Rejuvenation of Himalayan Oaks & Rejuvenation of Springs through Chaals(recharge pits) in Henwal Valley of Chamba Block.

Quercus (oak) is a widely distributed genus in the Northern Hemisphere with 500-recorded species (Thadani, 1999). The focus of this study is on one of the most important species of this genus. Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus ex Bahudar (syn. Q. incana) family Fagaceae locally known as Banj. Oak occurs usually between the elevations of 1400 and 2200 m above sea level, in Central Himalaya, which is the most heavily populated zone in the Indian Himalayan region. It is often referred as the ‘problem zone’ or the ‘anthropogenic zone’ of the Himalayan region. Due to the impact of human disturbances this zone has been heavily exploited not only in terms of forest degradation but also depletion of other natural resources. Banj Oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) by far is the most significant victim of degradation in the Himalaya. A valuable and keystone species with great societal relevance, it provides a large variety of ecosystem services like forming topsoil and regulating hydrological regimes. Some of the benefits of the oak forest are: (a) large biomass forming; (b) returning large amount of nutrient annually; (c) retaining water; (d) providing moisture to ambient air. The Banj oak leaves contain high degree of nutrients which enrich the soil each year and helps in rapid formation of top soil. Its high water retention capacity maintains a high rate of water evaporation from its leaves which contributes to heavy rainfall and snow. Banj oak provides a wide range of ecosystem services that oak provide includes: (a) soil formation and replenishing crop land fertility; (b) maintaining the health of mountain streams and regulating the hydrological regime; (c) helping to stabilize local and regional climate through direct influences; (d) building up a moisture regime favorable to wild species as well as those of agronomic and horticultural value and (e) creating surplus for possible carbon trading at international level. From the carbon sequestration stand point, banj oak has a deeper root allocation and holds a great potential to mitigate global warming for example, its massive root system and deep soil allocation is expected to be former effective in carbon sequestration than other species with shallow roots. Mycorrhizal

Roots and external hyphae can contribute significantly to ecosystem carbon budget and influence rates of soil carbon turnover by influencing fine roots decomposition rates, which they inhibit more frequently. The quantity of c sequestration varies form species to species and one forest type to another which need to be measured as the massive root system and mycorrhizal support enable the Banj oak to have more effective below ground carbon sequestration than other forest species. The most benign cause for Banj Oak forest degradation are unregulated expansion of agriculture, overgrazing, lopping of branches for fodder and fuel wood, collection of leaf litter, spread of invasive species, and ongoing fragmentation of forest stands. The principal underlying factors are population growth and poverty, but improper forestry is no less important. In the Himalaya an integral part of poor subsistence farmer’s livelihood is the neighboring oak forest, as the farmer has no other option for his fuel wood, fodder and leaf litter needs. The oak requires gap in the canopy for regeneration (Singh, 2009). However, lopping practices do create gaps in the canopy, but these gaps become favorable sites for grazing, fuel wood and leaf litter collection depleting the soils, eventually the oak seeds fail to regenerate. In order to rejuvenate this ecosystem in a part of the Garhwal Himalaya (near Chamba town), HIMCON initiated this project since February 2008. Ranichauri East Wood Hill Trust, New Zealand, financially supported this project. This report summarizes the work carried out in the past two years of this project.

THE PROJECT AREA:
The project area falls in Chamba developmental block of the Tehri Garhwal district of the state of Uttarakhand. The district forms a part of the pre-independence princely state of Tehri Garhwal and has been relatively backward. The literacy levels are particularly low in the district and particularly so amongst the females; average literacy being 66.7% while the female literacy being 49.4% as against 85.3% for males (Census of India, 2001). Tehri hydroelectric project that is coming up at the confluence of Bhagirathi and Bhilangana at Tehri is located close to the project area. Rishikesh – Gangotri National Highway and Chamba-Mussorie road passes through the project area that is in the proximity of Chamba.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT:

1. To preserve the oak and rhododendron forests of the region. 
2. To work with local communities to develop oak plantation and protection programmes and to develop low costs techniques of oak regeneration. 
3. To also encourage associated species in particular various shrubs. Overall, an ecologically relevant stratified canopy with oaks in the over story, rhodoendrons in the mid-story and shrubs in the under story and as early succession to help afforest degraded areas is aimed for.
4. In addition the project aims to promote nut fruit, such as Walnuts, Hazelnuts and Sweet Chestnuts.  Various medicinal plants will also be grown for the benefit of the health of the local populations.

