Wildlife survey begins in middle Himalayan region, say officials

OFFICIAL SAID THERE IS A NEED FOR AN URGENT POPULATION ESTIMATION EXERCISE

The Uttarakhand forest department has stared conducting a wildlife survey in the mid-Himalayan region with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) at an altitude ranging from 1,000 metres to 3,500 metres, officials said.

“So far wildlife survey has been done in the higher Himalayas and Shivalik ranges, but no detailed survey has been done in the middle Himalayas. For the first time, a detailed wildlife survey has been started in the middle Himalayan region ranging from an altitude of more than 1000 metres to 3500 metres. The ambit of the survey also includes protected areas under the middle Himalayas,” Uttarakhand chief wildlife warden Parag Madhukar Dhakate said.

Dhakate said there is a need for an urgent population estimation exercise for major wildlife species in the mid-Himalayan regions of the state, particularly areas that are outside the protected area network.

“In Uttarakhand, the protected area network is mostly confined to the lower and upper regions of the state, with the remaining potential wildlife habitats mostly managed as by the territorial forest divisions. These are also the regions that have high-density human inhabitations and report human-wildlife conflict cases. Keeping these things under consideration, a scientific state-level assessment of wildlife populations has been started in the midHimalayan region,” chief wildlife warden said

Dhakate said there is a need for a state action plan for mitigation of man-wildlife conflict in the mid-Himalayan region.

“So, a large-scale survey has been started earlier this month in the forests of the middle Himalayas, which will be completed by the year-end,” chief wildlife warden said, adding over ₹2.25 crore will be spent on the survey. This project has been started under CAMPA Fund. More than 200 trapping cameras and 40 GPS devices will be used in the project. Apart from this, forest staff will survey wildlife through line transit method, DNA and scat collection and point sampling methods,” Dhakate said

“The purpose of the project is to study the species of wildlife found in the central Himalayas, what is their distribution pattern and population status. The findings of the survey will help us in fine-tuning our policies and conservation initiatives,” he said.

Uttarakhand is rich in biodiversity with 95 mammalian species, including threatened or vulnerable mammals like snow leopard (Panthera uncia), Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus), Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus chanko) and musk deer (Moschus leucogaster).

There are about 650 species of birds (51% of India’s avifauna) in the state. The reptile diversity in the state encompasses over 60 species, including crocodiles, turtles, tortoises, snakes and lizards.