Panel to submit report on private forests by April

P. OPPILI
A high-level committee, comprising officials of the Forest, Agriculture and Revenue Departments, constituted to examine the issues under the provisions of Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forests (TNPPF) Act 1949, will submit its report to the government by April.

Forest Department sources said the committee headed by an officer in the rank of Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Forest Conservation Act) visited 11 districts in the State and recorded the grievances of private patta holders.

The farmers wanted amendments to the existing Act whereby they could look at changing the crop for cultivation, get permission for felling trees in their property, and get permission for sale or lease of their land and growing of crops and trees in their land.

A senior Forest Department official said it was for the first time a high-level committee was formed. The State Forest Minister, while moving the demand for grant for the Forest department for 2012-13, made the announcement that the government will constitute a committee to look into the issues under the TNPPF Act of 1949. The government order issued on September 3, 2012 said the committee must submit its report within four months from the date of issue of this order.

Conservationists and nature lovers have, however, requested the Forest Department to uphold the TNPPF Act 1949. Tamil Nadu Green Movement, in a letter to the Chairman of the Committee, said the Act was enacted to prevent indiscriminate destruction of private forests with the customary and prescriptive rights therein and for certain other purposes.

The Act is important especially in the Nilgiris district, which is rich in floral and faunal diversity, which are highly endemic. Protected areas such as Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Mukuruthy National Park and crucially important reserve forests of Nilgiri North are flanked by private forests, which offered landscape connectivity to the animals. Environmentalists in the district have constantly relied upon this Act from time to time to prevent illegal activities such as tree felling and construction of buildings.

Reviewing the functionality of the Act with a view to reducing its vigour or to repeal the same at the instance of a few persons, who claimed that they were affected due to implementation of this Act, is purely based on personal and vested interests, the letter said. The Act has been useful in preserving and protecting the forests and tree cover in various parts of the State, the letter noted.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/panel-to-submit-report-on-private-forests-by-april/article4486843.ece

Many residents leave Valparai hill

Labourer Subramaniam from Thonimudi Estate whose son was eaten by a leopard.

Coimbatore: Over the last one week alone, four families of tea estate workers living and working in the tea estates that abound in the rolling, lush green hills of Valparai, in Coimbatore district, vacated their homes to settle down in the plains. Two more families from Mudis Estates, a few kms from Valparai town, are packing their belongings to relocate out of the scenic hill station known for its cool climate and breathtaking vistas.

Locked homes and fleeing families of Valparai are indicative of a disturbing trend. According to the census of 2011, the population of Valparai municipality, which includes 21 wards, was 70,771. The population during the 2001 census was 95,107, signifying an alarming dip. “If the trend continues, we will hardly have 50,000-odd residents in Valparai by the next census and our municipality might lose its status and be reverted back to a village panchayat,” says a municipality official on condition of anonymity.

Locals point out that this reversal in population began only a few years ago and attribute two factors to the dwindling numbers. “Wild animal population has significantly increased and the public fear that this land might be converted into a forest area following the declaration of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve a few years ago. Besides, the wages of casual labourers is approximately Rs 150, which is lesser than the wages earned by even a construction worker in the plains below,” says Mr Subramaniam (57), a resident of Thonimudi estate.

Mr Subramaniam, one of those few persons who has first-hand experience of the perils of Valparai. On January 10, 2010, he was playing with his grandson Mukesh (4) in the portico of his home at Third Division, Thonimudi estate, when a leopard snatched the child away from him. “When the leopard attacked, it was 5.30 pm and I was right there. The leopard grabbed my grandson by his neck and dragged him around 200 metres into the plantations where he is body was recovered,” Mr Subra­maniam recalls.

He still gets shivers when he thinks of the incident. “All  residents here are afraid to let their children play outside.” Over the past few years, at least six children have been killed in leopard attacks while an adult was killed by a wild bear recently. “Elephant and leopard attacks are common and quite frequent here,” says a forest official in Valparai.

According to forest range officer Mohammed Ali, there are at least 5-6 tigers in the Valparai region that approximately spans 22,000 acres. “As for leopards, there are plenty and have been breeding like wild cats out here,” says Mr Ali.

