Mangar eco warriors scout Aravalli forests for seeds to revive native plant species
About 30 students from Faridabad on Sunday collected more than 2 kilograms of native seed varieties from the Aravalli forests around Mangar village.
These will be planted during the upcoming monsoon season in areas where tree cover has diminished, or where the spread of invasive mesquite (‘vilayati kikar’) needs to be arrested.
All students belong to the Mangar Eco Club at the government high school in Faridabad’s Mangar village, which was started by 30-year-old Sunil Harsana, an environmental conservationist, in 2015, to acquaint the younger members of the village with pressing environmental issues.
“Over 70 students are enrolled in the club, and we meet every Sunday for nature walks and excursions into the forest in groups of about 30,” Harsana said. On Sunday, the students collected seeds mainly of two native species known as ‘jinjeri’ and ‘pachendu’ (diospyros cordifolia).
“In the coming days we will also collected seeds of other local trees, like ronjh, amaltas and harsingar,” Harsana said. This effort has been made by the Eco Club’s members since its inception.
Every year, in the months before monsoon, Harsana and his students spend weeks harvesting seeds of local vegetation species, whose populations have been on the decline for decades owing to the spread of mesquite trees, which were first planted in the area during colonial times.
“These trees are an invasive species spread across the Aravallis in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and the NCR. They suck up groundwater, reduce the quality of soil and make the habitat unlivable for other local species. As a result they cause major biodiversity loss,” Harsana explained.
Harsana added that, in Delhi, steps are already being taken to clear the Central Ridge area of the plant and replenish it with over 20 species of local trees, grass and shrubs. However, in
the absence of similar steps by the state government, the Eco Club is doing what it can to help revive the native Aravalli forests, the last vestiges of which can be seen in the Mangar Bani, or sacred grove, in Faridabad.