Wildlife of the Brahmaputra

Home , Assam roofed turtle, Beel, Brahmaputra River, Dhakuakhana, Dhekiajuli, Dibang River Bridge

WILDLIFE OF THE BRAHMAPUTRA

Kashmira Kakati

“The native town of Gowahatty is built entirely of bamboos, reeds, and grass. To the south an extensive marsh almost surround the whole station, and the contiguity of many old tanks, choked with jungle, coupled with the vicinity of the hills on every quarter except the north, renders this town, in spite of the improvements already alluded to, one of the most insalubrious in Assam’.

“I arrived at the mouth of the little stream Dikhoo, and mounting an elephant, rode through a dense tree and grass jungle to Seebsaugur, distant twelve miles from the Burrampooter”.

“In the Chawlkhowa river, opposite Burpetah, I have seen basking in the sun on the sand banks, as many as ten crocodiles at a time; and upon one occasion, a heap of a hundred crocodiles’s eggs, each about the size of a turkey’s egg, were discovered on a sand bank, and brought to me”.

- From ‘A Sketch of Assam’, John Butler, 1847

Photo on previous age: A makhna at Poba Reserve Forest, the last rainforest remnant flush on the Brahmaputra.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgment ...4 Summary...7 Introduction...8 Objectives & Methods...10 Site/Species Accounts...17

1. D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh...17 2. Kobo Chapori & Poba Reserve Forest...20 3. Dibru-Saikhowa National park and Motapung-Maguri Beels...25 4. The River Elephants...29 5. Panidehing WLS & Dikhowmukh...41 6. Molai Chapori...44 7. Bordoibam-Bilmukh Proposed Bird Sanctuary...48 8. Satjan Wetland & Ranganadi and Subansiri Dams...50 9. River Dolphins – by Abdul Wakid...53 10. Kaziranga National Parks and the Greater One-horned Rhino...61 11. The Brahmaputra Chaporis...76 12. The Bengal Florican...84 13. Laokhowa and Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuaries...86 14. Island tigers...94 15. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary...99 16. Rivers and forests – A forest officer’s perspective...101 17. The golden langur...104 18. Wetlands of the Western Brahmaputra...105 Conclusion...112

Acknowledgment

I thank Dr K.K.Dwivedi for this opportunity to compile these vignettes on the wildlife of the Brahmaputra. On my visits to wildlife areas starting from D’ering WLS in East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh all the way downstream to Dhubri, several people freely shared with me their wealth of knowledge and experience from living and working on or close to the river. Among them were those making a living on the river – boatmen, fishermen and herders; officials, foresters, scientists, conservationists and guides; and villagers whose daily lives involve interactions with Brahmaputra wildlife. At Assam Forest Department – Dr C.Ramesh, DFO, Parbatjhora Division for his insights into what the Brahmaputra represents in terms of its forest value; Mr P.Sivakumar, Conservator of Forests, Northern Assam Circle, Tezpur for his time and suggestions on key persons to meet at Burhachapori and Laokhowa WLS; Dr Sonali Ghosh, for information on wetlands in Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon and providing important contacts; Mr Bhaskarjyoti Buragohain, Assistant Conservator of Forests, Northern Range, Biswanath Ghat, Kaziranga National Park and Mr Ashok Das, Range Forest Officer, Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and for their time and a glimpse into what it takes to protect Assam’s rhinos; Mr M.C. Talukdar, DFO Dhemaji and his wife for their kind help and hospitality at Dhemaji; Mr R.N.Boro, DFO Wildlife Kokrajhar for kindly providing information on Dheer and Diplai Beels; Mr. H.Medak, Deputy Ranger, Jonai, Forest guards Mr Farid Ali at Orang National Park, Mr Boloram Doley at Gogamukh, Dhemaji, Mr Tularam Modi, Mr Prabhat Gogoi, Mr Keri Kramsa and Mr Jibon Pau at Poba Reserve Forest and Kobo Chapori; Mr Manoj Kumar Das and all staff of the Borgang Boat Camp; Mr Tankeshwar Phukan, Panidehing Bird Sanctuary; B. Rajbongshi and G. Sajem on NH 37; Md. Idris Ali, Boatman, Burhachapori WLS; Mr Girish Ray, Mr Dhiraj Ch.Ray and Mr Mukul Kalita at Kokrajhar Division for all help rendered and field stories and knowledge shared. At Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department – Mr Tashi Mize, DFO, D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary, East Siang district for being completely unfazed by my 5:30 am appearance at his Pasighat residence and personally taking me into the sanctuary to see the abundant evidence of wildlife in the lush grasslands of the sanctuary, sharing documents and checklists, and arranging a tasty lunch at the Pilomukh Beat; Mr G.Borang, Deputy Ranger and forest guards who accompanied us to the field; Mr Tanyo Siram, Eco-development Committee, D’ering WLS on hope for wildlife. At Tinsukia – Dr Ranjan Das, professor, birder and photographer, for his time at Maguri Beel and a wide-angle view of wetland conservation; Mr Puru Gupta, Deputy

Commissioner, for his overview on the conservation issues concerning Dibru-Saikhowa National Park; Probin Hatibarua and Polash Phukan at Kohuwa Resort for logistics. At Aaranyak – Abdul Wakid for writing the chapter on river dolphins and taking me to meet conservation volunteers in Jorhat, Sibsagar and Dibrugarh down many a feeder road to the river from NH-37; Namita Brahma for sharing her research findings on Bengal Floricans; Bibhuti Lahkar for his explanation of floodplain grassland dynamics; Firoz Ahmed for information on the herpetofauna of the Brahmaputra and tigers of Kaziranga. At WWF, India – Hiten Baishya and David Smith, of the North Bank Landscape Elephant Program at Tezpur for their detailed data and analysis of the causes of the elephant-human conflict in the landscape; Tridip Sharma and Jimmy Borah of the Tiger program for sharing information on their monitoring of the Brahmaputra river islands for tigers and prey; Anupam Sharma, Head of WWF’s Assam Landscape for facilitating my visit and interviews; and Amit Sharma, Senior Coordinator – Rhino Conservation for the information on the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 program. At Lakhimpur and Dhemaji – Mr Bikul Goswami, Green Heritage, for his poignant story of loss of the north bank forests and living rivers rendered dead by dams, but also hope in the form of the tiny Satjan wetland where waterfowl are protected by the community; Mr Baliram Gogoi, pioneer of the community guardian movement for the waterfowl; Mr Mriganabh Gogoi, painter and sculptor, who sketches and paints the fish and birds of his native Dhakuakhana; Mr Debojit Phukan of Megamix Nature Club and Mr Bhaskar Bora, Green Heritage who I was unable to meet, but who provided me contacts and information over phone; Mr Royal Pegu, journalist and environmentalist, Dhemaji for sharing information on Poba Reserve Forest; Bijoy Shankar Singh, village headman, Kobo Chapori, recounted the disappearance of some species of wildlife like wild buffalo, tiger and sambar from the island in the last two decades; Dhruba Das, volunteer, for his perspective of the river elephants from trying to follow them for over a year along the chaporis. At Dibrugarh, Sibsagar and Jorhat – Sintu Deori, Gunabhiram Deori, Pradip Deori, and Pranab Bharali of Deorigaon Village, Dehingmukh Reserve Forest for recounting their years of conflict with elephants on the Brahmaputra; Lekhon Gogoi, guide spoke about the birds and elephants at Panidehing Bird Sanctuary; Eyang Gam, Volunteer of the Dolphin Conservation Network for a Mising folk tale about the river dolphin and Durgiram Yein about their trials with the river elephants, at Disangmukh; Hiren Dutta and Dijen Bora of NGO Dolphin spoke about stork conservation at Dikhowmukh and walked us to the Azan Peer dargah and thanks also to Mrs Dutta for making us delicious jolpan at their home; Mr Ananta Dutta of NGO Keteki gave an added perspective on the river elephants, and sadly gives a term for them - ‘the homeless herd’; Madhab Das and Sushil Kalita at Neamatighat for 5

showing us which routes the river elephants move to Majuli; and Jadav Payenge, the outspoken Forest Man of India for his story of the reforestation of a barren river island, now named for him as ‘Molai Chapori’. At Laokhowa-Burhachapori WLS - Smarajit Ojah, Asst. Professor, Geography & NRM, Nowgong Girls College and Prasanta Bordoloi, Wildlife Filmmaker and Painter, both also of the Laokhowa-Burhachapori Conservation Society, for driving from Nowgong to Burhachapori late evening to share their exciting documentation of wildlife in the two sanctuaries and the river islands and about conservation goals that can be achieved when NGOs and government join hands; Prem Prasad Adhikari, village headman, Dhaniya, for speaking about how the sanctuary came to be established and their present difficulties; Shabana Hussain, M.A. scholar shared her research findings on the socio-economic status of the fringe villagers of the WLS. At Sonitpur and Darrang – Imtiaz Ahmed for kindly arranging my visit, accompanying me to Orang National Park and Lohori Char and setting up my interviews with the villagers; Safiuddin Ahmed, teacher, for his observant accounts about snakes and frogs, unusual among most interviewees who spoke mainly of elephants and rhinos; Nurul Islam and Usman Ghani, senior villagers at Badlisar; Tayab Ali and Nobi Hussain, settlers on Lohori Chapori who share their space with wild pigs, rhinos and tigers; Mahendra Upadhyay, cattle owner and Sunnilal Yadav, herder, on Sande Chapori recount their travels up the Brahmaputra with their livestock and the wildlife that they encountered then and now. At Guwahati - Dr Anwaruddin Choudhury for sharing his extensive information on wildlife of the northeast and his suggestions of people to meet in the field; Mr Dwipen Kalita, elephant expert, for his insights into the river elephants and wonderful stories of the elephants of north-east India which deserve a separate book for their telling; Mr Lakhan Teron, Deepor Beel for his account of the progressive degradation of the wetland; Bornali Gogoi, Nature’s Green Guard, for giving me useful contacts in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur. At Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon – Dr Kushal Choudhury for most kindly updating me on the wildlife of Chakrashila WLS and accompanying me to the nearby wetlands; PhD student Debahutee Roy for the close encounter with golden langurs at the Abhaya Rubber Garden and her very pleasant company; Arnab Bose, Advisor, Nature’s Foster for an overall picture of wetlands in western Assam; Insan Khan, Tintila village, for an account of a leopard attack near Chakrashila WLS; Dilip Doimari for a list of animals encountered around the sanctuary; Indrajit Kurmi, the very old chowkidar at the now defunct Rupshi Airfield for his retelling of the heydays of the airstrip and the wildlife that has now reclaimed it. Thanks to Udayan Borthakur, coordinator of this book project for extending help at all times and Ajit Yadav, Zinnia Kalita and Ankita at FREMAA for their support. 6

