CHAPTER -IX
Forestry

9.1.0 Assam is known for its extensive forest areas and availability of rich floras and faunas besides other valuable forest products. As per information available from the State Forest Department, the total area under forests in Assam was 26,781.91 Sq. Km at the end of March, 2003, out of which 15,492.329 Sq. Km was under Research Forests and 2,860.942 Sq. Km under Protected Forest Area. Thus, the Forests area constitutes about 34.14 percent of the total geographical area of Assam. The forests in the plain districts are managed by the State Forest Department while the authorities for management of the forest in the two hill districts are their respective District Councils.

9.1.1 The forests products of the State mainly comprised of industrial wood, fuel wood, bamboo, stone, thatch, cane, sand etc. According to information available from the State Forest Department, the out-turn of fuel wood product of the State was 29,586.47 stack cubic mete (Provisional) during the year 2000-2001.

9.1.2 A good amount of revenue is earned by the State Government from its various Forest products. The amount of revenue earned from the forest products during the year 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 were Rs 1473.00 lakh, 1476.50 lakh and Rs 1207.77 lakh respectively. The revenue collection for the year 202-2003 has been provisionally estimated at Rs 1854.50 lakh.

9.1.3 The importance of Forestry lies not only with its productivity but also in its capacity to prevent soil erosion. The State Government has therefore continued to impose ban on indiscriminate felling of trees in the State. This apart, the depletion of forest resources in the State in recent years have led to the implementation of various Forestry development programmes such as Afforestation and Social Forestry, Wildlife management, improvement of infrastructural facilities etc. The achievement made in respect of different Forestry development programmes in the State during the year 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 may be observed at Table 9.1.

TABLE – 9.1
ACHIEVEMENT UNDER VARIOUS FORESTRY PROGRAMMES IN ASSAM (Area in hectares)

SOCIAL FORESTRY:

9.2.0 The Social Forestry programme is an important programme being undertaken by the State Forest Department. The programme mainly aims at increasing area under Afforestation especially in Residential Area and otherwise Occupied Areas of the State. The achievement under Social Forestry scheme was 3871 hectares of area during 2001-2002 against the targeted area of 3835 hectares. The number of seedlings planted under this scheme was 96.76 lakh during the year. The scheme wise expenditure on afforestation during 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 is shown in Table – 9.2.

TABLE – 9.2
SCHEMEWISE ALLOCATION AND EXPENDITURE ON AFFORESTATION DURING 2001-2002 AND 2002-2003
(Rs in Lakh)

FOREST ROADS:

9.3.0 The length of Forest road in Assam as on 31.03.2002 was 6076.245 Km. The length of Surfaced Forest road was 269.947 Km and Unsurfaced Forest road was 5806.298 Km of which 3438.351 Km were motorable and 2367.947 Km were non-motorable roads.

WILD LIFE:

9.4.0 One of the most attractive features of the State’s Forestry sector is its colourful wildlife comprising variety of animals, reptiles, birds and fishes. Some of the species found in the State are either exclusive to her or are rarely to be seen in any part of the country. Assam is famous all over the world as the home of great one-horned Rhinoceros. The highly endangered species of the world found in Assam are Hollock Gibbon, the Stump-tailed Macaque, the Capped Languor and Golden Languor monkeys, the Pigmy Hog, the Clouded Leopard, the Golden Cat, the White Winged Wood Duck etc. Assam is one of the best destinations where tourist can encounter a great variety of wildlife.

For the protection and preservation of the wildlife of Assam there are five National Parks and twelve Wildlife and three Bird Sanctuaries. The area under National Parks and Sanctuaries is shown in table – 9.3.

TABLE – 9.3
AREAS UNDER NATIONAL PARKS AND SANCTURIES IN ASSAM

The one horned rhino is largely concentrated in the Kaziranga National Park, where a range of about fourteen different types of grass provide them ample forage. The rhino is also found in smaller number in some other wildlife sanctuaries in the State. The rhino population has increased to 1672 (as per 2000, Animal Census) from 1164 (as per 1993 Animal Census) in Kaziranga National Park alone. The elephant population is thriving in almost all the reserved sanctuaries and wildlife habitats. According to 1993 Animal Census Kaziranga National Park has about 1092 elephants followed by Manas National Park (522), Nameri National Park (202) and Dibru-Saikhowa (131). The Orang National Park has about 6, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary 28 and Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary 6 elephants according to 1997 Animal Census. For preservation and protection of tiger population a centrally sponsored scheme "Tiger Project" is also located at Manas National Park. Tiget population was 89 at Manas National Park according to 1997 Animal Census and the same was 80 in Kaziranga National Park, 29 each in Nameri and Dibru-Saikhowa Wildlife Sanctuaries, 16 in Orang National Park, 8 in Laokhowa and 3 in Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Assam boasts of a variety of other exotic wildlife mammals as well as the multihued winged species like Swamp Dear, Sambar, Hog Deer, Sloth Deer, Hog Badger, Indian Bison, Water Buffalo, Jackal, Goose, Hornbills, Ibis, Cormorants, Egret, Heron, Fishing Eagle, Hill Partridges, Yellow Brittern, Emerald Dove and Pelican.

9.2.3 The volume of Central assistance utilised for development of various National Parks of the Sttae during 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 may be seen at Table 9.4.

TABLE – 9.4
FUND UTILISED THROUGH VARIOUS SCHEMES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL PARKS UNDER THE CENTRAL ASSISTANCE