Project Activities (April, 2009- March 2010):

1. Community motivation and awareness raising programmes & strengthening of van panchayats.
2. Development of community managed nurseries
3. Plantation programme during the monsoon season
4. Live fencing and social fencing to protect regenerating oak forests.
5. Direct seeding as a low cost alternative to regenerate oak
6. Development of nursery growing techniques for Rhododendron arboreum
7. Enrichment plantation and protection of rhododendron
8. Nurseries for nut fruit and training on their grafting and planting care
9. Production of medicinal and aromatic plants and promoting their use and commercial marketing.

A major part of the physical interventions was carried out in the first six months of the current year. These largely involved direct sowing of oak acorns, soil and water conservation measures and plantation programme for fodder trees, bushes and fodder grasses in both private and common land in the project villages Efforts were also made to share the experiences with other villages as well as organizations in the area that are working for forest conservation.

Selection of Villages:

Six Gram Sabha, viz. Sabli, Chopriyali, Birkot, Haswangaon, Swadi and Indwalgaon for the oak conservation programme. These villages fall into two different watersheds that are part of the Henval River Catchment, a tributary of the Ganga River. As lopping of oak trees for fodder is very common in the region, it was felt that the project needed to address fodder shortages if rejuvenation of oak forests was the objective. Consequently, in addition to direct seeding and plantation of nursery raised oak seedlings, various fodder species including grasses and shrubs were promoted. By planting alternate fodder species, focus was given on conserving the existing oak trees in the forests of the project area.

In the first year, it was decided to establish a forestry-based central nursery. From the second year onwards, efforts are underway to raise nurseries at the village level so as to maximize the participation of target villages. These are in addition to the fruit and medicinal plant nursery being raised by HIMCON.

Active involvement of local people is an important aspect of successful achievement of project objective. HIMCON extends its oak regeneration activities to other surrounding villages where participation of villagers in various conservation activities has been observed to be fully satisfactory. In this regard Indwal Gram Sabha, which comprises six small villages, was selected to extend the oak regeneration programme in the area.

Indwal Gaon(village) Gram Panchayat – an initiative undertaken for regeneration of oaks

In the current year of the project, Indwal Gram Sabha has been selected to extend the oak conservation programme. There are six small villages in this panchayat. The total families residing  in this panchayat are 121 with a population of 492 persons. Female population (268) outnumbered the male having only 224. The details are given in the following tables. Except Chamthari village where schedule cast population dominate over other cast, rest of the villages have dominancy of rajput community.

Land-use pattern of this panchayat showed that it has about 140.8 hectares of total land, of which agricultural activities has been carrie4d on 78.5 hectares and 63.3 hectares of land are barren land. Average land holding per family is only 0.018 hectares. Compare to other villages of the project, Indwal Gram Sabha has the maximum forest cover with a total area of about 108.7 hectares. Reserve Forest constitutes about 34 hectares while Van Panchayat (Community Forest) covered only 12.3 hectares and rest 62.3 hectares of forest are on private land. Rearing of milk producing animals especially buffalos is the main source of income. Due to high cattle population pressure on surrounding forest results in degradation of  forest cover.

Observing the active participation in the various conservation activities of HIMCON and the request of the local community for inclusion, this Gram Sabha was included in the present project. Detailed socio-economic and land-use survey was conducted and a series of formal and informal meetings have been organized in the process of formation of Mahila Mangal Dals. About eight MMDs have been formed in all the six villages of this Gram Sabha. Now the members of MMDs play active role in each and every programmes of the project.

