0211-B2

Degradation of Reserved Forest near Bhavnagar City Due to Overexploitation

Renu A. Oza^[1]

ABSTRACT

The reserved forest (Victoria park) is situated 3 km south of Bhavnagar City, Gujarat State, India. Bhavnagar lies on the Western cost of India at 72° 11’ E longitude and 21° 45’ N latitude and 11 m above sea level. It is a semi-arid region with very hot summers and cold winters. The average rainfall is about 500 mm.The hot, dry climate supports scrubby, thorny and xerophytic vegetation. In all, 422 plants and 100 species of fauna have been recorded in the forest. This is a unique forest, there is nowhere else in India that a forest exists near a city, under virtual threat of extinction.

Trees made up 16.35 % and herbs 57.11 %. Leguminoceae and Poaceae were the largest families. The biological spectrum showed maximum Therophytes (51.54 %) and Phenerophytes were 25.26 %. The quantitative analysis recorded nine plant associations. Thus the area had rich reserve forest

The forest is over-exploited by indiscriminate felling of trees. Cattle graze and destroy saplings. Human beings convert the forest areas into a picnic spot and playground, which produces noise and other types of pollution. The natural vegetation has been replaced by exotic species or by plantations of mango orchards. The development of housing has stopped seepage of lake water into the forest. The construction of roads inside the forest area has polluted the forest with waste materials, plastics, air and noise pollution. It was observed that the human settlements near the forest destroy the vegetation and disturb the fauna. Priority areas to preserve the reserved forest and to prevent its further degradation are discussed in the paper.

INTRODUCTION

Men remain as an integral and inseparable part of nature, since he alone has the capacity to change his own environment and also to alter the environment of other organisms. He plays a pivotal role on ecosystem as his actions predominantly affect nature. it is necessary for his own survival and survival of plants and animals that man should preserve the present ecosystem and if possible he should try to improve it. Industrial revolution, though beneficial to the mankind, has left harmful impact on environment some of which are irreversible.

Nature has bestowed upon mankind the most precious gift “the forest” which is important form many points of view. Forest serves the mankind all basic necessities like food, fuel, gums, fibers, resins etc. It helps in bringing rain and also helps in recharging our ground water reservoirs. Forests are the only sources of oxygen and absorbs carbon dioxide. It prevents soil erosion, reduce the force of torrential rain before it reaches the soil and also give protection against cyclonic wind. Trees in the forest reduce aerial pollution and also helps in maintaining the balance of ecosystem. The forest Department, with the help of peoples participation should take effective steps to extend and conserve forest wealth. “Vanamahotsav” activities improve tree plantation and should be carried out regularly and properly. Conservation of forest becomes an absolute necessity as it is a habitat for a variety of living organisms including wild life.

The Victoria park is reserved forest situated at a distance of 3 km south of Bhavnagar city in Gujarat state. Bhavnagar lies in saurashtra Gujarat at 72° 11’ E longitude and 21° 45’ N latitude and 11 M above sea level. Total area of the forest is 202.74 hacteres. The park is triangular in shape. Most of the area in the forest is plain but the western side is hilly and rugged in nature. Roads are constructed on the three sides of the park.

This park was designed under the guidance of Councilor Mr. Proctor Sins of the State. The Victoria Park was set up in the year 1888 by Maharaja Takhtasinhji of Bhavnagar. The reserved forest used to house hundreds of species of flora and fauna.

The soil in this forest is of three types. Half decomposed soil just beneath the upper surface called “morrum” forms the first type. The second type of soil is the coarse soil mixed with clay and the third type is the yellowish brown soil. The pH value of soil ranges from 8.45 to 8.95 and hence is alkaline. Cultivation is being carried out in medium black soils.

The ecoclimate of forests are defined in terms of mega-thermal types, depending on climatic conditions. Victoria Park falls in the “Fourth mega-thermal type” with water deficiency throughout the year. Bhavnagar is a coastal city that experiences semi-arid type of climate with marked seasons. It has very hot summers and cold winters. The region gets very low rainfall.

