The Hindu : Concern over clear-felling in reserve forest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 11, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Concern over clear-felling in reserve forest

By Mohamed Nazeer

KANNUR NOV. 10. The Forest Department's decision to clear-fell plantation species, mainly teak, inside the Kannavam Reserve Forest under the Kannur Forest Division as per the Working Plan 2001-2011 approved by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests, has raised environmental concern with environmental activists claiming that the areas proposed for clear-felling are of high conservation value.

The environmental activists have opposed the clear-felling of the plantation teak and other plantation species on the ground that the areas identified for clearing consist of natural vegetation and are rich in fauna, including many rare and endangered species. The Forest Minister, K. Sudhakaran, has intervened following complaints from the environmental workers in the region, even as the Forest officials here let it be known that clear-felling works in the forest have been suspended for the past two months following a Supreme Court stay on clear-felling in many States.

According to Forest officials, the total pure teak plantation in the Kannur Forest Division (covering Kannur and Kasaragod districts) to be treated (clear-felled) over the working plan period is 972.44 ha. As per the working plan, plantation species would be felled during the period as and when they become 60 years. As per the working plan, an extent of 216.9 hectares of teak plantation (mainly in Kannavam and Kasaragod) has to be clear-felled over the working plan period.

The Payyannur-based Society for Environmental Education Kerala (SEEK) has come out to oppose the plan to clear-fell the plantation areas in the forest arguing that the areas contain natural vegetation and rare and endangered species. The SEEK recently conducted a study to highlight the conservation value of the Kannavam Reserve Forest.

The study has revealed that the proposed areas of clear-felling consists of natural vegetation dominated by species, including Xylia xylocarpa (irool), Terminalia paniculata (maruthu), Hopea ponga (kambakam) and Vateria indica (white dammer) in addition to plantation species such as teak, Ailanthus, mahogany and careya. The study cites the earlier recording of two new insects (parasitic hymenoptera) from the site by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India. A rare teraphosid spider - poecilotheira striata which is endangered and endemic to Western Ghats has also been recorded from the site, the study says.

Moreover, 114 species of butterflies, including 18 endemic species such as Common Pierrot, Danaid Eggfly, Chestnut Streaked Sailor, Malabar Banded Swallowtail, Crimson Rose and Bamboo Tree Brown which are listed under Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, have been recorded from the site. According the SEEK report, the abundance of butterfly species is indicative of the presence of large number of depended larval food plants in the area. Besides butterflies, 34 species of dragonflies, including two endemic species (Euphaea franseri and Indoneure ramburi), have been recorded from the site. Fish species such as Puntius denisonii and Batasio travancorica, which are endemic to the State, as well as game fish like Mahseer, have been reported from the forest. King Cobra (ophiopagus hannah), included in Schedule 2, is recorded from this area, according to the study. The report also says that 140 species of birds from the area included seven endemic, six restricted range species and six listed in the Schedule 1. The destruction of patches of forests in the catchment area of Kannavam, the study says, would harmfully affect the river systems of Anjarakandy and Thalassery rivers as they originate from the hills of the forest.

The SEEK activist, Jaffar Palot, says that the proposed plantation site which is part of the reserve forest has been converted into a natural forest patch over the years. The presence of ever-green and moist deciduous tree species proves that the plantation areas have been converted into a good natural forests, says Dr. Jaffar. Out of the 43 species of tree species recorded from the three sample plots, only two species are plantation varieties, he says.

The Kannur DFO, K.K. Chandran, said the plan for clear-felling has been worked out in the working plan. Though 76.436 ha. of teak plantation was scheduled to be treated in the entire division during 2001-2002 as per the working plan, clear-felling could be done in an extent of 54.412 ha. during the period. An area of 22 ha. in the whole division was left unfelled and reverted to natural forest last year, Mr. Chandran said adding that the total area to be clear-felled during the current financial year is 58.28 ha.

Environmentalists here demanded that the Government should review the concept of forest the working plan is based on. When teak plantation was started by the British in 1937, the forest was seen largely as a source of timber resources from economic point of view, but as the forest areas have dwindled considerably over the years, forest resources should be seen not as a source revenue but from a conservation point of view, says G.K. Latha, another activist of the SEEK. The plantation area being nearly half of the total 8,400-odd ha. of the Kannavam Reserve Forest, clear-felling of the plantation trees would endanger the ecology of the region, she says. The Kannavam River and many perennial streams flow through the plantation area.

Following the memorandum by the SEEK activists, the Minister appears to have taken a keen interest in the issue. A team of the Kerala Forest Research Institute visited the Kannavam forest recently. The Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance), J.K. Tewari, also visited the forest as part of an official assessment following the concern raised by the environmental workers.

Environmental groups in the area may also raise the concern about clear-felling in softwood plantation in the district, mainly in Kannavam. An extent of 502.847 ha. softwood plantation is already due for clear-felling, according to officials. The total softwood plantation in the division is 811.164 ha. of which 225.697 are predominantly having natural tree plants. The Forest Department has proposed for reverting 225.697 ha. to natural forest, they said adding that thinning or sylvicultural operations are not carried out in the softwood plantation.

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