SUMMARY

The Brahmaputra Valley is a narrow and long alluvial floodplain where the dominant habitat is grassland interspersed with woodland. Much of the original forests have been lost in the last 150 years or so to human settlement, but pockets of protected wilderness remain. These support a great variety of fauna and flora, including significant world populations of mammals such as the Greater One-horned Rhino, the Wild Water Buffalo, Asian Elephant, the Gangetic River Dolphin and the Royal Bengal Tiger, and endemic species such as the Pygmy hog and Golden langur. Over 500 species of birds have been recorded in Protected Areas, including the endemic Manipur Bush Quail and Marsh Babbler, rare Bengal Florican, vultures and hornbills. Species lists for herpetofauna and butterflies are shorter because of the relative homogeneity of habitat types, but nonetheless comprise several species of conservation importance such as the Black Softshell Turtle and Assam Roofed Turtle; and butterflies such as the Brahmaputra Palmfly and Autumn Leaf.

The river and its numerous sand bars and islands, locally known as chars and chaporis, serve also as wildlife corridors for certain species and as a barrier to the migration of others. For example, the pygmy hog and golden langur are restricted to the north bank of the river, while the Malayan sun bear and northern pig-tailed macaque are found only on the south bank. Large mammals like elephants, rhinos and tigers, on the other hand, use the river as both corridor and habitat.

Along the length of the river, and connected by it at some places, are a string of Protected Areas, a few reserve forests and wetlands, with the largest and most famous among them being the World Heritage Site of Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve. This report is a compilation of information on the wildlife of the Brahmaputra, including accounts of species such as the rhino, the Island Tigers, the River Elephants and the River Dolphin. It is also a collection of anecdotal accounts by several people who live and work on the river, all along its length where it enters the plains as the Siang at D’ering WLS of Arunachal Pradesh to Dhubri where it exits Assam into Bangladesh. These anecdotes provide a first-hand and authentic narrative of the forests, river and wildlife as it exists now, the causes of their depletion, existing threats as well as the potential for their conservation.

INTRODUCTION

The Brahmaputra Valley is an alluvial plain created by the sediments of the great river over geological time. The narrow valley, about 700 m long by 80 m wide is a melting pot for fauna from three different biogeographical realm origins i.e. the Malayan, Chinese and Indian. The seasonally inundated floodplains of the river supported extensive grasslands, swamps and wetlands that have now been reduced to isolated stretches along the river. The wild jungle vistas recounted by John Butler on his boat trip up the Brahmaputra in the 1840s no longer exist as they did then, nor do the large crocodiles he spoke of. The tropical evergreen, semi-evergreen and deciduous forests typical of the valley have also been cleared systematically for settlement and agriculture until only a few, disjointed patches remain.

Nevertheless, these grasslands and forests remain home to three of Asia’s largest herbivore species – the greater one-horned rhino, the wild water buffalo and the Asian elephant, and its largest carnivore, the tiger, which occurs at one of the highest densities in the world. It also has the endangered and endemic golden langur and Gangetic dolphin; and a single sub-population of the Critically Endangered pygmy hog.

Of these, the rhino and the wild buffalo populations are the largest in the world. The jewel in the crown of the Brahmaputra valley wildlife areas, Kaziranga National Park, which is famous for its rhino, also harbours the highest density of the Bengal tiger and the only known population of the Eastern swamp deer.

Key sites in the Brahmaputra Valley such as Kaziranga and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks each have close to 500 bird species. Of these, the endangered Manipur bush quail and the Marsh babbler are endemic. The Critically Endangered grassland obligate, the Bengal Florican, is an iconic bird of the valley.

Twenty one species of turtles and reptiles inhabit the Brahmaputra Valley. The only wild population of the Critically Endangered Black Softshell Turtle is here and six other species – the Yellow tortoise, Asian brown tortoise, Narrow-headed softshell turtle, Keeled box turtle Three-striped roofed turtle and Assam roofed turtle are all endangered.

Butterfly diversity in the floodplain area of the Brahmaputra is not very high owing to the homogeneity of the habitat, as compared to closed forests. For example, in Molai Chapori, a restored forest entirely on a sand bar, only 43 species of butterflies have been recorded. Similarly, 56 species have been recorded in Orang National Park and 104 species in Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. While in Kaziranga national park the checklist had 493 species, most of these were seen in the forested Karbi-Anglong hills part of the park. Rare butterflies of the valley include the Autumn Leaf and Peal’s or Brahmaputra Palmfly; while Sullied Sailer, Common Hedge Blue, Common Pierrot, Royal Cerulean, Peablue, and Common Gem are protected species under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

The Brahmaputra as Barrier and Corridor

The wide Brahmaputra serves as a natural or biogeographic barrier for certain species of wildlife. The golden langur, hispid hare and pygmy hog, for example, only occur on the north bank of the river; while the western hoolock gibbon, Malayan sun bear, pig-tailed macaque and stump-tailed macaque occur only on the south of the river. As human settlement and activities steadily disrupt the connectivity among forests in the valley, the same river, however, also functions as a vital corridor for many species of wildlife that are able to ford water and use the islands for movement or as living spaces. As a corridor, the Brahmaputra connects patches of isolated forest thereby facilitating gene flow, helping increase populations and sometimes also allowing natural re-establishment of species at sites where they have become locally extinct. These connected populations are called meta-populations, and in Assam the Brahmaputra is instrumental in maintaining meta-populations of some of the most endangered animals in the world viz. the Bengal tiger, the greater one- horned rhino, the Indian elephant and the wild water buffalo.

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS

The objective of the short study, conducted between October and December 2015, was to document the wildlife of the Brahmaputra floodplain and the influence of the river on the distribution and ecology of species, through review of existing information on species and selected site visits.

The sources of secondary information were mainly research reports, published research papers and news clips and forest management plans. Site visits were made to 24 sites on the Brahmaputra from Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) to Dhubri (Assam). This included 10 Protected Areas, 2 Reserve Forests, 2 Proposed Reserve Forests, five confluences of tributaries with the Brahmaputra, three wetlands (non P.A.), a rubber plantation and an old airfield scrub forest. The field visits were carried out to gain an understanding of the wildlife habitat and interact with people having in- depth local knowledge of the wildlife and conservation issues in their areas. A total of 50 persons were interviewed on different subjects of wildlife and conservation interest. The interviews were recorded on video and subsequently transcribed. The report contains vignettes about the wildlife of the Brahmaputra in the first person by people who live and/or work on or near the river either as administrators, foresters, scientists, conservationists and those who earn their livelihoods on the river. A few sections are based on existing or inferred information.

Map 1: Wilderness Areas on and near the Brahmaputra.

Base Map Source: www.birdlife.org/datazone/site.

Site number as below in Table.

Table: A list of forest areas and wetlands on the Brahmaputra with conservation status, key species and Important Bird Area (IBA) status (if any).

Sl. State Name Year District Area Key Mammal, Reptiles and IBA Populations of IBA Trigger Species notified (km²) Amphibian species No. Total Species Recorded

NATIONAL PARK

1 Assam Dibru-Saikhowa 1999 Tinsukia, 340 Elephant, Tiger, Leopard, Sloth 502 Swamp Francolin, White-winged NP & Biosphere Dibrugarh Bear, Slow Loris, Pigtailed Duck, Baer’s Pochard, Lesser

Reserve; Macaque, Hog Deer, Gangetic Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, White- IBA 800 River Dolphin. Feral Horses; bellied Heron, Spot-billed Pelican, IBA Dibru- Monitor Lizards, Assam Roof, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White-rumped Saikhowa Cobra, Indian Rock Python Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Complex (Dibru- Slender-billed Vulture, Bengal Saikhowa NP, Florican, Sarus Crane, Spotted Poba RF, Kobo Greenshank, Indian Skimmer, Pale- Chapori PRF, capped Pigeon, Marsh Babbler, Amarpur Jerdon’s Babbler, Black-breasted Chapori, Maguri

& Motapung Parrotbill, Yellow Weaver Beel, Adjacent riverine tracts of Brahmaputra & Lohit rivers

2 Assam Kaziranga NP, 1974 Golaghat, 860 Rhino (pop. 2401), Tiger 490 Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Tiger Reserve, Nagaon, (pop.125), Elephant (1675), bar-headed Goose, Marbled Teal, Elephant Reserve Sonitpur Wild Buffalo (1963), Swamp Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, and World IBA 849 Deer (1129), gaur, Sambar, White-bellied Heron, Dalmatian Heritage Site, IBA Tiger, Slow Loris, Capped Pelican, Spot-billed Pelican, Lesser Langur, Rhesus macaque, Kestrel, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, Greater Hoolock Gibbon, Sloth Bear, Spotted Eagle, Eastern Imperial Otters, Gangetic Dolphin, Eagle, White-rumped Vulture, Barking Deer, Malayan Giant Slender-billed Vulture, Bengal Squirrel Florican, Spotted Greenshank, Indian Skimmer, Pale-capped Pigeon, Marsh Babbler, Jerdon’s Babbler, Slender-billed Babbler, Black- breasted Parrotbill, White-throated Bushchat, Yellow Weaver, Waterbirds