In the initial phase, priority was given to regenerate existing community forest (Van Panchayat) which is in extremely poor state due to over lopping and over grazing. As like in other Van Panchayat in the region management of Van Panchayat was in completely failed state. The total area of this forest is about 12.3 hectares. It has about 10,000 strands of highly degraded oaks, kafal and burans trees. These trees were in extremely poor state of regeneration mainly due to over lopping and grazing. For the conservation of this patch of forest, a general meeting with the villagers was organized to discuss how to protect and conserve this patch. Finally a Jangal Suraksha Samity (JSS)- Forest Protection Force  was formed among the members of MMDs and certain rules and regulation has been constituted for the protection and regeneration of Van panchayat. The details of rules and action programme under taken in this regard are;

• Collection of fodder, firewood and grazing of animals has been completely prohibited up to five years when completely lopped oak strands attain proper foliage.
• If any people either from the Gram Sabha or from the out side if reported for violating these rules will be punished with a fine of Rs. 500.
• Members of JSS will undertake constant vigil and take guard against grazing and loping of trees.
• To protect forest against fire – a 10 meters wide Fire-line will be cleared regularly with the active involvement of villagers.
• It was unanimously decided to develop 10 hectares of barren land for fodder production. HIMCON motivated the villagers to undertake fodder trees plantation in the monsoon months. About 20,000 saplings will be planned to be planted. Required saplings of fodder trees will be provided from the HIMCON,s nursery.
• A nursery of fodder grasses was developed with the help of members of MMDs in the Gram Sabha. About 2 kg of guriyal grass was sown in the nursery. It was decided to raise about 10,00,000 seedlings of grasses in the nursery which will cover about 10 hectares of land. About 10 kg seedlings of grasses will require covering one nali of land.
• Past experiences of HIMCON showed that in initial stage of plantation, irrigation of sapling is must for stabilization otherwise survival of planted saplings may be lost. To provide watering facilities at the planted saplings HIMCON motivated the Gram Pradhan to provide such facilities under NAREGA Programme of the Govt. It was interesting to note that Gram Pradhan succeeded to get sanctioned water harvesting measures from the govt. Water harvesting structures such as water storage tanks and check dams were constructed by the villagers under NAREGA programme. Three tanks of about 100,000 liters capacity were constructed at the planting sites. Further, to enhance soil-moisture the villagers constructed 23 check dams, so that moisture could be enhanced in the field.
• In addition to water harvesting structures constructed under NAREGA programme, HIMCON motivated the villagers to construct percolation pits in the upper catchments of the springs, so that Spring Recharge could be enhanced. In addition to enhancing  recharge of the springs, percolation pits control run-off, reduce soil erosion and enhance soil moisture in the land. About 10 percolation pits were constructed with the help of villagers. About 163 man-days were devoted for the construction of chaal. 39 man and 124 women of the village participated in the construction of chaal. Fodder trees were planted in the upper catchment of springs.
• Visualizing the dedication and active involvement of the people of Indwal Gram Sabha, several other organizations extended their support in the conservation efforts undertaken by the people. The villagers have unsafe and contaminated water supply for drinking and become victims of diseases mainly due to contaminated water. Himalaya Sewa Sangh has installed two Community Water Filters (Slow-Sand-Filter) and provided Rs. 100,000 for  the village development as seed money to initiate protection and conservation of degraded resources of the village. This money was deposited in the MMD fund of the Gram Sabha.

COMMUNITY BACKGROUND OF INDWAL GRAM SABHA:
The demographic details and other life-supporting resources of the villages of Indwal Gram Sabha are summarized in the following Tables 01 – 04.

