DISTRIBUTION OF TREES ACROSS THE WESTERN GHATS IN KARNATAKA

DIPAK SARMAH, IFS (Retd.)

Mar 2024 · Notion Press

About this ebook

The book, ‘Distribution of trees across the Western Ghats in Karnataka’, provides an analytical overview of how trees and other plants are distributed across various forests of the Western Ghats region in the state of Karnataka in India. The analysis is based on feedback provided by field functionaries of the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) in pursuance of a project initiated by KFD in collaboration with the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC), Bengaluru, to study various aspects of the state’s forests. Given the enormity of the data regarding trees and other plants adorning the forests of the entire state, the analysis in the present book is limited to the western half of the state’s Western Ghats region comprising the five districts of Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu. Range-wise segregation of the data has thrown light on various attributes such as forest types, tree distribution, tree association, tree dominance, tree preponderance, etc. in each forest range. Comparative analysis of such information for a cluster of ranges enables understanding of how these attributes change across a larger landscape such as a forest division or a forest circle. Analysis of the data has also provided information about the extent of fragmentation of natural forests due to plantations. Such information can be quite useful in rehabilitating monoculture patches back to natural forest.

About the author

Shri Dipak Sarmah, a retired Indian Forest Service (1977) officer of the Karnataka cadre, started his career in the Western Ghats, serving in the region for more than a decade. He also served in the Government of India as a Deputy Adviser, Planning Commission, and as Deputy Inspector General of Forests, Forest Policy, Ministry of Environment and Forests (1991-1995). Later, he served in several positions in the Government of Karnataka including Secretary (Forest), PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, superannuating in December 2013 as PCCF (Head of Forest Force). Post retirement, Shri Sarmah has devoted himself to writing on various aspects of forestry, wildlife and agroforestry with special emphasis on the state of Karnataka. He is the author of a number of books on these subjects. In 2011, Shri Dipak Sarmah was nominated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to the Monitoring Committee to supervise iron ore mining operations in Karnataka. He continues to serve as the Chairman of the Committee to date.