardiovascular health and have a peculiar odor.

It is also observed that the alienation resulting from the Western-sourced cultural imperialism that has been tried to be made dominant among urban people since the 1950s plays an important role here.

As a result of all this, our goat population, especially hair goats, has gradually decreased, and the Angora goat has almost disappeared. However, it is also observed that this negligence has been realized to some extent for a few years now.

HOW SHOULD GRAZING BE DONE?

The negative view of the hair goat is not appropriate in terms of agricultural science or our social conditions. The hair goat has become a natural part of the temperate climate zone and ecosystem. Other agricultural activities substituted for the hair goat have not been valid for forest-interior and forest-edge enterprises until now.

In today's conditions, where global climate change makes itself felt clearly in many parts of the world, and in the future, instead of declaring an animal that offers very valuable products by making the best use of natural pasture areas such as drought-resistant shrubs and bushes a "scapegoat," we need to look for ways to benefit from it in a controlled and rational manner.

For this, an effective "grazing management" should be provided in Turkey by determining the appropriate pasture areas, taking into account pasture capacity and grazing maturity, and determining the grazing periods throughout the year, with the relevant ministry units, agricultural organizations, and breeders. In short, conscious and controlled goat grazing should be carried out.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF CONSCIOUS AND CONTROLLED GOAT GRAZING TO THE FOREST?

The benefits of goat grazing to the forest can be summarized as follows:

• While goats grazing in the forest compress the soil with their feet, they also bury the tree seeds remaining on the surface down to the moist soil layer.

Thus, they create an opportunity for seeds that cannot germinate in the dry mulch layer on the surface to germinate and form new seedlings. On the other hand, they pierce the thick mulch layer, allowing the lower layers to be ventilated.

• The manure left by goats during grazing increases soil fertility. Thus, the germination and emergence of seeds and the growth of seedlings accelerate.

This benefit is of remarkable size, especially in areas where animals spend the night and are kept in groups.

• The grazing of herbaceous plants under the forest by goats increases the competitive power of young seedlings and saplings. Grazing means the hoeing of seedlings and saplings.

• Grazing of herbaceous plants under the forest and in fire lanes also prevents them from drying out and becoming material for fire. Many forest fires occur in the form of dry herbaceous plants igniting and spreading.

•   Goats also destroy parasites while grazing.

WHAT DO THE NOMADS SAY?

In addition to the issues mentioned above, nomadic Yörüks also express the benefits of the hair goat to the forest as follows: 

• While the goat eats plants, it also prunes them.

• The goat ventilates the bottom of the saplings and prevents the soil from sliding by hardening it.

• Goats also provide benefits to nature in terms of transporting endemic plants from one place to another during migration. 

• The goat can only harm the forest if it enters new planting areas and eats newly sprouted saplings. According to the Yörüks, such a situation is very difficult to happen. The Yörüks insistently emphasize that they do not let goats into new planting areas and that the forest is important to them.

•   The real reason for the damage and destruction of forests is human errors, wrong logging, and forest fires. Goats are animals that have existed in this geography for thousands of years, and the forest is their sustenance. Just as they do not destroy their own habitat, it is not possible for the Yörüks to destroy the forest. 

If you wish, let us leave the final word once again to Pervin Çoban Savran, President of the Sarıkeçili Yörüks Association. Savran says:

“ The goat does not open the forest to tender and make charcoal, it does not build golf courses, sports fields, or holiday villages, goats do not burn the forest… 

Is there a goat that smokes or throws cigarette butts? 

It is the Yörüks who see the first smoke in the forest and report it… 

Watchtowers cannot see everywhere; they stay in the forest during certain periods. 

Those who will protect the forest should set up headquarters in the forest and see who is actually destroying the forest”, emphasizing other elements that destroy the forest.