Table 01: Land-use pattern in selected villages of Indwal Gram Sabha

Table-02: Demographic details of newly selected Indwal Village Panchayat  

Table -03: Details of Cattle Population in selected Indwal Village Panchayat

Table 04: Details of Water resources in selected villages of Indwal Gram Sabha

Community Mobilization
Community mobilization is an important component of the programme as developing an ownership for the assets created is critical for the long-term sustainability of this initiative. To facilitate the activities of the programme, womens’ groups (Mahila Mangal Dal) are being promoted. These women contribute to the SHG fund every month. In addition, the work under the project is being done through these groups. The payments for the work add to their savings and many of them now have good funds. This year the entire pit digging exercise was done by women. In all 146 women and 26 men participated in nearly 400 man/womans days of work in seed sowing and plantation. Apart from the forestry activities, various trainings in forest conservation, fruit processing, mother and child health, hygiene and water conservation programs were also conducted as part of community mobilization. These activities not only help in creating awareness on other issues but also aid in building rapport amongst the villagers.
Table 05: Formation & Networking of Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) in Indwal Gram Sabha

* Himalaya Sewa Sangh-(a networking of NGOs dedicated for the cause of conservation and protection of Himalaya) is a sister organization of HIMCON has donated Rs. 100,000/- through individual collection from Shri Babu Bhai Thakker , Mumbai to the the MMDs of Indwal gram Sabha for water conservation and livelihood generation activities.

Existing Status of Community Forest in the project area

To realize the present state of community forest management in Tehri district, it is imperative to understand the past of the area. Three major factors that require mentioning here are the history of Tehri itself, the conception of Van Panchayats and  building of Tehri Dam.

Van Panchayat:

Tehri was a Princely state before it was merged with India in 1950. Though land belonged to the state, people could use it openly for their resource use and for cultivation. There were limited restrictions on use of natural resources. Village forest management was governed by traditional practices where the Gram Sabha (village Council) would supervise and decide over all the issues.

The system of a formal Forest Management Committee or the ‘Van Panchayat’ (Village Forest Council) was introduced in the Uttarakhand hills in 1931. These rules were made by the British colonist to govern the village forests. However, Tehri district was not under the British rule and the concept of Van Panchayat or Village Forests was not introduced here until much later. Tehri was the last district in Uttarakhand where Van panchayat rules were functionalised. Therefore, most of the Van Panchayats in the district are young and do not have a practice of following Van Panchayat rules. Village forest boundaries have been defined on revenue maps and records but they are hardly followed on the ground. Much of this land was already in private use or has been encroached upon after the formation of these village forests. The elected functionaries of these Van Panchayat themselves have no or very little interest in the management of their village forests. So, there are no clear demarcations of the forest boundaries and no clear distribution of responsibilities. It is generally the customary management practices that are being followed or sometimes if required the Gram Sabha oversees the functioning of the village forest.

Therefore, a baseline survey was carried out to understand the existing status of forest degradation in the project villages. Out of the present six villages in the project, only four have Van Panchayats that were formed between 1995 and 2004. Further, the area covered under these Van Panchayats is very small ranging from 2 ha to 60 ha. This leaves few common lands that could have been possibly used for plantation or regeneration. Therefore, a large part of the conservation efforts in this project are focused on private land.

Table 06: Details of Forest Cover in selected villages of project Area

Building of the Tehri dam was perhaps the biggest contributing factor for the present condition of the forest management practices. Large-scale displacement, rapid development and urbanization of the small settlements and charm of the fast incoming cash flow aided the erosion of the old locally evolved practices.

Table-07: Annual Fodder Demand in the selected villages of the Project Area

Collection of seeds locally from the forest/ purchase of Seeds
Members of MMDs in all the selected villages of the project area were motivated to collect oak acorns and other important fodder species from the nearby forest. Due to prolonged doughtiness in the region oak acorns were not produced in any forest patch of this region. Hence, oak acorn was not collected from the forest. The seeds of high yielding grasses, bamboos and others were purchased from the reputed firms. The details are depicted in the following table.

