'Forest tree felling should be stopped to save Simlipal tigers'

The Pioneer , Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Correspondent : Staff Reporter
While the entire country, including the Prime Minister is concerned over plummeting population of tigers, the Orissa forest department has officially undertaken a disastrous exercise to destroy valuable forests adjacent to Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR).

The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) in a letter to the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the State Chief Minister has demanded an immediate stop to all forest working operations in the areas within a 10 km radius of the Simlipal Tiger Reserve. The chief wildlife warden of the State has also been urged to stop forest working in these areas.

The State should forthwith demarcate and notify such areas as "ecologically sensitive areas" (ESA) under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty has pleaded.

Mohanty points out that the forest department has started cutting timber trees according to the approved working plans in the Baripada and Karanjia forest divisions. Many of these forests border the STR and are used by tigers for movement and hunting. Under this plan, green felling has commenced at Noto Reserve Forests.

This reserve forests are an important animal corridor adjacent to the core area of STR. The area is strategically located and serves as a corridor for movement of wildlife, including tigers and elephants, to the forests of Keonjhar and Balasore districts. It is the only bridge between the STR and Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary for Simlipal tigers.

Tigers need corridors to move to adjacent forest areas in search of mates, and without these corridors, the population gets isolated leading to the possibility of inbreeding and genetic loss. The department has also reopened an old road on the south border of the STR in order to facilitate timber working and removal. The road passes through Noto reserve forests and shall enable poachers to enter the area for easy poaching of herbivores and tigers, Mohanty observes.

He states that it is tragic that the forest department is carrying out works in these areas, which should be notified as ESA since they are vital wildlife habitats situated within 10 km of the STA. Such areas deserve full protection and should be left undisturbed. By its orders on December 4, 2006, the Supreme Court had directed the States to comply with the earlier orders for declaration of the areas within 10 km of the boundaries of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks as ESA.

Unfortunately, Orissa has yet to carry out this exercise for all protected areas and is not hesitating to destroy vital tiger corridors adjacent to the only tiger reserve in the State. The forest department has failed to recognise the critical need to protect vital tiger habitats and corridors adjacent to STR.

The decision reflects the official apathy towards tiger conservation. Unless felling is immediately stopped, the tigers of STR, which are already threatened by poaching, shall be doomed forever due to loss of vital corridors, Mohanty warns.

 
SOURCE : The Pioneer, Tuesday, March 13, 2007
 


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