3 Assam Orang NP & Tiger 1999 Darrang, 78.80 Rhino (pop. 100), Tiger, Hog 225 Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Reserve, IBA Sonitpur Deer, Wild Pig, Elephant, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Gangetic Dolphin, Chinese Spot-billed Pelican, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, Pangolin, Small Indian Civet, White-rumped Vulture, Slender- Jungle Cat, Smooth Indian billed Vulture, Bengal Florican, Otter, Rufous-tailed Hare. Bristled Grassbird, Yellow Weaver Extinct:Swamp Deer,Hispid Hare; Indian Tent Turtle, Brown Roof Turtle, Malayan Box Turtle, Eastern Hill Terrapin, Spotted Black Terrapin, Indian Softshelled Turtle. New species of frog, Kalophrynus orangensis in 2002.;

WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES

4 Arunachal D’Ering 1976 East Siang 190 Elephant, Tiger, Wild Pig, Hog 150+ One of the most important grassland Pradesh (Previously Lali Deer, Barking Deer habitats of Bengal Florican. Swamp WLS), IBA Francolin, White-winged Duck, Lesser Adjutant, Spot-billed Pelican, Lesser Kestrel, Pallas’ Fish Eagle,

Greater Spotted Eagle, Indian Skimmer, Jerdon’s Babbler, Black- breasted Parrotbill

5 Assam Panidihing Bird 1999 Sibsagar 33.93 Elephants, Common Otter, Hog 160+ Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Sanctuary, IBA Deer, Gangetic Dolphin, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, (Panidihing Bird IBA 40 occasional Rhino, Tiger; Brown Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White-rumped Sanctuary, Roof Turtle, Indian Tent Turtle, Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Phokolai and Gangetic Softshell Slender-billed Vulture, Black- Dorou Beels) breasted Parrotbill

6 Assam Laokhowa, IBA 1998 Nagaon 70.13, Elephant, Wild Buffalo, Tiger, 200+ Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Laokhowa- Hog Deer, wild Pig, Porcupine, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, IBA Burhachapori Large Indian Civet, Common Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White-rumped 114.17 Otter, Clawless Otter, Golden Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Jackal Slender-billed Vulture, Bengal Florican, Spotted Greenshank, Marsh Extinct: Rhino Babbler

7 Assam Burachapori, IBA 1995 Sonitpur 44.06 “ “ “ Laokhowa- Burhachapori

8 Assam Amchang 2004 Kamrup 78.64 Hoolock Gibbon, Slow Loris, 200 Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Capped Langur, Rhesus Spot-Billed Pelican, White-rumped IBA 74 Macaque, Assamese Macaque, Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture Elephant, Leopard, Leopard Cat, Jungle Cat, Sambar, Barking Deer.

9 Assam Pabitora 1998 Morigaon 38.83 Rhino (pop.93), Fishing Cat, 190 Swamp Francolin, Lesser Adjutant, Golden Jackal, Common Otter, Greater Adjutant, White-bellied Wild Pig, Feral Water Buffalo; Heron, Spot-billed Pelican, Lesser Brahminy Terrapin, Spotted Kestrel, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White- Pond terrapin rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture, Bengal Florican, Spotted Greenshank, Yellow-vented Warbler, Marsh Babbler, Yellow Weaver, Waterbirds (20,000)

10 Assam Deepar Beel, IBA 2009 Kamrup 4.14 Elephant 150 Baer’s Pochard, Lesser Adjutant, & RAMSAR Site Greater Adjutant, Spot-Billed IBA 9 Pelican, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White- rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture, Spoon- 13

billed Sandpiper

11 Assam Chakrashila WLS, 1994 Dhubri, 45.50 Golden Langur, Chinese 213 Baer’s Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Chakrashila Kokrajhar Pangolin, Tiger, Gaur; Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Complex IBA IBA 53 Kraits,Cobras, Python and Pallas’ Fish Eagle, White-rumped (Dhir, Diplai & Monitor Lizard Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Dakra wetlands) Slender-billed Vulture, Waterbirds (20,000)

PROPOSED WLS

12 Assam Bordoibam- 1996 Dhemaji, 11.25 Fishing Cat, Hog Deer, Smooth 165+ Swamp Francolin, Lesser Adjutant, Bilmukh Lakhimpur Indian Otter; Indian Bull Frog, Greater Adjutant, Spot-billed Proposed Bird Asian Common Toad, Tree Frog Pelican, Lesser Kestrel, Pallas’ Fish Sanctuary, IBA species. Eagle. White-rumped Vulture and Greater Spotted Eagle

SELECT RESERVED FORESTS

13 Assam Poba (part of 1924 Dhemaji 102.21 Dibru-Saikhowa Complex IBA)

14 Assam Dihingmukh Dibrugarh 58.79

15 Assam Pabho, (Formerly Lakhimpur 49 Gangetic Dolphin, , Tiger 130 Swamp Francolin, Lesser Adjutant, Milroy Buffalo Greater Adjutant, Spot-billed Sanctuary), IBA Extinct: Wild Buffalo Pelican, White-rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture, Black-breasted Parrotbill

SELECT PROPOSED RESERVED FOREST

16 Assam Kobo (part of Dhemaji Dibru-Saikhowa Complex IBA)

OTHER IBAs

17 Arunachal Dibang Reserve - Lower 202 Tiger, Elephant, Wild Buffalo, 150+ Pradesh Forest IBA Dibang Hog Deer Valley

18 Arunachal The Chapories of - Lohit 200 Tiger, Elephant, Wild Buffalo, 140+ Swamp Francolin, White-winged Pradesh Lohit Reserve IBA Hog Deer, Gangetic Dolphin Duck, Goosander, Lesser Adjutant, Great Cormorant, White-rumped Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture,

Bengal Florican

19 Assam Bordoloni- - Lakhimpur, 30 Hog deer, Fishing cat, Rhesus Full Swamp Francolin, Lesser Adjutant, Sampora IBA Dhemaji macaque Checklist Greater Adjutant, White-bellied not heron, Spot-billed Pelican, White- available. rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture and Black-breasted Parrotbill

20 Assam Kuarbari Dalani - Lakhimpur 0.15 - Significant Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, IBA numbers of Spot-billed Pelican, White-rumped Adjutants Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture

21 Assam Dum Duma, - Tinsukia 60 Leopard, Hoolock Gibbon, 100+ White-winged Duck, Lesser Adjutant, Dangori and Capped Langur, Pig-tailed White-rumped Vulture, Slender- Kumsong Macaque, Slow Loris, Malayan billed Vulture and Masked Finfoot Reserve Forests Giant Squirrel, Barking Deer, IBA (On River Wild Buffalo Noadehing)

22 Assam Jamjing and - Dhemaji 95 Elephant, Wild Buffalo, Tiger, 200+ Swamp Francolin, White-winged Sengajan IBA Fishing Cat, Otters Duck, Lesser Adjutant, White-bellied Heron, Spot-billed Pelican, Pallas’ Extinct: Wild Buffalo Fish Eagle, White-rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture

23 Assam Majuli IBA - Jorhat 880 Wild Buffalo, Barking Deer, Hog 250+ Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Deer, Elephant, Gangetic Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Dolphin; Turtles and Spot-billed Pelican, Pallas’ Fish Eagle, Amphibians White-rumped Vulture, Greater Spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture, Bengal Florican, Marsh Babbler, Jerdon’s Babbler, Black- breasted Parrotbill, Waterbirds (20,000)

24 Assam Jhanjimukh- - Jorhat, 25 Gangetic Dolphin; Turtles - Swamp Francolin, Baer’s Pochard, Kokilamukh IBA Sibsagar Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Spot-Billed Pelican, White-rumped Vulture, Greater-spotted Eagle, Slender-billed Vulture

25 Assam Sibsagar Tanks - Sibsagar 1.5 Smooth Indian Otter; Softshell 60 Baer’s Pochard, Greylag Goose, Bar- (Man-made) IBA Turtles headed Goose, Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, White-rumped

Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture

26 Assam Jengdia Beel and - Kamrup 5 Leopard, Jungle Cat and Golden Migratory Lesser Adjutant, Greater Adjutant, Satgaon IBA Jackal waterfowl Spot-billed Pelican, Pallas’s Fish and nesting Eagle colonies of Greater and Lesser adjutants

27 Assam Tamaranga- - Bongaigaon 46 Golden Langur, Rhesus 150+, Baer’s Pochard, Lesser Adjutant, Dalani-Bhairab Macaque, Wild Pig, Leopard, Greater Adjutant, Pallas’s Fish eagle, Complex IBA Chinese Pangolin, Barking Deer, White-rumped Vulture, Slender- Gaur; Indian Rock Python, billed Vulture, Waterbirds (20,000) Monitor Lizard

28 Assam Urpod Beel IBA - Goalpara 10 Elephant, Leopard Cat - Lesser Adjutant, White-rumped Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture, Waterbirds (20,000)

Sources: 1. Annals of Assam Forests, 2014. Retired Forest Officers’ Association, Assam 2. www.birdlife.org/datazone/site 3. Choudhury, A. 2010. The Vanishing Herds of Wild Water Buffalo. 4. Asom Forests at a Glance. 2005. Director Forest Communication, Assam Forest Department 5. Department of Environment & Forests, Government of Assam website: Assamforest.in extension: https://sites.google.com/site/wildlifedataassam/

SITE/SPECIES ACCOUNTS

1. D’ERING WILDLIFE SANCTUARY, ARUNACHAL PRADESH

The first protected area after the Siang/Brahmaputra enters the plains from the Eastern Himalaya, D’ering has predominantly grassland habitat on sandy islands among the river channels. Its last rhino was recorded in 1965 and is an excellent potential site for the reintroduction of rhino. It has large mammals like elephant and wild buffalo and is a scenic site.

Photo: A view of the Siang in D’ering WLS at Pilomukh Beat.

Tashi Mize

Divisional Forest Officer, D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary

D’ering Willdife Sanctuary, Pasighat is 193 km² in area and is bounded by branches of the Siang River, the main tributary of the Brahmaputra. The Siang or Big River is sacred for the Adi. D’ering is ideal habitat for the rhino, and oral records indicate that there were rhinos here – with the last one shot in 1965. 80% of D’ering is grassland and 12% is vegetation and water bodies. We have recorded 13 species of reptiles, 257 species of avifauna, 29 species of mammals and 450 species of plants in the sanctuary. There are river dolphins and otters in the river, but we need research on the aquatic life here.

