A few kilometres away from ‘Prakruthi Baata’, situated on the Chennai-Kadapa Highway near the Mamandur Eco-Tourism Zone, begins one of the most gruelling treks into the Seshachalam forests.
The initial stretch of the ‘nature trail’, characterised by an almost flat landscape that is densely paved with a waist-high flourish of wild grass and other shrubs, soon transforms into a rocky terrain with unevenly distributed natural springs.
National survey
This, combined with an extended cold wave, more pronounced in the interiors of the forest, ceases to be a deterrent to the forest officials, who have embarked on sampling in their respective forest beats as part of the ongoing 4th National Tiger Estimation - 2018.
Amidst the eerie rustling sound of the wind passing through a thicket of bamboo/trees and resonating bird calls, the officials are in search of the solitary stone marker, indicating the GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the transect line earmarked for sampling on the Mamandur (South) – Balapalle forest beat.
Gathering data
“In this process, a beat will be considered as a sampling unit and will be explored for factors such as ungulate abundance (hoofed mammals), carnivore/mega-herbivore sign survey, human disturbance, and features of the habitat quality (vegetation) via circular plots,” says Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests B.K. Singh of the Tirupati Wildlife Management Circle, simultaneously pointing to the sighting of an Indian wild dog sprinting across the unbeaten path.
Speaking to The Hindu while on an inspection of the forest beats with Divisional Forest Officer (Tirupati) D. Phani Kumar Naidu in the interiors of the forests, Mr. Singh opined that the exercise would put forth reliable information on spatial occupancy (presence or absence) and relative abundance of wild animals, which would further facilitate better management of wildlife.
Ahead of the impending summer, the officials also reviewed the status of the dried/ dying flora (Boda grass etc.), which usually is the main reason for the forest fires in the Seshachalam forests, apart from the irresponsible human interventions.
The trek, which further led to the famous Brahma Devuni Gundam en route Thumburu Theertam, was rife with scat/droppings of sloth bear, leopard, wild dog and other animals endemic to the forests. Last year, there was a suspected spotting of a tiger, reportedly migrated from a nearby reserve. However, lack of sufficient data, including capturing the animal via camera traps, showed no presence of the big cat. The officials are presently conducting the exercise – monitoring tigers, co-predators, prey and their habitats – across the 29 beats of the Tirupati Wildlife Management Division.
Mobile app
The collected data, as per the protocols, will be uploaded to the mobile application in MSTrIPES (Monitoring System for Tigers – Intensive Protection and Ecological Status), for digital data entry as a part of the fourth cycle of the national assessment.
The officials said that the GPS coordinates would be marked in the digitised maps overlaid on the Geographic Information System (GIS) framework.