Nursery Sapling Raising Activities For Oak Regeneration:
The following species were raised in the central nursery:

(i) Tree species: In addition to oak (Banj oak or Quercus leucotrichophora),
Fodder species such as Mulberry (Morus), Queral (Bauhinia variegata) and Bhimal (Grewia optiva) were raised.(ii) Shrub species: Coriaria nepalensis (Masuri) – a nitrogen fixer; Sunsiyari (Debregeasia hypoleuca), Sakina (Indigofera), Prinsepia, Chamlai (Desmodium elegans) and Hedge Lucerne.
(iii) Fodder grasses: temperate brome grass (Bromus sp), Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata), Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and Rye (Lolium perenne) and sub-tropical Ginny (Panicum maximum) and Sita (Setaria kazungula) (iv) Bamboos: Bambusa arundinacea (Kaanta baans), Dendrocalamus strictus (Lathi baans) and Ringal.

Over 6000 oak seedlings were raised in the central nursery, while smaller numbers of other seedlings were planted. 20,000 seedlings were raised. During the period, project beneficiaries were also trained in selection of sites; direct sowing of acorns and nursery raising techniques of forest plants. They also learnt low-cost nursery raising and soil and water conservation methods with use of local shrubs. The villagers also learnt that regeneration of Oaks through direct sowing could be a viable option. The details of sapling raising activities are depicted in the following tables.

Table 08: Summary of fodder and other species saplings raising activities under different nurseries in project area

                              (Seed sowing was done in April 2010 in both nurseries)

(Total saplings raised in the current year would be approximately 77,000)

* Oak saplings were not raised mainly due to non-availability of oak acorns. No oak acorn was produced in this year due to prolonged doughtiness in the region.

Preparation of land for Direct Sowing / Plantation and Conservation of Soil & Water:
         
Site Clearance & Direct Sowing of Oak Acorns:
Traditionally, seedling planting has been the norm for planting Oaks whether by government or non-government agencies. There are some examples in the past of the villagers directly sowing Oak seeds in the forest. Raising and planting of seedling costs a lot in terms of time and money. It requires land space for nursery and at least 1 years’ period that involves bag filling, seed sowing, and watering, weeding, pit digging and planting. The cost of plantations is generally very high ranging from Rs 12 to Rs 25 between different agencies. Besides, very low levels of survival have been reported in seedling-raised plantations of Oaks. Direct sowing on the other hand only involves collection of acorns, digging a small saucer shaped pit and sowing the acorns 2-3 inches deep in the soil. Though it cannot be a universal method of growing Oaks, it definitely holds potential in minimizing the costs and efforts in its regeneration.

Based on our experimental work and field tests, direct sowing of oak acorns offers great potential in particular for gap filling and in degraded areas, and will help extend the impacts of the programme. Two rounds of direct sowing have been done till now. In the first year, over 5000 acorns were sown and germination rates of 75% to over 90% were achieved at different sites. Six months after sowing the germinated seedlings attain on an average, 10-12 cm height. Unfortunately, in the second year the forests of Sabli and Hanswangaon were severely burnt and injury was also done to first year seedlings. After the rains some signs of seedling regeneration were visible and one could spot some burnt seedlings giving new shoots. The counting of these seedlings was done in October 2009. The damage was most severe in Hanswangaon and Birkot where almost all the seedlings dried out. Sabli was a consolation as around 50 % of the damaged seedlings regenerated back. The surviving seedlings are growing well and have attained an average height of up to 8.5 inches.
Second year has been more of a disappointment due to very low seed germination and plant survival. Severe fires, high temperatures and low moisture not only hampered germination of newly sown acorns but also delayed plantation. This year, 7200 acorns were sown in village Sabli and Swadi. Both Sabli and Swadi forests were burnt by fires in summers. While no germination was achieved in Swadi village owing to very dry conditions, only 53 % seeds germinated in Sabli. The details of direct oak acorns sowing and their status are depicted in the following tables.
Table-09: Estimated targets for Oak conservation project in the 1st & 2nd Year
(Feb., 2008 to March, 2009) & (April, 2009 to March, 2010)
 

