Sahyadri Elephant Project may control the menace

The man-elephant conflict is not new to Haliyal and Joida taluks in Uttara Kannada district. The Forest Department is planning to implement a Sahyadri Elephant Project to avoid the man-animal conflict. The scientifically prepared project is expected to control elephant menace in the villages.

B. Mallesh, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Haliyal, said that efforts were on to convince the people of the villages not to grow sugarcane.

There were about 95 elephants in Haliyal and Dandeli reserve forest areas. Compared to the elephants in other parts of the State, these were sober, he said. Once, the Sahyadri Elephant Project comes into effect, the Centre would provide funds. Many pro-people programmes could be formulated for the protection of elephants, he said. The Forest Department had been planning on solar fencing and anti-elephant trenches in the borders of the forests.

Mr. Mallesh said special programmes would be taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. People would be trained to repulse the elephants without harming them.

The compensation for the death of people, and the crops destroyed had been increased. The awareness among people about the protection of the elephants had increased, he said. People of the district as well as elephant lovers were eagerly waiting for the implementation of this project, he said.

An edited version of this article can be read from the link below:

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2550641.ece

Now, Karnataka’s wild beasts to get more room-Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary to be expanded

 Animals in the state’s wildlife sanctuaries and national parks will now have more space to themselves as the National Wildlife Board (NWB) has given clearance for expansion of land around protected areas of five wildlife sanctuaries and two national parks in the state by another three lakh hectares.

An official source from NWB said, “According to the proposal sent by the state forest department, we have granted clearance for an additional three lakh hectares of land to around five major wildlife  sanctuaries and two national parks in Karnataka. With this, the total notified protected areas in the state is now  9.5 lakh hectares from the existing 6.5 lakh hectares.”

Thus, the total land actually covered by forests is 33,238.47 sq km, constituting about 17.33 per cent of the total geographical area of the state.

The protected area around two national parks Bannerghatta National Park, Kudremukh National Park and five wildlife sanctuaries — Mookambika Wildlife Sanctuary, Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary — has been granted clearance for expansion.

About the advantages of land expansion around protected areas, an official from the state forest department told Express, “Villages around these protected areas will not be disturbed. The area to be expanded lies within the forest area and added to the protected  area, providing more space for wild animals.”

“In order to improve corridor connectivity and increase conservation of wildlife, we had sent the proposal to NWB a couple of months ago. Increase in the protected areas will help animals, especially elephants and leopards. In addition, this will also help the forest department curb man-animal conflict, a problem the forest department has been grappling with,” he said.

However, with apprehensions that the villagers’ land may be affected, initially  local residents around these national parks and wildlife sanctuaries had raised.


An edited version of this article was published in Express News Service and can be read from,
http://expressbuzz.com/biography/now-karnataka%E2%80%99s-wild-beasts-to-get-more-room/324787.html

57th Wildlife Week Celebration at DATR

Nurturing local community who care for tigers has been one of the main strategies pursued by Karnataka Forest Department. Keeping this in mind, Wildlife Division, Dandeli is celebrating Wildlife Week every year to create awareness about the nature and wildlife among the local people who play a key role in wildlife conservation. As a part of this, 57^th Wildlife Week Celebration, 2011(1-7 October) was organized at Nature Interpretation Camp, Kulgi for the school children, villagers living in and around Dandeli forests..The event was organised by Sahyadri Wildlife and Forest Conservation Trust(SWIFT) volunteers and members, lead by Mr.Narasimha Chapkhand in association with Wildlife Division,Dandeli.

The event was inaugurated by CCF Mr.Premkumar.Chief Guest was Mr.Balachandra Hegde and DCF Mr.Sunil Panwar were present in the occasion.I am very happy that i could able to participate actively in all the events as a volunteer.Some of the Resource persons were invited are, Mr.C R Naik,Mr.Shridhar Desai,Mr.Jayanand Derekar etc.Community awareness programs like slide shows, nature interpretation activities, snake and honey-bee awareness programs etc. were done during the event.Nearly 300 Students from 6 schools,1 college,villagers around DATR were actively participated in the event.

