Madhya Pradesh forest minister Sartaj Singh’s written reply in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly that the other day that about 51 chitals (spotted deer) had died within a short period after consuming lantana leaves in Kanha Tiger Reserve has thrown up several questions that deserve a valid response from the state government, especially with regard to the strategy followed by the park management in tiger reserves to restore and maintain the grasslands, so crucial for the survival of herbivores.
The state forest minister, in his reply, had stated that the animals had taken shelter under lantana bushes in the Kanha Tiger Reserve around mid-December last year when it was extremely cold and they ended up eating large quantities of lantana leaves. This affected their liver and there was a heavy casualty.
Inquiries by this correspondent have revealed that the park management resorts to “early burning of grasslands as per plan” and grass is burnt on the meadows as a regular winter fire management practice in Kanha, Bandhavgarh and other project tiger areas.
The main purpose of this early burning, also known as “cool burning”, is to prevent uncontrolled fire during the summer months.
This practice has been followed despite expert advice from several quarters that the early burning practice harms micro-fauna and alters wildlife habitats. Fire also drastically changes the abundance and composition of wildlife communities and reverses the process of the natural plant succession.
The head of the forest ecology and environment division of state Forest Research Institute at Jabalpur, R.K. Pandey, has done extensive research on grassland ecology. After his Ph.D. research between 1978 and 1982 on the subject “Ecological Studies on Grasslands of Kanha National Park with special reference to wildlife management”, Dr Pandey reviewed his findings at the ground level between 2004 and 2006 and arrived at the conclusion that early burning replaces palatable grass with unpalatable fire-resistant weeds and grasses.
In light of Dr Pandey’s research findings and the huge casualty of cheetals within a short period in Kanha recently, it is significant that the wildlife wing of the state forest department and Madhya Pradesh state Forest Research Institute are jointly organising a national workshop on “Grassland Management in Protected Areas in India: Prospect and Retrospect” at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve from April 4 to 6.
The upcoming workshop is likely to explain whether or not palatable grass is available in adequate volumes in the meadows of Kanha.