According to the meteorological and solar radiation data of Bhavnagar the average maximum temperature is 39.8° C and the average minimum temperature is 13.3° C. May is the hottest month of the city and January is the coldest month. The annual average of maximum temperature of the city is 33.6° C and annual average of minimum temperature is 21.4° C. The wind velocity is maximum during the month of June that is 12.1 Km/hr. wind velocity is minimum during the month of October, November and December.

Thorny type of vegetation is found in the Victoria Park. Thorny, spiny, scrubby and xerophytic types of trees are found in plenty in the forest due to high temperature, low humidity and low rainfall conditions. Initially Acacia senegal was the dominant plant species of the park but now due to mismanagement the exotic weed Prosopis juliflora DC. Appears to have infilterated into the park discouraging the growth of indigenous species. Exotic species like Prosopis juliflora DC. is found in plenty in the region

The Victoria Park consists of 422 plants. Some of the common and prominent floral species of the forest area are as follows:

Maytenus emerginata (Willd.) D. Hou., Acacia nilotica (L.) Del., Acacia senegal Willd, Capparis decidua (Forsk.)Fdgew, Cassia auriculata L. and Capparis sepiaria L.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Several field trips were made at regular intervals to various parts of Victoria Park reserved forest extending over a period of more than ten years (1990 to 2000), for the intensive and extensive collection of plants. For collection and preservation the procedures given by Jain and Rao(1977) and Balgooy (1987) were generally followed. The trips were arranged in such a way so as cover all the localities and collected the plants in flowering or fruiting stages. All the specimens collected were serially numbered. The field notes were taken regularly, included habitat, color of the flowers, association and other pertinent features. Efforts were made to identify the plants from the fresh material; those which could not be satisfactorily identified in the field were brought to the laboratory and identified by checking it with monographs, herbarium specimens and other available literature.

Collected plants were properly processed, numbered and prepared for herbarium. The herbarium specimens were labeled and deposited in Herbarium Section of the Department of Life Sciences, Bhavnagar University, Bhavnagar.

FLORISTIC STUDY

Mac (1986) studied flora of Surat district and reported 896 species with five new records in the area. The floristic, phytosociology and ethno botanical study of Vapi and Umargam was studied by Contractor (1987), and reported 964 angiospermic plants. Vashi (1985) worked in the Umarpada forest of Surat district and recorded 751 plants species from the area. Vora (1980) studied the flora of Dharampur, Kaprada and Nana-Ponda ranges. Joshi (1983) made floristic and phytochemical survey of South Gujarat forest. Bedi and Sabnis (1983) studied the ethno botanical aspects of Dadra-Nagar Haveli and Daman region. Rao and Sabnis (1983) studied the floristic and phytochemistry of Kutch and worked on the phytochemical screening of over 600 plants.

The urban ecosystem of Baroda and Surat had been studied by Patil and Sabnis (1982), in great detail to assess the vegetational changes or damages due to industrialization and urbanization. They have pointed out that floristic change due to increasing human activities. Reddy (1987) collected 879 plant species form the Dharampur forest; and also reported 12 species for the first time from the area. Vora and George (1987) studied distribution of various life forms in the ground flora under different canopies of Panchmehal forests. They found that herbs or annual dominated in the distributed areas; while shrubs were seen in the protected areas.

Vora et al. (1981) reported 341 flowering plants of Ghoghamahal of Bhavnagar district. The floristic and ecological study of Bhavnagar and its surroundings has been studied by Oza (1991), and reported 528 flowering plant the area. Desai (1992) has recorded five new taxa from Bansda forest, for the first times, which are new additions to the flora of Gujarat State. Pandit and Kotiwar (2002) enumerated 431 species from the Gir forest ecosystem Gujarat, out of which 294 belongs to genera and 94 families of flowering plants. Further they reported 371 dicots and 60 monocots.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Total number of species recorded from this forest were 422, belonging to 96 angiosperm families. The ratio of species belonging to monocots and dicots is 1:4.86; of genera 1:4.22 and of families 1:4.65. the ratio of the total number of genera to species is 1:1.37, which is rather low in comperation to a corresponding ratio for whole of India (1:7), but it is more or less in conformity with this ratio for the W Rajasthan as reported by Bhandari (1978) and that of Delhi state as reported by Maheshwari(1963).