Among mammals we have elephants, wild water buffalo, hog deer, barking deer, wild pig and other species. After many awareness campaigns in the 23 villages around the sanctuary, the local community supports us a lot. They are coming forward for protection and better conservation of the sanctuary. One day the D’ering WLS will be a hub for tourists and the local people will benefit. The apex body of the Adis have started joint protection of D’ering WLS and other areas; this year they have received funding from the Wildlife Trust of India and they will cover a hundred villages for wildlife conservation. Presently, the protection is very effective with the participation of the local community and poaching and hunting has yet been detected. We impose heavy penalty on anyone violating laws. D’ering is now safe, secured and we are hoping that this will be a good protected area in India. D’ering is not very well known in India, but students from many universities are coming here for research work.

The Siang has many channels inside the D’ering WLS and one of its branched forms the western boundary. The rare species of birds here are the Bengal Florican and the Swamp Prinia. The Prinia is a lovely species that always tries to defends its kingdom from humans or other creatures with scolding and alarm calls. It has a good tune to its song and it can change its voice for different enemies trespassing in their kingdom!

Tanyo Siram, Age- 50 yrs

Executive Member, D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary, Eco-development Committee

Siang district has four districts – East, West, Upper and Siang. The origin of the Adi tribe is on the Siang (Adi = Big River), which is called the Brahmaputra downstream. Adi festivals require the killing of wild animals. During the Adi festival of Aran Piya (March 7), men have to go out and hunt wild animals before returning home. Men who bring only domestic animals home are ridiculed and called ‘girls’. Now, however, we need to be aware and conserve wildlife. Indiscriminate killing should be stopped, but we also cannot let traditions die. This means that we need to modify our practices. I am from Pangi Basti village, now temporarily at Pasighat. At Pangi, we are talking about conservation and asking for air guns not to be used to hunt. We helped the Hornbill conservation team of an NGO, the Nature Conservation Foundation - Mysore, to talk to the people in our village about the usefulness of hornbills in the ecosystem. The people are now aware of why these birds should not be killed. We need to limit our hunting and also perhaps find other employment, such us some have got on the hornbill nest-protector project in Pangi Basti. My view is that in this way other villages also become aware about the need for conservation.

2. KOBO CHAPORI & POBA RESERVE FOREST

A key wildlife corridor, plagued by encroachment and erosion, Kobo Chapori on the eastern part of the Brahmaputra connects D’ering WLS and Poba Reserve Forest on the north bank to Dibru-Saikhowa National Park on the south bank of the Brahmaputra. Poba RF is also the only remnant rainforest on the Brahmaputra.

Photo: A seasonally dry channel in Upper Kobo, the part of the Kobo island that wildlife use to cross between Poba RF, D’ering WLS and Dibru-Saikhowa NP.

Tularam Modi, Age-33 years

Casual Worker, Lower Kobo Camp, Dhemaji Forest Division 20

I do duty in the Lower Camp at Kobo Chapori. In the river I see dolphins. The other day in the morning I saw one dolphin swimming and meant to take a photo on my mobile phone but could not. In the mornings and evenings thousands of birds come to the river. I do not know their names, I know some are wild ducks, but there are many kinds. Until a week ago I was on duty for two months at the Upper Kobo Camp. There I have seen many animals in the CAMPA plantation area, including jackals, cobras and the black monitor lizard.

The Kobo Chapori area is very large. On one side (south) is Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and on the north of the river is the Poba Reserve Forest. Between Poba and Dibru-Saikhowa roams the elephants, wild horses, tigers, sambar and barking deer. The hares do not cross, they live here on the island. The elephants come from Dibru-Saikhowa and stay on Kobo Chapori, then go to Poba. From April to September there is regular movement up and down. At the Upper Kobo Camp I saw the pugmark of a large cat and took a photo on my mobile phone.

Prabhat Gogoi, Age – 53 years

Forest Guard, In-charge Poba Beat

Plantations begun in Kobo in 1982. I was posted here in 1987. At that time Kobo Chapori was a large area nearly 9 kms across and more than 25 kms long. It had nearly 7000 ha of plantations, that were growing well. In the floods of 2000, the Lali or Siang river split as the New Siang and Kobo Chapori’s plantation area was destroyed. Now whatever trees are left are also in danger. Kobo Chapori is under Poba beat and I come here on duty two to three days a week. The plantations of

before no longer exist. Somehow a few households continue to live here, squeezed in by the river on both sides. In the middle there is a corridor and people are eking out a living. The New Siang connects to the Brahmaputra at Laika, south of here. Most people earn their livelihood from fishing and cutting firewood and straw.

When we used to live in the Kobo Chapori camps, then we used to look out for and see the grasses in the distance collapsing. Then we’d know that the Pogola Pani (mad water) was coming on the river. The water would cut the sand banks for 20-25 minutes while we would watch from camp. When the flooding happens, the people’s situations become dire. In the winter dry months, the river cuts the sand banks underneath and then the overbanks collapse. Almost 3 kms have been lost like that in front of our eyes.

Bijoy Shankar Singh, Age – 65 years

Gaonbura, Kobo Chapori

I came to Kobo in 1974, but people had been living here from before. The 1950 earthquake caused many people to leave Kobo Chapori and it again became jungle. Our people came back in 1965 and cleared the jungle and started cultivating and trade and settled our households here. In those days, Kobo island was very big about 15-20 kms long by 10 km wide. We lived well. Now erosion is destroying Kobo. The Forest Department did plantations after which the animals came here. Even now during harvest season the elephants come. They disturb us and we get sad and tired chasing elephants. But they are government property and we believe them to be gods, so we cannot harm them. That’s how we carry on with life.

We have cattle camps in Miria Khal, we come and go there, live there. We see elephants there; and both the big and small cats. We’ve seen them hunt our cattle and we make a noise, but after they’ve killed our animals there’s not much we can do. Our buffalo sometime charge the big cats, and they will move away for a distance. But they will return and will leave only after making a kill. The elephants and cats pass by our village, around the fences, through the jungle areas.

In 1997-1998 and before the big flood of 2000, we used to see tiger. I have seen one killing a cow. It drank the blood and when we made a noise, it disappeared into the jungle. Nowadays we don’t see the big cats. On the upper side of the island, there was large woodland – there still are woodlands like Gul Kathani, Namseng Kathani and Jopong Kathani and that’s where the elephants and cats live. From there they cross the Brahmaputra and go to the Rongdoi reserve (Dibru Saikowa NP). When they leave then we are relieved. Until some days ago the elephants stayed in Miriakhal woodland for several days and raided our crops at night. We chase them with noise and fire, and they leave for a while, then return again. We have never misbehaved with the wild animals. The last wild buffalos we saw in 1997-1998, there aren’t any now. They came into our domestic herds, and interbred with them and there are no wild buffalo now.

Jibon Pau, Age – 40, Casual Worker & Keri Kramsa, Age – 50, Forest Guard, Upper Kobo Forest camp

Kobo Chapori

Upper Kobo camp is under Poba beat of Dhemaji Forest Division. We oversee the CAMPA plantation. This should be a wildlife area – there is so much wildlife here. 23

There are elephants, sambar, barking deer, tiger and leopard. There is a Siyal nala here, named after the many jackals that roam here. On all sides is the river, and this is an island. There are many different kinds of birds – Brahminy ducks, cormorants and kaleej pheasants and jungle fowl.

On the north is D’ering Wildlife Sanctuary of Arunachal Pradesh and the south is Dibru-Saikhowa and down is the Tin-mile river where also there is wildlife area. There is abundant movement of wildlife across here on all sides and among all these areas. From April, the elephants come and stay here on Kobo Chapori till October- November when they cross to Dibru-Saikhowa WLS or towards Arunachal through Poba Reserve Forest. (Poba Reserve Forest, is the only remnant rain forest on the Brahmaputra river. Originally a wet evergreen broadleaf forest, it is largely semi- evergreen now harbouring many forest species of animals and birds). The elephants do not really disturb people and in August we have seen them birth calves. They number about 80-90 elephants. When going to Dibru-Saikhowa, the mothers stay on either side and keep the calves in the middle as they cross the Brahmaputra.

Jackals call all day. Just this morning, jackals chased a small deer calf and chased it across near our camp. During the rainy season, all the plantation saplings go under flood waters. We climb on our chang and cook and eat and live here.

3. DIBRU-SAIKOWA NATIONAL PARK & MAGURI BEEL

An example of a national park almost entirely within the river, Dibru-Saikhowa is very rich in biodiversity, but human settlements within the boundaries present intractable obstacles to the effective management and conservation of a rich grassland habitat and a potential rhino reintroduction site. It boasts of large mammals like elephants and wild buffalo, feral horses and over 493 species of birds.

Photo: A flock of migratory bar-headed geese at the Maguri Beel

Ranjan Das, Professor of Geography and Ornithologist, Motapung-Maguri Wetlands

Dibru-Saikhowa National park has about 483 species of birds. The Motapung-Maguri Beels adjacent, but outside the park, have 293 species. Recently a white-bellied

heron was sighted here. These wetlands are fed annually by the backflow of the Brahmaputra during the rainy season and gets rejuvenated. The level of water is important for the wetlands. There are 11 villages dependent on these wetlands with their people engaged in fishing. Here is a classic example of community conservation. Earlier this wetland was a killing field for birds. Now some unemployed youth are engaged with bird tourism and with few exceptions, most people have become concerned about bird conservation. Most of the wetlands inside Dibru- Saikhowa National Park have silted over. The birds therefore come here, where the wetland still exists.

The wildlife of the Brahmaputra valley is adapted to the fluvial system. There are 22 important tributaries on the North Bank and 11 on the south bank. The river and its tributaries together impact the wildlife, whether birds, mammals or aquatic species. The flood rejuvenates the ecosystem. Now, however, due to encroachment and construction of river banks/dykes the flow of water into and out of the wetlands is negatively impacted. In Arunachal Pradesh, it is proposed to build 165 dams to produce 50,000 MW of electricity. But there will be tremendous downstream impacts on the wildlife, changing the entire ecosystem and conflict will increase. It will impact our agriculture systems as well, so the future looks bleak.

