Saturday 30 July 2016

Forest Cover of North East India



The North eastern region of the country comprising eight states namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are endowed with rich forest resources. The region which constitutes only 7.98 percent of the geographical area of the country, accounts for nearly one fourth of its forest cover. According to data made available by the India State of Forest Report 2015 the total forest cover of the region is 171,964 sq.km, which is 65.59% of its geographical area in comparison to the national forest cover of 21.34%.

Other highlights of the report with respect to the forest cover of N.E. India are as follows.
a. Of the 36 States/Union Territories of India, 15 States/UT’s have above 33% of their geographical area under forest cover. This includes all the eight States of N.E. India
b. Seven States and UT’s in India have more than 75% forest cover. These include five states from N.E.India including Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland. Tripura too comes close with 74.49% forest cover. Sikkim has 47.31% forest cover while Assam lies at the bottom with 35.22% forest cover.
c. The total forest cover of the country is 701,673 sq.km. N.E.India with forest cover of 171,964 sq.km thus accounts for 24.5% of the forest cover of the country.
d. Very dense, Moderately dense and Open forest in N.E. India constitute 14.81%, 43.85% and 41.31% of the total forest cover of the region.

State wise forest cover of the region as per India State of Forest Report 2015, is shown as follows
States
Geogra-phical
Area
2015 Assessment
Percent
Of G.A.
VDF
MDF
OF
Total
Arunachal Pradesh
83,743
20,804
31,301
15,143
67,248
80.30
Assam
78,438
1,441
11,268
14,914
27,623
35.22
Manipur
22,327
727
5,925
10,342
16,994
76.11
Meghalaya
22,429
449
9,584
7,184
17,217
76.76
Mizoram
21,081
138
5,858
12,752
18,748
88.93
Nagaland
16,579
1,296
4,695
6,975
12,966
78.21
Sikkim
7,096
500
2,160
697
3,357
47.31
Tripura
10,486
113
4,609
3,089
7,811
74.49
Grand Total
262,179
25,468
75,400
71,096
171,964
65.59

Note:
VDF (Very dense Forest): All Lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density of 70% and above
MDF (Moderately Dense forest): All lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 40% and 70%
OF (Open forest): All lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of canopy density between 10% and 40%

Friday 29 July 2016

Forest Types of North East India


Over the century, Northeastern India has gained worldwide attention for its diverse and extensive forest cover. Forests of this region are unique, both in terms of their structure and species composition.

Climate, physiography and soils of the region have provided favorable conditions for luxuriant growth of natural vegetation. As the physiography varies from low lying swamps and marshes, to high mountain ridges lying above 6000 m, the soils vary from sand, silt and loam to laterite. The climate of the region seems to have the most telling effect on the vegetation type. The region has one of the heaviest rain falls in the world. Although the average annual rainfall of the region is about 250 cm it varies from place to place. The heavy rainfall which comes from May to September, keeps the relative humidity of the area very high throughout the year. Temperature variation is low, remaining normally between 12 0 C and 35 0 C except in the high hills. These favorable climatic conditions, augmented by fertility of the soils provide for the astounding diversity of flora and fauna characteristic of the region.

Champion and Seth (1968) distinguished 51 types of forests in North East India under 13 broad categories as shown below

I. Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests
1.  Assam valley tropical wet evergreen forest
2.  Upper Assam valley tropical evergreen forest
3.  Cachar tropical evergreen forest
4.  Cane brakes
5.  Wet bamboo brakes
6.  Pioneer Euphorbiaceous scrub

II. Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests
7.  Assam valley semi-evergreen forest
8.  Sub-Himalayan high alluvial semi-evergreen forest
9.  Syzgium parkland
10. Eastern alluvial secondary semi-evergreen forest
11. Sub-Himalayan secondary wet mixed forest
12. Cachar semi-evergreen forest
13. Moist bamboo brakes
14. Secondary moist bamboo brakes

III. Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests
15. Very moist sal forest
16. Moist plains sal forest
17. Moist sal savannah
18. East Himalayan moist mixed deciduous forest
19. Northern secondary moist mixed deciduous forest
20. Secondary Euphorbiaceous scrub
21. Low alluvial savannah woodland
22. Eastern hollock forest

IV. Littoral and swamp Forests
23. Sub-montane hill valley swamp forest
24. Creeper swamp forest
25. Tropical seasonal swamp forest
26. Eastern wet alluvial grassland
27. Riparian fringing forest

V. Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests
28. Khair-sissu forest

VI. Subtropical Broad-leaved Hill Forests
29. Khasi sub-tropical hill forest
30. Assam sub-tropical hill savannah woodland

VII. Subtropical Pine Forests
31. Assam sub-tropical pine forest
32. Assam sub-tropical pine savannah

VIII. Montane Wet Temperate Forests
33. East Himalayan wet temperate forest
34. Naga hills wet temperate forest

IX. Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests
35. East Himalayan moist temperate forest
36. Cypress forest
37. Montane bamboo brakes
38. Alder forest
39. Low level blue pine forest

X. Himalayan Dry Temperate Forests
40. East Himalayan dry temperate coniferous forest
41. Larch forest
42. East Himalayan dry juniper/birch forest
43. East Himalayan dry juniper/birch forest

XI. Sub-Alpine Forests
44. East Himalayan sub-alpine birch/fir forest
45. Sub-alpine blue pine forest
46. Sub-alpine pasture

XII. Moist Alpine Scrub
47. Birch/Rhododendron scrub
48. Deciduous alpine scrub
49. Dwarf Rhododendron scrub

XIII. Dry Alpine Scrub
50. Dry alpine scrub
51. Dwarf juniper scrub