Table-10: Activities undertaken for regeneration of oaks (Direct Oak acorn Sowing Programme)
Community Participation: MMDs & SHGs of the project area
(April, 2009 to March, 2010)

Community Mobilization & Training for Pit digging activities:

 (Oak Acorns Sowing Programme)

Table-11: Current Status of Germinated Seedlings of Oak Acorns Sowed Directly

(Data Collected from February, 2010)
 

Seedling plantation Programme

Seedling raised in the first year of the project was planned for the plantation in the current year of the project (i.e in July-Aug., 2009). This planting was to be done during the monsoon months and should have been completed by August end. Pits had already been prepared for planting. But there was very little rain in July-August and therefore planting was deferred to September. It was done immediately after the first showers in September. Due to very low rainfall, the results of survival of planted saplings were poor. Barring Sabli, high seedling mortality occurred in rest of the villages. Sabli forest is denser than other forests in the area and has a fair amount of trees and undergrowth. This helps it retain relatively more moisture than other forests in the vicinity. This could be the reason for better germination and plant survival in Sabli. Details of Plantation program in Henwal river catchments are depicted in the following table.

Table-12: Activities undertaken for Regeneration of Oaks (Plantation Programme)

Community Participation: MMDs  & SHGs of  the project area (April, 2009 to March, 2010)

Community Mobilization & Training for Pit digging activities:

 (Oak and other fodder trees plantation Programme)

Table-13: Current Status of planted saplings of oaks & other fodder trees

(Data Collected from February 2010)

Table-14: Activities undertaken for Fruit Trees Plantation Programme)

 (April, 2009 to March, 2010)

Grass patches

As proposed earlier grass planting was done on private land but in small quantities. Though low rainfall caused decline in overall moisture content, these grasses have a higher chance of survival as they have been planted around irrigated agriculture fields, on bunds and also in moist areas inside the private grasslands. The details of fodder grass plantation are depicted in the following table.

Table-15: Activities undertaken for Fodder Grass Plantation Programme)

 (April, 2009 to March, 2010)

Soil and Water Conservation and Spring recharge

Preventing surface runoff and enhancing infiltration of water are also important targets of the programme. For the recharge of springs, structures such as percolation tanks have been built and grass and shrub plantation carried out to maximize infiltration of water. For forest plantation sites, the focus is on transient, low cost structures such as ditches and contour trenches, which increase moisture availability, near the seedling roots and hence enhance survival of seedlings.

Table 16: Village-wise water & soil conservation measure undertaken by MMDs

Note: Chaals are constructed with the help of MMDs to control soil erosion, retain soil moisture in the selected plantation sites. Plantation will be undertaken in coming monsoon months in second year of the project.
There was no definite size of the recharge pits. Their size depended on the space available in the natural depressions of the sites. Capacity of the recharge pits varied from 500 litres to 5000 liters.

Plan for the next year

The climatic conditions last year inflicted a severe blow to the efforts being made in the Oak conservation programme. The dry conditions during the year were extraordinary and unanticipated. Though nature will still be unpredictable, this year has to be planned more efficiently. Specially, planting is to be so designed that it not only includes this year’s targets but also offsets the damages last year. Again it has not rained in the last six months and seed availability of Oak is very low this year. Trees either did not seed or produced very low quality seeds that fell prematurely or are very small in size. Therefore, seed sowing and seedling planting will include more of other fodder species (mainly Bauhinia variegata). Apart from new pits, old empty pits will also be used for sowing and planting. New sites are to be so selected that they offer maximum moisture or shade in case of a dry weather. Weather permitting; more recharge pits and water conserving structures will have to be raised specially within the plantation sites.