We need development, considering the socio-economic point of view. But development does not mean we destroy habitats – our grasslands, wetlands, rivers and forests. We need a holistic plan, because not just the wildlife but the life of the people depends on this fluvial system whether agriculture, fisheries etc. Planners, politicians and people must be conscientious about conservation. There are some options – mini and micro dams, we have alternative sources of power. This way we can make the entire eco-system suitable for wildlife.

Puru Gupta, IAS Deputy Commissioner, Tinsukia Dibru-Saikhowa is an important natural resource of the state and its flora and fauna are an integral part of Tinsukia district. It is a national park now, but there is a large number of families who are dependent on the resources of the forest, and many families are also staying inside the forests. There is an effort to rehabilitate these people, and they themselves are keen on getting out of the Park and an ever- increasing demand from them to this end. I believe it should be done in a mission- mode in a planned way. It is a large island inside the Brahmaputra, so there are problems of erosion and flooding for people and animals living inside. It is yet to gain the kind of attention which it deserves. There is a lot to be done in terms of conservation. We need to find long-lasting solutions. I feel the big question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are doing enough in terms of conservation. Is it really proportional to the damage that is accruing to the wildlife? If the answer is no, we really need to do something about it and do it fast. We need to first of all bring about sensitisation at a very large scale. Unless and until this feeling of oneness and interdependence with the forest and wildlife happens, and people realise that they can co-exist, and they also realise that there is no alternative other than co- existence, then the perishing of forests and wildlife will also sound the death knell for mankind.

A large number of people are dependent for their livelihood on the Brahmaputra and the forests. People get firewood from the forest and depend on wood and timber. They fish in water surrounding the forests. Now there is a greater awareness with regard to conservation. Side by side, if tourism also can be promoted in an eco- friendly manner, that will also go a long way in promoting conservation efforts. A large number of tourists have started coming in, and a large number of tour operators also started operating here. A large amount of fund infusion is required to sustain eco-tourism, to bring about awareness. We need experts to come and tell 27

people how to go about expanding their little businesses and how to do the things they are doing in a better way without bringing about lasting damage to the forest and wildlife. I think this will promote conservation efforts in the long run. There are lot of technical issues involved, and while the local people are a repository of traditional knowledge, but in the current times there is a need to mould their traditional knowledge into a technical frame of looking at things. Once this is done, it will bring about a more responsible attitude, an attitudinal change among people and foster conservation efforts.

4. The River Elephants

The story of a herd of 150 elephants (now 70-80) that came to be marooned on the river islands of the Brahmaputra between Majuli (Jorhat) and Dehingmukh (Dibrugarh) in the early 2000s because of massive deforestation on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra and the construction of the NHPC dam on the Subansiri, cutting off their access to their lowland ranging and feeding grounds in the foothills. A tragic story of a homeless herd, and the equally tragic price that has to be paid by the people living on Majuli island and the south bank of the river across these three districts where the elephants destroy crops, property and human life. A cautionary tale about the unforeseen impacts of deforestation and unplanned development projects on wildlife and humans.

Photo: River elephant footprints dot the Panidehing Bird Sanctuary where they find rest during the day and emerge to raid crops in adjacent villages at night during the winter harvest season. In the late 1990s, a herd of elephants began appearing and staying on the Brahmaputra. Previously only one or two males were known to occasionally roam the river islands and make forays onto the island of Majuli and villages on the 29

southern bank in central Assam. When the herd of about a 150 elephants, with a few handsome tuskers among them, began to trample up and down the villages situated along the Brahmaputra, between the districts of Jorhat and Dibrugarh, neither elephants nor the people were prepared for the long drawn out escalation that would follow.

Both villagers, forest staff and wildlife researchers working in different were baffled. Where had they come from? There were two likely sources – Kaziranga on the west of the area, the theory being that the protection had resulted in too many elephants and this herd had moved out in search of new areas to occupy. A parallel suggestion was that they could just as well have come from Dibru-Saikhowa National Park to the east of this stretch. In 2012, hopes were raised when the forest department did a concerted effort to drive the herd ‘back into’ Kaziranga, using koonkis or trained elephants to afford the villagers some degree of relief. Within a few days, the elephants exited Kaziranga and returned determinedly to the river islands and their crop-raiding. The forest department was at its wit’s end.

During a casual discussion with Dipen Kalita, expert elephant catcher, the subject of the river elephants came up. He categorically stated that they were ‘Arunachal elephants’, recognisable from their build – the kumura bandha haatis or the ones ‘barrel-shaped, like pumpkins’. As opposed to the various other body types that elephants may be recognised by such as the mirika bandha (mirika fish shaped) or the Naga elephants. In village after village, from Kokilamukh to Dehingmukh, the confluences of the southern tributaries with the Brahmaputra, many believed the same – these elephants were from Arunachal. Journeying to the northern bank of the river, another piece of the story seemed to fall in place. In Dhemaji and Lakhimpur, there is a small group of crop-raiding elephants, about 25-30 – believed to be the remnant of a much larger group. They still join up occasionally. This was a population that would have formerly roamed across the north bank of the Brahmaputra, from Sonitpur to Dhemaji, including the foothill forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

NGO volunteer Dhruba Das, who has tried to track these elephants off and on, draws a western limit of Sisimukh on the North Bank, down to Shikari Chapori on the south at Golaghat, eastward to Medela of Dibrugarh, and perhaps a little further east.

Much like the story of the elephant and the blind men, the story of the river elephants falls together from the accounts of elephant researchers at Tezpur, an NGO activist and filmmaker in Lakhimpur, conservation volunteers and farmers and victims in Jorhat, Sibsagar and Dibrugarh districts. Accounts point to two distant events – the construction of the Subansiri Dam damaging the lowland Subansiri Reserve Forest, and the deforestation precipitated by the internal migration and encroachment during the Bodo insurgency of the 1990s – that pushed these hapless elephants into the river to be condemned to ‘homelessness’, and the hapless people on the Brahmaputra’s banks, to bear the brunt of the resultant conflict.

Hiten Baishya, Coordinator, Elephant Conservation WWF-India

We are on the north bank of the Brahmaputra. The entire north was at one time jungle, and elephants used from the northern hills to the Brahmaputra. At that time, there were no settlements or agriculture, and elephants could find all their necessities – from food to social interactions. Gradually, human settlements and opening of tea plantations led to disturbance to movements of elephants. They then began to use specific routes to the Brahmaputra through the tea estates or along rivers. In the time since I started working here in 2001, I have seen an old elephant route between Sonai-Rupai WLS to Singri Hills and the Brahmaputra become blocked by new human settlements, with the Chariduar RF below Sonai-Rupai becoming completely encroached. Similarly, the Panpur corridor between Nameri NP and Kaziranga NP; and the Laimekuri corridor in Dhemaji from West Siang to Brahmaputra; and the Poba RF – Kobo PRF corridor between Arunachal Pradesh and Dibru-Saikhowa NP have been compromised. While there is still some elephant movement, in the last 10-15 years elephants have encountered many obstructions at these corridors due to human activity. Another elephant corridor between Dulung RF and Subansiri RF was well-used until 2001, but has now been entirely blocked by settlements and the large developmental project, the Subansiri Hydroelectric Project

at Gerukamukh. Since elephants are intelligent animals and learn how to survive in changed circumstances, they are still moving around and surviving. But if corridor blockages continue and worsen, then their movement on historical pathways to, and along the Brahmaputra, will probably be permanently disrupted.

When we mention disruptions to elephant movement, we have to mention Majuli and its adjoining areas. In the last few years, elephant-human conflict has taken on a frightening severity. Majuli was not known as elephant habitat. The first elephant was recorded in 1997, and by 2003 they had increased to 20. After 2003, over 70 elephants appeared there and ever since, these elephants have been living on the river islands east of Kaziranga all the way to near Panidehing Bird Sanctuary in Sibsagar. They move between river islands and the people who live in that area face the brunt of the resultant serious human-elephant conflict throughout the year - with crop loss, damage to houses and property and human deaths. Elephants have also had to pay with their lives. If we look back, we can correlate the beginning of conflict in Majuli to the busiest time in construction of the Subansiri dam in 2001-2003. Although we do not have radio-telemtery data, from our experience we can say that disruption of natural corridors must have a good deal to do with the Majuli conflict. Now the Brahmaputra river islands are also occupied by humans. Naturally then, if people live where elephants do, somewhere or the other conflict is inevitable. In this way, the Brahmaputra which was once the realm of elephants where they foraged and roamed, has now become an arena of conflict.

Photo: The Subansiri Dam, construction of which has damaged a large swathe of the foothill Subansiri Reserve Forest and disrupted elephant movement leading to elephant-human conflict in places further afield.

David Smith, Elephant team, WWF-India

The North Bank Landscape is in the Himalayan foothills areas between the Sankosh and Dibang rivers. There are an estimated 2000 elephants here, and there has been a traditional movement of the elephants from the north to the Brahmaputra river islands, now through villages and tea plantations. For example, in the winter there is a group of about 80-100 elephants that moves from Behali and Singlijan Reserve Forests to the Brahmaputra via the Buroi and Borgang rivers in the dry season. On the way they raid crops and the harvest is done, they reach the chaporis (river islands) and stay there for a few days. On the chapori, they rest during the day and at dark emerge to eat the crops in the villages. The conflict has increased over the years. We’ve seen that they are starting to stay longer in the chaporis. Where before they would stay a month or two, now they stay 4-6 months. The herds are also bigger. We think that this is because of the disturbance to the forests in the north, the 33

elephants feel safer on the chaporis. Recently, in the last two years or so, we have seen a new trend of elephant poaching for meat in the Behali and Singlijan areas.

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Map: Extant elephant movement areas in the North Bank Landscapeand key corridors. Source- Elephant conservation in North Bank landscape, North-east India. Areas, WWF-India. 2003.

