A silent revolution has brewed in this hilly taluk of Uttara Kannada district. The forests, missing for 18 years due to various degenerative developments by the timber and poaching mafia, has resurfaced again.
A silent revolution has brewed in this hilly taluk of Uttara Kannada district. The forests, missing for 18 years due to various degenerative developments by the timber and poaching mafia, has resurfaced again.
This is how the resurrection took place. The forest department, with the help of the Village Forest Committees (VFCs), planted several hundred saplings of the endemic varieties and nurtured them. For many years, they do not allow anybody to go there and guarded the area from a distance. This experiment benefited the forests. They have not only regenerated, but also have a thick layer of humus underneath the cover of canopies.
As a result of this development, many small animals, rodents, reptiles and birds have started reappearing after disappearing from the area for almost 18 years.
“It was in 1993 that the forest department took up the initiative to regenerate the forests with only half-a-dozen VFCs on some of the bald hills in the taluk with each VFC having as less as six persons. But it has done wonders. The VFCs have grown in size from six to 30 persons each and the number of VFCs has grown from six to 48, so have the forest coverage,” said Bhaira Naik Kunubi of VFC in Kodambi range
This taluk had an average forest cover of 17% which is a little more than national average at 15.5%. But now, after 18 years, the forest cover has grown to 21% and the quality of forests regenerated is fit enough for the various endemic species to come back to their settlements.
“The first to appear were the simian varieties — the common langur, as we know it — appeared as early as in 2007. That was the time when the wild mango trees we planted started yielding fruits. The second species to return to the forests in these areas were the flying squirrels and pangolins. People now report that they have seen porcupines, cobras, civet cats and slender loris” said Kunubi.
Similar stories are also heard from Salgaon, Indoor, Madnur and Chigalli.
“As a result these villages have also reported the monkeys have stopped coming into villages and eating their mango crops and due to development of humus in the forest even there are no snake infestation in the villages,” said Charu Naika.
According to statistics at the district forest office The taluk possesses forest area of 48,545 hectare which is about 72.66% of the total geographical area but due to some human intervention there were some grey patches which have now closed. “This was mainly due to the government-people co-operation and we would like to re-enact in other districts also” said R Gokul, divisional forest officer.
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