Outcome of the project:

• Oak conservation and regeneration programme supported by Ranichauri East wood hill trust , New Zealand has been extended to other area. Indwal Gram Sabha has been included this year under the programme. About 12 hectares of Van Panchayat of this Gram Sabha having 10,000 of degraded oaks has been selected for regeneration. To provide fodder need of the people, an additional 10 hectares of land was undertaken for fodder production. To ensure 100 percent survival of planted saplings, irrigation facilities was created. To ensure active involvement of the people, 08 MMDs are formed. The members of MMDs now play an active role in protection and conservation of their life supporting resources of their village.
• Last year Forest Fire caused a heavy loss of plantation sites. Visualizing the loss caused due to forest fire, an initiative has been undertaken to protect forest against fire. 10 meters wide Fire-line has been created around every van panchayat and planted sites with the active involvement of the local people. Fire-line has been regularly cleared by the MMDS in the project villages. Now the villagers take regular vigil and guard against fire.
• All the community forest of the selected village of the project has been strictly prohibited against grazing and over lopping of oaks till these trees attain full foliage. In some village chowkidar (guard) is deputed while in other village members of MMDs play active role in protection of their forest.
• Members of MMDs are deputed to take care of planted sapling. De-weeding and watering of planted saplings has been done at the regular interval. These protection measures definitely help in survival of the germinated seedlings and planted saplings.
• In between the gap of planted sites, direct seed sowing activities of fodder trees has been followed at regular interval, so that regeneration programme could enhance

Constraints of the project:

Drought (low rainfall) and Forest fires

The summer this year was severe and the localized forest fires also aggravated the heat. The months of May and June saw many forest fires in the project area. To add to the problem, rainfall was very low. It only rained 130.30 mm between July 2009 and December 2009. The entire Tehri district was declared as drought affected area by the government.

The needs of the forest fire management:

With increasing population pressure, the forest cover of the country is deteriorating at an alarming rate. Along with various factors, forest fires are a major cause of degradation of Indian forests. According to a Forest Survey of India Report, about 50 percent of forest areas in the country are fire prone (ranging from 50 percent in some states to 90 percent in the others). About 6 percent of the forests are prone to severe fire damage. The incidence of forest fires in the country is on the increase and more area is burned each year. The major cause of this failure is the piecemeal approach to the problem. Both the national focus and the technical resources required for sustaining a systematic forest fire management programme are lacking in the country. According to Forest Survey of India Report (2000), about 50 % of forest areas in the country are fire prone. Forest fires causes wide ranging adverse effects on agricultural production and loss of livelihood of people who are directly depend on forest resource. The Himalayan regions of India are subjected to repeated annual fires, and because of inaccessibility only conventional fire fighting techniques are used, which are found ineffective. Taking into consideration the serious nature of the problem, it is necessary to make some major improvements in the forest fire management strategy that includes the following components:

• Prevention of human-caused fires through education and environmental modification. It will include silvicultural activities, engineering works, people participation, and education and enforcement. It is proposed that more emphasis be given to people participation through Joint Forest Fire Management for fire prevention.
• Prompt detection of fires through a well-coordinated network of observation points, efficient ground patrolling, and communication networks. Fast initial attack measures.
• Vigorous follow up action.
• Introducing a forest fuel modification system at strategic points.
• Fire lines need to be created and grasses developed should be burn annually during winter months.
• All the existing roads pakka or kachcha and even pagdandi inside the forest are more prone to forest fire, hence; strict vigilance needs to be maintained.
• Awareness and Education Programmes for Local People:
• It is very important to raise the level of awareness of local people regarding fauna, flora and to help in protecting the environment. Without the cooperation of local people it would be difficult to protect the forest against fire.
• One way of enthusing the local people is to run educational programmes, through mass contacts, meetings, multimedia programmes on forest fire damages.
• The local people should make aware about the provisions of law and punishment regarding forest fire caused intentionally. The people cooperating in extinguishing forest fires should be rewarded properly.
• The logistics should be placed at high fire risk areas with a small fire fighting squad. This squad will be ready all the time to reach any spot in the fire affected area during summer season and help local forest staffs in controlling fires.