Bikul Goswami, Age: 52 years, NGO Green Heritage

North Lakhimpur

I have lived all my life in Dhemaji and Lakhimpur. The entire area was an elephant habitat, their feeding grounds. When NHPC built a large wall, the elephants were obstructed in their movement. Before that was also the large scale deforestation on the north bank and settlement of peope. The migration pattern of the elephants between the river and foothills have been disrupted. They do not forget their feeding grounds, that is why the conflict now.

Jadav Payenge, Farmer

Kokilamukh, Jorhat

“From 2011, I have only been planting elephant food plants in about 2000 ha. The elephants stayed here this monsoon for a whole month in the new plantation. This herd of elephants have no fixed home. They go to Arunachal, 6 months in the south, 6 months in the north, live in the heart of the Brahmaputra. Here they roam in the grassland and water, they raid crops and food of the people who live on the chaporis. But it is not their fault, humans are at fault. The other day in Sonitpur, I saw there are many places where plantations can be made for these elephants. How much does a human eat? 250 gms of food? And for that how much area do they occupy? Elephants need 3 quintals of grass, 90 litres of water and they need to move between Arunachal and Kaziranga, but humans have settled in their path. So it is not the fault of the elephants. Since this herd does not have a home, I requested the Minister of Forests to grow plantations to help reduce conflict. Every creature has the right to live.”

Photo: Neamatighat, Majuli island in the background. Elephants walk along this embankment road on left.

Madhab Das, 35 years, Tea shop owner & Sushil Das, 40 years, Villager

Nimatighat, Jorhat

The elephants, approximately 150 in number, started coming here to Nimatighat about 13 years ago. They come from the eastern side of the Brahmaputra and stay for about 10 days, to feed on our paddy crops. Just two weeks ago a makhna (tuskless male elephant) killed two persons at Jhanjhimuk and Hatikhal Biharigaon. From here they move up and down to Majuli, and shelter on the chaporis.

Ananta Dutta, Secretary, NGO Keteki Jhanjhimukh, Sivasagar Historically, elephants used to come down to Jhanjhimukh to reach the Brahmputra from the Naga Hills on the south. During the great 1950 Assam earthquake, however, this area was buried and the jungle completely destroyed. The river elephants have been passing through Majuli, but until 30-35 years ago there was jungle. It was only when people started clearing the jungle and settling there that the conflict started. Earlier, they used to only occasionally break huts in the khutis (cattle camps), but now there are village settlements and the elephants destroy those.

These are the ‘oghori hatis’ (homeless elephants.). They are the ones that have come out badly from this conflict. Just this year, some 15 elephants have been shot at and killed in retaliation. Two died on the river mud in front of my eyes. There are many young calves in this herd.

Dijen Bora, Age – 32 years, NGO Dolphin,

Dikhowmukh, Sivasagar

The elephant herd that roams here first came in 2001, and we estimated about 40 elephants then. When people shout and make noise, they move away. Since then elephants have been coming every year. Now people say there are 150 elephants, but we estimate it is between 70-80 elephants. There are many small calves in the group. One or two very large elephants mainly move alone and we encounter them occasionally. The elephants come from Nimatighat and Jhanjhimukhin the west and within the night they move along the side of the chapori here to a Mising village ahead of here where they destroy their rice paddy. We heard that recently one elephant tried to break down a bamboo wall, but moved away when it was chased. We have seen houses broken and utensils crushed by elephants. The elephants use this route all the way to Disangmukh and Sitolia. Government compensation for crop damage is not easy to access. If that process could be expedited, then at least some of the conflict between humans and elephants could be mitigated. Secondly, the way we grow crops is something that can be changed. Our main crop now is paddy and elephants target this crop – eating what they can and stamping and destroying the rest, which is many months of labour of the people. Perhaps growing alternative crops might help reduce this conflict.

Durgiram Yein, Age – 60, Villager

Disangmukh, Sivasagar

In our Afala village, there were no elephants here before 2002, they came from the hills somewhere. Since 2002, elephants have been disturbing our crop-fields during the months of August to November till the paddy is harvested. We chase the elephants and somehow we are surviving. We cannot kill or eat or use force against them really, it is such a large animal and it would be illegal. (Thirty years ago, a poor man’s cows were eaten here by a big cat. A shikari came and shot it dead in retaliation. The next day the local villagers cut up and ate the cat. In the end, the police caught the poor man and the shikari and took them off to the police station, and the villagers later brought them back.) So we can only leave it to the government to solve this issue for us, since they own the elephants. We don’t hate the elephants. They stay on the chaporis and we know they will come at night to eat our crops and our young boys can only prepare to chase them with some noise-making and shouting, nothing more.

When I was young, I have seen many gharial, tiger and jackal on the Brahmaputra, but not wild elephants. Those have appeared only now. Now the river has become shallow. Even 30 years ago, we would see the gharials basking in the sun, but as the river became shallow they went to deeper waters, to the sea maybe.

Eyang Gam, Age – 26, Dolphin Conservation Network Volunteer

Disangmukh, Sivasagar

Elephants have been coming to Afala, Disangmukh for the last 12 years or so, after 2000. In a group 150-200, even 300 elephants come regularly, sometimes even during the rains and definitely during the paddy season. Even when the herd doesn’t always come, one or two elephants are always in the area. There are many kinds of wildlife here – dolphin, hare, python and turtles - when they come to lay eggs on the Brahmaputra sand. There are also many birds, including migratory birds.

Lekhon Gogoi, Guide, Soroguwa Village

Panidehing Bird Sanctuary, Sivasagar

From 2000, the elephants come here in the winter dry season. They are not seen during the rainy season – we do not know where they go during the rains. In the last 5-6 days, they have been here causing havoc in the villages. They are about 80-85 and eat paddy grains from the village. With the forest department, we chase them out of the villages. We’ve heard that they came first from Arunachal Pradesh. In the herd, there were two tuskers, but now we don’t see them.

Sintu Deori, Age- 54, Gunabhiram Deori, Age – 53, Pranab Bharali, Age 53, Pradip Deori, Age-45 Madhupur, Dehingmukh Reserve Forest, Dibrugarh In the 1980s there was one elephant, then a small herd of six arrived and stayed for a year. Around 1986, we started staying up all night to guard our crop fields against elephants. We’d come home late night, sometimes in the morning, sitting up all night around a fire. In 1988, Dehingmukh Reserve Forest was severely damaged by floods. The floods continue to be severe, and the reserve itself has been destroyed by illegal felling. Then from around 1995 the large herds started arriving. We would be 250-300 people from the adjoining Sonowal village and our Deori village along a 4 km stretch guarding against elephants. Even 80 year old men come out to help when elephants raid. Once I climbed an outenga (Dillenia) tree to save myself running from 8 or 9 elephants. This gentleman here lost his clothes running and went and fell by the river. Now there are 80-90 elephants, who keep moving the entire year. They go to Bogoribari and Rankop (Jongoli Office) in Dhemaji. There are no

tuskers. Because of the floods, we are unable to cultivate in a lot of areas. The elephants go to Panidehing when the grass becomes scarce, then return after a week when the grass comes back. They go to Majuli, this side they go to Dhemaji district. When they come, they split into two or three groups and break people’s granaries, or eat bananas or pumpkins or salt and rice. In Madhupur, by god’s grace, there have been no human deaths although people have been injured. Pradip Deori here, for example – in 1999 a firecracker meant to scare the elephants went off in his hand and he lost his fingers. The doctors at Dibrugarh Medical College transplanted his big toe in place of his thumb. Another person’s hand broke when an elephant pulled and twisted it around. An elephant stamped on yet another person and his mouth and ear split, but he survived.

Photo: Pradip Deori who lost his fingers when a firecracker meant for scaring elephants away burst in hand. His big toe was transplanted in place of his lost thumb.

5. PANIDEHING WILDLIFE SANCTUARY & DIKHOWMUKH

An open wetland and a confluence in Sivasagar district that are habitat to resident and migratory birds.

Photo: A Lesser Adjutant Stork in a pond edged with water hyacinth in the Panidehing Bird Sanctuary.

Lekhon Gogoi, Guide, Soroguwa Village Panidehing Bird Sanctuary Since 10 August 1993, I have worked in the Panidehing Bird Sanctuary as a guide, in association with the Forest Department. In the rainy season there is abundant water here. During this time there are several local birds such as panikauri (Cormorant), konamusori (Pond heron), kamsorai (Purple moorhen) and dolpunga (Bronze-winged jacana). In the dry winter season arrive the migratory birds like the

deoraja (Greylag goose), dhritaraj (Barheaded goose), Ram kong or Sakoi sokuwa (Ruddy shelduck), different kinds of ducks, and pelicans in large numbers.

Photo: Dikhowmukh, the confluence of the Dikhow with the Brahmaputra.

Dijen Bora, Age – 32 years & Hiten Dutta, Age – 42 yrs, NGO Dolphin

Dikhowmukh

In Dikhowmukh three rivers meet- the Dikhow, Dorika and Brahmaputra. It is a very fertile area and it is well known for its birds, both resident and migratory. There is a good, increasing population of weaver birds. Monitoring for the last 5 years, we notice that both tree sparrows and house sparrow are doing well, and we’ve tried to 42

introduce artificial nest boxes for them. Dikhowmukh is famous for its 10 year old breeding colony of open-billed storks at Dhanekhowa village on different species of trees such as satiana (Alstonia), simolu (Bombax) and mango trees by the side of the road. The villagers came forward for the conservation of these birds and wait eagerly each year for the birds to arrive. The birds arrive in June-July and leave in January after the chicks fledge. Two years ago we counted almost 1200 nests in 40- 50 trees. We have counted a maximum of 8 nests on one tree. We also monitor and protect two Greater Adjutant stork nests and twenty 20 Lesser Adjutant stork nests in this area, and many nestlings fledged successfully. There are many wetlands which are frequented by migratory ducks.