It is also interesting to note that % occurrence of the herbs were 57.11, of shrubs 15.88, of trees 16.35 and of climbers 10.66 %.

It is evedent that leguminoceae (sensu lato) and Poaceae are the largest families amongst the Dicot and Monocot respectively. Families Euphorbiaceae and Asteraceae take up next positions in the area. In order to get an insight into the relations of the flora of Victoria Park with the neighbouring places, a comparative list of the ten dominant families in Victoria Park, Ghogha mahal, Saurashtra region and Gujarat state as whole is given in order of their frequency (tanle-1).

The biological spectrum reveals a Throphytic plant climate. As already stated, ecoclimate of the area is semi arid, fourth megathermal with no water surplus through the year. Therophytes are best adapted to the general climate of the area and so far most abundant (51.54%). They complete their life cycle within the favorable short period of three months of monsoon and pass the rest unfavorable period of the year in the form of seed. Phenerophytes are present in lesser (25.26 %) than on the normal spectrum (46 %) and many of them are thorny or spiny, shrubby and xerophytic.

Forest vegetation was analysed for phytosociological characters by quantitative methods and in total 9 associations have been arrived at by an objective method of statistical computation of coefficient of variation of density and cover and finally computing relative growth index (Pandeya et al. 1967).

The associations have been grouped into the following 3 types.

Associations with Acacia senegal as the dominant species.

Associations with Prosopis juliflora as the dominant species.

Association mixed in nature but without dominance of Acacia senegal or Prosopis juliflora.

There are many factors responsible for the ecological degradation of the forest. The following are the causes discussed in detail.

Victoria Park is the natural forest with plenty of animal, birds and plants species. Initially the forest was dense with abundant trees and underground vegetation. The forest is getting slowly degraded and no significant steps are taken to offset the damage.

Victoria Park is surrounded by walls on all its sided. At some places, the edges are broken which allows cattle to enter the park. Cattle, goat and sheep enter the park for grazing and destroyed the plant seedlings.

There are many houses close to the park. Human settlement near the park destroy the vegetation and disturb the fauna. People cut trees for domestic purposes.

People use this place as a garden for recreation. Unfortunately people who come here pollute the park by dropping tibbits and waste materials. Large human gathering usually produce noise pollution, which is not a conducive factor for the fauna. In this area, natural vegetation is now being removed and the area is now converted into a park, thereby deteriorating the forest area.

Actually thorny, scrubby and spiny plants which exist in large abundence is ideally suited for the preservation of the Victoria Park. Indiscriminate mango plantation in the forest, degrading the thorny trees has proved a serious threat to the very existence of the park.

Another major cause for ecological degradation is the policy decision of forest department, who favour a mixed type over monoculture vegetation. It should be mentioned here that the forest at present includes xerophytic plants and mango plants between them. Only the indigenous plants of the park should be planted and harmful weeds and cuscuta parasites should be eradicated.

At a few places the natural vegetation of the forest has been removed and exotic species like Prosopis juliflora exists.

Human activities near the Krishnakunj lake disturb the migratory birds. Housing development is encouraged near the lake. Well-grounded apprehensions are expressed that the housing activity would result in stopping of seepage of lake water thus ending the much necessary habitat and breeding ground for wetland birds. People in these areas depend on the water form this lake thereby reducing the availability of water for animal and birds. Silting has made the lake shallow, hence the silt should be dredged out so that the lake can hold more water.

