US model to protect Kerala forests

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an ambitious drive to revive the state’s forest resources, the forest department has adopted the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation that forms the basis of forest management in countries like the US and Canada. “It will be more precise to say that we have adopted the spirit of the North American model,” said the head of forest force Dr Bransdon S. Corrie, the brain behind the adapted model.

The North American model was originally devised to control hunting. Once hunting became rampant and species were threatened with extinction, game hunters were given permits to hunt in forests on the condition that the population of these species they were allowed to kill should improve next year. If the game population, that of bison or bear or deer, has not gone up, hunting permits will be banned till the animal population stabilises. This induced sustainable hunting.

“But for the system to succeed, you need base level data, like the total population of an animal or bird species in a particular location. That is the soul of the model, the inventory and monitoring system that has been put in place for the purpose,” Dr Corrie said. It is this soul that has been adapted for the state, and the local model will have the ‘forest beat’ as the lowest management unit.

All the basic information within a forest beat – details of flora and fauna, unique habitats, plantations, tribal settlements, trek paths, fire lines, non-timber collection by tribals, waterbodies, eco-tourism spots, animal movement, bird migration, nesting – will have to be recorded on a regular basis. ‘Forest Beat Journals’, on which the findings have to be recorded, and ‘Beat Monitoring Registers’, on which beat officers document their activities, have already been distributed to the 1,000-odd beat officers in the state.

There are 500-600 beats in the state, each covering an average area of 15-20 square kilometres. “This field-level data will give us a strong information base, which the planners can rely on to make crucial decisions. It can evolve into a dependable forest census of sorts,” Dr Corrie said. For instance, in man-animal conflicts, this can be useful in making what Mr Corrie terms “informed decision”.