Innovative bamboo restoration drive begins in Wayanad

25,000 seed balls prepared to be broadcast in four forest ranges

While the ‘gregarious flowering of bamboo’ inside the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) and adjacent tiger reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is posing a threat to wildlife in the forest complex, a major tiger and elephant habitat in the country, sanctuary officials began an innovative bamboo restoration drive to mark the International biodiversity day on Saturday.

The bamboo plant dries up and dies after it flowers once in its life cycle.

Bamboo groves in the Wayanad forest are the mainstay of herbivores in the Nilgiri biosphere during summer. With the advent of the season, migration of wild animals starts from nearby sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to Wayanad.

Bamboo groves, which grow in over 500 hectares of the 344.44 sq.km. of the sanctuary, have fully bloomed, a phenomenon said to occur once in the life cycle of bamboo plants.

Moreover, pointing to a threat to wildlife as well as ecology of the Nilgiri biosphere, it is reported that over 25% of bamboo groves in WWS and nearby sanctuaries have bloomed since 2010, and the phenomenon is continuing.

However, sanctuary officials launched the innovative restoration drive on Saturday by broadcasting bamboo seed balls to restore the past glory of bamboo clusters, ensure the fodder for wildlife, and mitigate man-animal conflict in the area.

“We have prepared 25,000 seed balls by using soil, sand, and compost mix,” said S. Narendra Babu, wildlife warden, WWS.

A few bamboo seeds will be inserted in each ball, and it will be broadcast to selected areas in four forest ranges under the sanctuary by frontline forest staff and watchers while performing field perambulation, Mr. Babu said. The drive will continue till June 5, he added.

Around 100 kg of bamboo seeds have been procured from tribal people on the fringes of the forest for making balls.

Source: Read Full Article