Transport passing through the roads and people walking on these roads pollute the lake by dropping waste materials and other effluents. People burn the twigs of the forest for cooking purposes. The smoke generated affects the leaves of the plants. The dust particles produced gets deposited on the surface of the leaves reducing their photosynthetic ability.

Rainfall is unevenly distributed affecting the vegetative growth. Heavy down pour of rain water uproots the trees and degrades the forest.

The Victoria park a unique gift to the people of Bhavnagar city is under a virtual threat of extinction. Once upon a time the forest was endowed with wild boars, cheetals, hog deer and chinkaras giving a rare glimpse to nature lovers. Teak, bamboo, rudraksha and sandal wood trees were introduced in few numbers. In all 422 plants and 400 birds were observed in the forest. due to the various causes mentioned above the natural beauty of the forest is destroyed, the number of flora and fauna species is getting reduced.

Victoria Park is one of the most beautiful park found near the Bhavnagar city. The priorities to preserve the park and to prevent its ecological degradation the following steps can be adopted.

The forest department of Bhavnagar city must take the first step to prevent the natural degradation of the park. Human settlement in and around the park may be avoided.

Preventive measures may be adopted for, (i) collection of dry wood from the forest, (ii) cutting down trees.

Steps should be taken to slowly replace the existing picnic spot by planting trees, removing the playing material so that the ecological balance is restored.

The water of the Krishnakunj lake in the Victoria park is situated for the natural flora and fauna of the park. Using of this water for human necessities should be objected. Reservoirs are constructed across the lake for diverting the water of the lake for drinking and sanitation purpose. Instead of using the water for human settlement, it should be supplied to plants in the forest. As there are many reptiles, fishes and amphibians in the forest sufficient amount of the water should be present in the lake.

Arrangements should be made to conserve the rainwaters. The original thorny vegetation of the forest should be practiced thoroughly instead of adopting new mango plantations. Nurseries should not be encouraged in side the park.

Roads should not be constructed in the park. People should improve the natural scenic beauty of the forest instead of destroying it by increasing the number of plants and animal species. The entire area should be declared as “PROTECTED AREA” and strict watch should be maintained on the trespassers.

The entry could be by way of issue of tickets of nominal value so that the funds so collected can be utilized for development of forest.

Short films through slides and projectors should be shown to the people either free of charge (or) by charging a nominal fees highlighting the importance of preserving the forests.

Thus, if such steps are taken for this beautiful forest it can be protected by which we would be doing justice to the natures. greatest gift to mankind.

In general, by protecting the existing forests and also by taking effective steps to plant new trees ecological balance of this beautiful planet can be maintained and man can lead a trouble free life.

Let us all think and act in this directions.

CONCLUSION

Forests are managed for a variety of purposes, viz., timber for industrial use, forest products for rural communities, watershed of multipurpose use, and lend use alterations based on land capability for carbon sequestration and/or conservation of biodiversity. Each objective requires a different approach to management, but some generalizations can be made.

• Management can be succeed only if economic benefits are assured to local communities.

• Women’s participation is necessary.

• Total understanding of the complexities of the system.

• Management should lead to improvement of soil fertility and water quality.

• Resources recycling within the system.

• Self-regenerating capacities are to be enhanced.

• Strong community participation and ownership of participants should be well informed.

• User group/Community

• In semiarid region ground water resources need to be monitored.

• Establishment of energy farm for local communities.

In conclusion, it would be better to end with the statement given by Odum (1971): “We can now make a strong case for the proposition that adequate pollution free living space, not food, should be the key to determining the optimum density for man. In other words, the size and quality of the “ecos” or “environmental houses”, should be the limiting consideration, not the number of calories we can relentlessly squeeze form the earth. A reasonable goal is to make certain that least a third of all land remains in protective open space use. This means that such a portion of our total environment should be in national, state or municipal parks, ownership, it should be protected by scenic easements, zoning or other definitive legal means”.

Table: 1. Comparison of ten dominant families of Gir forest with different regions of Gujarat State.

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