However, he points out that the number of animals has not increased of late. “It is just that more and more people have started coming out at night as many own two- and four-wheelers now and there is electricity everywhere. Hence, the attacks and animal sightings have increased,” he explains.

Wage differential drives TEA labourers Down to plains

While the increase in animal attacks and the threat of the region surrounding Valparai being declared as a forest reserve is apparent, municipality officials point out that one of the main causes for the migration was the wage limit of the casual labourers.

“Valparai is full of tea estates and a vast majority of our residents are estate workers or their progeny. Even now, an estate worker earns anywhere between Rs 145 and Rs 160 for a full day’s work while their contemporaries in the plains earn anywhere between Rs 300 and Rs 500 even doing construction work,” says V. Sathyavani Muthu, chairman of the Valparai municipality.

This wage difference between estate labour and other work is the main driving force behind the migrations, she says. “Also, most youngsters here are now educated and do no prefer estate labour. Instead, they find jobs and settle down in the plains causing the decline in population at Valparai,” she said.

The municipality officials lament that there is not much they could do to arrest the declining population. “Apart from the town centre that stretches approximately 1.5km, all the remaining lands here have either been leased out to the tea estate owners or belong to the forest department. We are unable to take up any developmental activity or bring about new industry,” said a senior municipality official.

He pointed out that the Government Arts Coll­ege that had recently come up had played a big role in retaining the youngsters from moving out for higher studies. “Employment needs to be generated for locals to revive the population here,” says the official.

But wilderness lovers and nature buffs feel happy that while there as been a general worry of overcrowding across the globe, at least isolated spots like Valparai are returning to the wild.

Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130217/news-current-affairs/article/many-residents-leave-valparai-hill

The Gaur and the Gourmands

by Ganesh Raghunathan
Nothing in nature goes to waste. This was what we documented by setting up a camera-trap at the carcass of a dead gaur. On 23 December 2012, the staff of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department found a dead young adult gaur on the boundary of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and a tea plantation. In the past, the practice would have been to either bury or burn the carcass. This time, however, we were all curious to see what would happen if the carcass was left to nature.

Therefore, with the support of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department and the plantation company (Parry Agro Industries Ltd), we set up a Reconyx HC 500 camera-trap to record the process of disintegration of the gaur when left undisturbed in the human-dominated landscape. We set up the camera-trap on 23 December 2012 and let it run till 7 January 2013.

On the first two days, we did not have any captures on the camera-trap and the body of the gaur began to swell and decompose. Then, from the second night onwards, the action began. A time-lapse video, pieced together from 20,345 images taken by the camera-trap over the 15-day period, records how a variety of mammals, birds, and insects consume the remains of the gaur.

Watch this!

This is a stunning illustration of how natural processes of decomposition, scavenging, and disintegration operate when a carcass of an animal like the gaur is left undisturbed, even in a landscape of tea plantations. It goes to show how life and death are interconnected  in the dynamics of prey and predator, carcass and scavenger, in the communities in nature, of which we too form a part. In a little over a fortnight, this is all that was left of the carcass.

Incredible, isn’t it, the number of creatures that benefit from even one dead animal? For those of you who have watched the video closely, can you guess (and name as accurately as possible) all the animal species that one can see in this video? Just post your answer in the comments below.

Source: http://conservation.in/blog/the-gaur-and-the-gourmands/

Leopard enters house, takes away cat

COIMBATORE: Fear gripped Valparai and surroundings after a leopard entered a house on Monday night and took away a pet cat.

Jayanthi Sivan (40), a resident of Cooperative Colony in Valparai, was busy in the kitchen when she heard pounding sounds and growls around 8.15pm. When she went to the main hall to check out the noise, she saw the leopard walk out of the house with one of her cats. A shocked Jayanthi cried for help. By the time neighbours arrived, the animal had slipped into darkness.

The house is situated close to Nadumalai Tea Estate, where leopard sightings have become common after dark. Hamsa Bava, a neighbour, said the leopard is likely to return since it knows that about the other cat.

The other cat is so scared that it has not eaten any food so far, said Jayanthi.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Leopard-enters-house-takes-away-cat/articleshow/18248555.cms