Key Outcomes.

•An average 10 activities on nature and wildlife conservation conducted during the program.

• All the trained students and teachers are motivated to conduct the nature related activities effectively in schools.

•The event has created its impact motivating other schools to take part in this event in future days.

•All the schools have shown a positive response to reach out community through community interaction programs to sensitize on nature and conservation.

• All students and teachers were motivated to carry out a scientific approach towards snakes and bees by showing slide shows and practical examples by which they could able to remove all the super specious beliefs from their mind.

Some of the glimpses of the event are,

 Welcome Speech by  

Mr. Narasimha Chapkhand

Inauguration by CCF Mr.Premkumar

Speech by Mr.Balachandra Hegde

Local people giving their opinions

Speech by CCF Mr.Premkumar

Speech by DCF Mr. Sunil Panwar

Ayurvedic Expert Mr.Shridhar Desai interacting with students

Resource person Mr. Jayanand Derekar interacting with students

A vote of Respect to Local People

                         Honey-bee awareness  to students by Mr.Narasimha Chapkhand

Students carrying the honey-bees

with no fear.

Nature awareness games to students

Nature awareness games to students

Snake awareness by Forest Guard Mr.C R Naik

Students carrying snake with no fear

Students making Elephant Structures on “World Elephant Day”

Slide shows and videos on wildlife conservation

Students’ interaction with wild animals

Students at Insects’ Museum

Forest staff explaining the importance of Wildlife Conservation

Quiz Competition

Prize Distribution to the students

Students’ Feedback on the event

Teachers’ Feedback

Smiling faces

Smiling faces

Monitor Lizard Poachers held during Wildlife Week

Those seven days of Wildlife Week in Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve were really memorable in my life.One side Sahyadri Parisara Sangha along with Dandeli Wildlife Division was trying their best to convince the children and villagers about the importance of wildlife conservation,impacts of poaching on Eco-system etc and we were actually seeing the outcome in just few days.But on the other hand some miscreants have been arrested by the forest department for poaching a Monitor Lizard during this happy moments.This was the most sad news for us since it has happened during the Wildlife Week Celebration that too at a few distance from Kulgi Nature Camp where the function was arranged.My concern was,atleast by looking at these events, these poachers could have stopped poaching completely and would have joined their hands with the department in wildlife conservation.
But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The vanishing stripes of Anashi reserve

Tiger population in Anashi Tiger Reserve in Uttara Kannada District has come down, according to a report prepared by a conservation- related organisation.

Though the previous census counted nine tigers there, 31 tigers were spotted in the tiger corridor between Anashi to Gersoppa. But the recent study, though contradicted by forest officials, has counted only four tigers in the reserve.

The disappearance of grasslands, a prerequisite for the survival of spotted deer, is said to be the main reason behind this. Now, with the depletion of grasslands, the deer population is decreasing in the reserve, which probably forced many tigers to move to other places.

According to naturalist and conservation activist Manjunath Sullolli, in the recent past the Anashi forest had thick grasslands, particularly in Padasheth, Diggi, Karanji, Hosulli, Isosa and Kinnarki forest areas. But they have almost disappeared now. Presently, the grasslands are visible only in Terali gudda, Kulgi and Pansoli forest areas. The earlier forest policy of introducing fast-growing trees like acacia might have affected grasslands, it is opined. Now, the government has banned planting of acacia.

Poaching, though largely controlled, is still reported in some regions bordering Goa, and it is a major reason for the disappearance of prey animals like giant squirrels in Joida taluk.

Another game spoiler is setting grasslands on fire by people who think that land will become fertile after burning grass roots, the study observes.

The report suggests that the government must evolve a policy to develop grasslands here and allow a sustained growth of tourism.

This article was published in expressbuzz.com and can be read from the link below:

http://expressbuzz.com/topic/the-vanishing-stripes-of-anashi-reserve/319901.html