During our bird censuses in 2008 and 2009, we felt that some resident birds have had some difficulty in breeding, probably because of some reduction in forage, although their absolute numbers have not reduced. In winter many migratory ducks come here, and the last 2-3 years a flock of pelicans have started roosting at a Soil Conservation department site.

In November a very beautiful bird, a guest bird - the black-headed ibis comes here to forage and rest.

6. MOLAI CHAPORI

A 550 ha forest, now famous worldwide as ‘Molai Kathoni’ with 5 tigers, deer, elephants and an occasional rhino, created from scratch by Jadav Payenge, a simple village farmer. Saying that all of nature helped him to grow the forest – from the termites and ants that he carried from his village to populate the island, to the deer and elephants who helped him disperse seeds, Molai’s is a lesson in patience, restoration and a deep understanding of how to give back to Nature.

Jadav Payenge, The Forest Man of India

Kokilamukh

“When I was 4-5 years old, about 10 kms from here was my village Borgum Kokilamukh. There was a forest where there were many birds and animals. In 1979, about 10 kms was lost to erosion and the place became sandy, I was a cattle herder and our people dispersed. I studied in Baligaon till Class X, but go there to graze the buffaloes. In 1979 June-July, usually there are 12 waves, that year there were 23 waves. I saw that on the debris, there were many snakes. In the bare sun, they died like dried fish. I was about 14-15 years. Nearby there was a Deori Village about 5 kms and I asked them if there was any way to prevent the snakes from dying. They told me to grow the tallest grass in the world. I didn’t understand. They explained – ‘Plant bamboo, there will be shade and the snakes will live’. They gave me 50 bamboos, which I planted in the place where the snakes had died. I watered them

and the bamboos grew fast. With the bamboo, the tree saplings also came up. I moved with my cattle about a km every 5-6 years. Around each camp, I planted bamboos and trees till 550 ha of the chapori became green. Now that forest has 5 tigers, many deer, herds of elephants, sometimes rhinos wander in from Kaziranga – a distance of 60 kms from Molai Kathoni, and endangered vultures. The watery habitat of the Brahmaputra is well suited for wildlife, there is good fodder. The forest was created so we could see the trees, birds and animals that we used to see before.

In the big Arunachal flood of 1997, many animals came down. Molai Chapori was then a highland – I had taken termites and red ants from here in the village to the island since they cannot swim. The termite mounds provided high platforms for the animals – snakes, frogs during flood, while monitor lizards live inside.I had learnt much from agriculture scientist Mr Jodu Bezbaruah in my school. He used to make me plant betel leaves, for 25 paisa you could get lots of betel leaf, and 1 kuri bhimkol for 5 paise. In Baligaon high school I planted two coconut trees. I like planting trees. Elephants have eaten coconuts and bamboos.

Some seeds came in with the water, I took seeds, banana, bamboos from the village to plant there. One silk cotton tree planted grows in 5 years and produces seeds which regenerate. On the forest floor, the cattle dung served as fertiliser and make the trees grow fast. I took bogori (Zizyphus) from the village, their seeds cannot float in water. they fruit in 1.5 years – deer and cows start eating, and help me disperse and plant. What I have learnt from my experience is that in that forest, the birds, elephants, deer, cows, wind, the river all know how to plant trees. Only the supreme man knows how to cut it all down. In the forest now, researchers have found a medicinal plant for longevity. Now agriculture scientists visit. I believe that the forest should be run as a community reserve, the villagers will conserve the forest. After the 1979 flood, the villagers lived on the Mekahi, on Kartik chapori, but when that got washed away, they moved here. I was here before, planting my forest and keeping my cattle and buffalo. The forest is on one side, there is no village inside. The government had settled about 96 houses here in 2002, but we requested the president to move the settlers.

It is possible Molai Chapori may be washed away. Nature cannot be stopped. Who will stop it? The main khorsuta/erosion of many hectares from Sadiya to Dhubri is because of the cutting of the hills and deforestation. In heavy rains, the soil and sand carried by the 390 tributaries falls in the Brahmaputra making it shallow, the mathauris hem in the river. On 200 m either side of the Brahmaputra, from Sadiya to Dhubri, were planted with mokal bamboo – whose roots go as deep as the culm grows tall, and coconut trees – whose roots grab the soil, say 20 plants per family, it will help prevent erosion. People can also get income from these bamboo and coconut plants. The key is to plant native trees. Exotic plantations in places like Karbi Anglong, have reduced the natural fodder for animals, because of which they come down to the plains.

If the Brahmaputra is dredged, it has to started from Sadiya to Dhubri, the dredge should be thrown on both sides and the river will be deepened. The river level has reduced drastically from siltation, with most of the channels having only 3 to 4 feet of water. The river is therefore mostly chars and chaporis.

When there are huge trees, even when the heavy rains come, the water is slowed. Now there are no trees upstream, and when the rains come, there is nothing to stem the flow of the water and sand into the Brahmaputra. It is because the forests are gone that the floods are wreaking this havoc.

A 50-year old tree should cost Rs 50,000, but they are sold for a mere 500 or 1000. The people do not get the value of these trees. It s important to start environment education from lower primary school. Every child that is admitted in school should plant two trees, that he looks after and takes oxygen from. In the next 5 years, he should plant another two that he will give to the world. In ten years, we can green India. We need at 33 % forest cover, but do we even know if there is 16-17% forest cover left in Assam? If our brothers and sisters in the hills of North-east India had not protected some forest, we would have been desert by now.

We believe when tigers are there, there is no disease. A tiger will kill one cattle at a time. Five tigers will kill five. But when disease strikes, many cattle die at one go. So we believe that is good that tigers pick out our cattle, there will be more.

Ahead of the forest, there is Kartik Chapori where people planted many trees. When elephants push them down, they sell the trees for a small amount. Mising people will have to plant trees, they cannot survive without their drink, their Apong, for which we need 101 different parts of various trees. We use the roots, leaves for our ceremonies. What we do not get here, we collect from the hills.

Agriculture pesticides are a big problem. They are being used to poison fish. Mosquito nets clean out fish, eggs and fingerlings. Birds ingest pesticides and die. The other problem are the dams. In Dikrong, people used to catch mahseer on line upto 2 kgs. When the Ranganadi dam came up, the mahseer, gharials all disappeared. Now we eat farmed fish from Andhra Pradesh. Assam tea is rejected from exported countries because of their pesticide load. We are only heading to destruction. In our houses before, there used to be sparrows and bats, the air from them is good and prevents cancer. With all of these natural birds, animals gone and the natural air gone, cancer has spread.”

7. Bordoibam-Bilmukh Proposed Bird Sanctuary

A proposed bird sanctuary is on the verge of being written off due to encroachment, signifying the unnoticed loss of wetlands of the Brahmaputra and its associated biodiversity even when ear-marked for protection. In the vicinity, an artist seeks to document and preserve images of native birds and fish through his art.

Photo: Cultivation on the edge of the Bordoibam-Bilmukh Proposed Bird Sanctuary. The wetland still provides fish for the local people, but bird numbers have decreased drastically.

Boloram Doley, Forest Guard, Gogamukh

Dhemaji Division

In 1990-95 when I lived in the village here, the entire extent was covered with water and wetland vegetation, with the water rising high during the rains. We used to see thousands of ducks, cormorants, openbill storks etc. but not any more in those numbers. There used to be otters in groups of 10-12 animals. Around 1998, the khagori and nol grass in the wetland was burnt by the people. The water hyacinth 48

spread and made the beel shallow. Most of the area was encroached for paddy cultivation and the bird sanctuary area has reduced much. These encroachers do not want Bordoibam-Bilmukh conserved as a bird sanctuary, but others, nearly 70% of the people in the area, mostly Mising people, are in support of making it a sanctuary for birds. On the little extent of water left, there are many kinds of fish – sal, borali, kurhi, seni, rou and magur and these are still abundant. The rou are in the deeper waters.

Mriganabh Gogoi, Age:53 yrs, Artist

Konwargaon, Dhakuakhana

My father Khagen Gogoi was an artist and I have been drawing and painting since I was young. Since 1979, I focussed on art and I like to paint everything, especially the birds and fish of the surrounding areas. I used to keep birds when I was young. Here is a sketch of the kurkuri fish (Indian chaca, Chaca chaca). It is only about 20 cms long, but has a very sharp spine on its back. Folks say that even the elephant seeks blessings for safety from this fish before entering water.

Photo: The Indian chaca fish, sketch by Mriganabh Gogoi.

8. Satjan Wetland, Ranganadi and Subansiri Dams

Bikul Goswami, Age: 52 years, NGO Green Heritage North Lakhimpur Satjan wetland was converted to a small wetland from agriculture fields by the upheaval of the 1950 earthquake. Vegetation grew on it and birds started arriving here, both residential and about 7 species of migratory ones. All the resident birds, apart from ones like the Indian moorhens, also do not live here all year. The whistling teals go out to breed and come during winter. The total wetland area is only about 11

-12 hectare. There is perennial and seasonal vegetation. We clean out the seasonal wetlands at intervals. This prevents siltation and the migratory birds have clear water for feeding. The community is supportive of the conservation of the wetland. Although they are meat-eaters, the largely scheduled tribal population do not disturb the birds and protect them. In fact the birds are habituated and can be approached closely.

The populations of the migratory birds fluctuate between years, but the resident birds have decreased from 12000 birds in the 1998 to about 6000-7000 now. It is not because of any disturbance here, but because of poaching and other problems like egg collections in their breeding areas. The wetland is, however, degrading. The wetland has a national highway on one side, a railway track on one side and the Ranganadi on a third. To save this wetland body, then the water flow system of the Ranganadi has to be restored. When the NHPC dam came up, the Ranganadi’s flow was diverted to the Dikrong because of which the Ranganadi has dried up to a trickle. If immediate steps are not taken to keep the water, with the use of technology perhaps, then this wetland may soon cease to exist and whether then the birds will continue to come is questionable.

