In existence for nearly 150 years, the Cairn Hill reserved forest off the Ooty-Nanjanad Road is fast emerging as a major training facility for forest personnel not only in Tamil Nadu but also from other parts of the country.
Featuring a variety of vegetation including sholas, cupress and pine and facilities like an interpretation centre and an orchidarium, the reserved forest maintained by the South division of the Nilgiris forest department extends over about 110 hectares.It played host to 21 Deputy Rangers from Kerala on Tuesday. Stating that it was part of a field visit, the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris South, C.Badrasami told The Hindu that they were familiarised with the forest wealth of The Nilgiris and the challenges confronting the forests.
Focus was on the problems posed by exotics and the methods being adopted to deal with them.
N.Sadiq Ali, Founder-Trustee of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust (WNCT) said that the trainees were also shown how to tackle human-animal conflicts.