The Ranganadi at one time was a large tributary of the Brahmaputra. It was famous in Assamese Bihu lore. There are many Bihu songs featuring the Ranganadi. With my own eyes I have seen dolphins here, gharials, two species of mahseer including the golden mahseer. In a book called the The Rod in India, Henry Sullivan Thomas in 1881 wrote about a devil catfish in the Ranganadi weighing 120 kgs. 51

The NHPC has built the dam upstream from here on the Ranganadi. In 1987 there was no requirement of Environmental Impact Assessment. As a result, they constructed the dam by diverting the Ranganadi to the Dikrong through a tunnel. Now only the small streams downstream of the diversion feeds the Ranganadi and barely keeping it alive. In January and February there is hardly any water here and it is pathetic for us. Of course we need dams for developing a country, but for that destroying a river is not good. Let there be dams, but there should be eco-friendly dams. We should retain our biodiversity values. We need coordination to achieve that. On the 2000 MW dam on the Subansiri they now have an environmental impact assessment. But this assessment has not been heeded in practice, only in name. In future, developments of dams and highways, we must think of using technology to minimise damage to the forests and rivers. Then our future generations will have some relief.

9. River Dolphins

The survival of the endemic dolphin of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system in an increasingly polluted and over-fished river depends on extensive awareness against killing, harmful fishing practices and judicious planning for the scores of dams on tributaries of the Brahmaputra that will affect the hydrology and ecology of the river in ways that are difficult to predict but might prove costly for this endangered species.

Dr. Abdul Wakid, NGO Aaranyak Sivasagar

Introduction: The Ganges River Dolphin or Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica gangetica) is one of the last remaining three river dolphin species in the world. The species is found in Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli river system of

India-Nepal and Bangladesh (Anderson 1878, Kasuya & Haque 1972, Jones 1982, Mohan 1989, Reeves & Brownell 1989, Shrestha 1989 and Reeves et al. 1993). In the nineteenth century, the dolphins were plentiful in the entire distributional range, though no actual data on population is available (Sinha & Sharma 2003). However, due to various pressures the distributional ranges and abundance of this species has been sharply declined in its entire distributional ranges (Reeves & Leatherwood 1995) and for which the IUCN revised its threatened status from Vulnerable (Klinowska 1991) to Endangered (IUCN 1996). At present there are not more than 2500 individuals of this species in the world (Sinha & Sharma 2003). Due to its very highly threatened status, Gangetic dolphin is listed as Schedule-I species under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in India. It is also declared as the National Aquatic Animal of India as well as the State Aquatic Animal of Assam and Bihar. In India, there are enough historical and mythological evidences to confirm that the Gangetic dolphin had been a close relationship with human beings. During the time of King Ashoka, the Maurya Emperor in 230 B.C., the Gangetic dolphin was known as ‘Ganga-Puputaka’ and enjoyed the status of a ‘protected animal’ through a decree known as ‘Fifth Pillar Edict’. In Baburnama, which was published in 1598, the Gangetic dolphin was known as Khokk Aabi or Water Hog. Bhattasali, the author of Iconography of Buddhist and Brahminical sculptures identified this species as the Bahana (carrier) of mythical goddess Ganga. Although there is no conclusive fossil record, still it is estimated that the Gangetic dolphin evolved around 20 million years ago. The scientific world first came to know about the existence of Gangetic dolphin through Roxburgh (1801) Although the documentation made by William Roxburgh was published in 1801 in Asiatick Researchers, but its English version was published in 1803. G. Pilleri discovered that Roxburgh’s 1803 paper was in fact a reprint from the Indian edition of the same journal originally published in Calcutta in 1801. Roxburgh named the Gangetic dolphin as Delphinus gangetica. In 1828 Rene Lesson adopted a genus based on the Bengali name ‘Susuk’ and described the species as Susu platanista. However, Johann Wagler adapted Platanista as a genus in 1930 and from then onwards the Gangetic dolphin became known as Platanista gangetica to the scientific community. This species is commonly known as Susu in India, Shunshuk in Bangladesh and Saunch or Sounch in Nepal. Again, in each of 54

these countries the species has different local names, i.e., in India this species has different names in different parts, viz., Susuk (West Bengal), Susu (Bihar), Hihu (Assamese), Putukari (in Mishing) etc.

How many River Dolphins are in Brahmaputra river system? In Assam, River dolphins are found in the Brahmaputra mainstream (from Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to India-Bangladesh border), Kulsi River (Kamrup district) and Subansiri River (Lakhimpur district). A few surveys were conducted to assess the population status and distribution pattern of the species in these rivers since 1993. Summary of these surveys are mentioned below. 1993: The first ever survey on the Gangetic dolphin in Brahmaputra river system was conducted by Dr. R. S. Lal Mohan in February-March, 1993 in downstream to upstream (India-Bangladesh border to Assam-Arunachal border), where they observed 266 dolphins in the entire river, from Sadiya (Assam-Arunachal border) to South Salmara near India-Bangladesh border with an encounter rate of 0.44 dolphin/km (Mohan et al. (1997). They observed 28 dolphins in Sadiya to Burhidihingmukh, 45 dolphins from Burhidihingmukh to Dholpur, 34 dolphins from dholpur to Tezpur, 58 dolphins from Tezpur to Guwahati, 54 dolphins from Guwahati to Goalpara and 47 dolphins from Goalpara to South Salamara (India-Bangladesh border). They recorded 13% calves during the survey. Although Mohan et al., (1997) sighted 266 dolphins, however, they suggested the population in Brahmaputra mainstream to be 400 due to the possibility of missing of dolphins for the vastness of the Brahmaputra River. Mohan et al. (1998) recorded 17 dolphins in their survey conducted in 1993 in 9 km stretch of the Kulsi River, whereas Mohan et al (1997) recorded 25 dolphins in 22 km stretch of Subansiri River in their survey in 1993.

2005: The next whole Brahmaputra River was surveyed after 12 years by Abdul Wakid and his team from Aaranyak in 2005. The team surveyed in 856 km stretch of Brahmaputra mainstream from Assam-Arunachal border to India-Bangladesh border in February-April, 2005 through direct sighting method. The team recorded altogether 197 dolphins with 27 calves with an encounter rate of 0.23 dolphin/km. Maximum dolphins were sighted in Brahmaputra river stretch from Goalpara to India- Bangladesh border. The same team also recorded 27 dolphins in Kulsi River and 26 55

dolphins in Subansiri River. Thus 2005 survey indicated the occurrence of total 250 dolphins in Brahmaputra river system (Wakid, 2005 & 2009).

2008: Wakid & Braulik (2009) conducted dolphin survey in the same Brahmaputra River from Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to India-Bangladesh border during Feb-Apr, 2008, following the same methodology of 2005 survey. Altogether 212 dolphins were recorded with an encounter rate of 0.24 dolphin/km. The team also recorded 29 dolphins in Kulsi River and 23 dolphins in Subansiri River. Thus the 2008 survey recorded total 264 dolphins in Brahmaputra river system.

Photos: Dolphin surveys in 2008 (left) & 2012 (right)

2012: Considerable modifications were made in the dolphin survey methodology in 2012 survey. Instead of earlier (2005, 2008 survey) used Direct Sighting Method, which had the availability and perception bias, which resulted into underestimate the actual population size, newly developed Independent double observer based capture-recapture method was used alongwith underwater Line Transect method using hydrophones. A purpose-built 75 feet long survey boat with two observer platforms with two observer teams were used for the survey. This survey with a total survey effort of 877.3 km (from Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to India- Bangladesh border) resulted into the occurrence of 583 dolphins with detection probability of 0.62 (Wakid et al., 2013). This survey showed a significant increase of dolphin population in Brahmaputra River. The survey also recorded 17 dolphins in Kulsi River and 35 dolphins in Subansiri River. Thus 2012 survey resulted into the occurrence of total 635 dolphins in Brahmaputra river system.

Threats for the dolphins of Brahmaputra: The River Dolphins of Brahmaputra are mainly threatened by accidental killing, poaching for oil, habitat degradation, overfishing and developmental activities.

a. Accidental killing: The Gangetic dolphin is a blind river dolphin, for which they use echolocation for foraging and movements. This echolocation is not much developed in calves and juveniles, for which sometimes this age class dolphin get entangled in fishing net. Sometimes dolphins get entangled while trying to catch fishes from fishing net. Since dolphin is a mammal and can’t respire under water, therefore, after a few minutes of net entanglement, they die. b. Poaching for oil: Dolphin oil has a good market value for its oil, which is being used as fish bait by a specific fishermen community. On the otherhand, some river side communities use dolphin oil as medicine for rheumatic diseases. For both these uses, dolphin oil has a good market value, for which dolphins are being killed sometimes, deliberately or even accidentally through fishing net entanglement. c. Habitat degradation: Destruction of riparian vegetation, water pollution, sand mining, gravel mining etc activities are destroying the habitats of Gangetic dolphins in Assam. 1950’s mega earth quake changed the geomorpholigical features in many rivers of Assam, resulting into major habitat loss of dolphins. d. Overfishing: Intensive fishing in and around important dolphin habitats using unsustainable fishing gears (mosquito nets etc.) and fishing methods (fish poisoning etc.) is one of the major causes of food source depletion for dolphins which has been affecting the population in Assam. Moreover, about 92% of the dolphin inhabited river stretches of Assam is under the fishery leasing system, where extensive fishing practices happen throughout the year. e. Developmental activities: Water development projects (dams etc.) are detrimental to the long term survival of Gangetic dolphins in Assam.

Conservation activities on the Gangetic dolphins of Brahmaputra:

Fragmented conservation efforts of Gangetic dolphins in Brahmaputra had started in 1993, however, continuous efforts have been started in 2005 through the establishment of the Gangetic Dolphin Research and Conservation Division (GDRCD) by Aaranyak (a society for biodiversity conservation of NE India since 1989). In 2005-15, GDRCD did following significant works for the long term conservation of the species in Brahmaputra river system.  Standardized the population monitoring method of Ganges River Dolphin in Brahmaputra river system in association with the Wildlife Institute of India and Zoological Society of London (UK) using Independent double observer based capture-recapture method and underwater Line Transect method  Conducted total 3 times dolphin survey (2005, 2008, 2012) in the entire 1050 km dolphin inhabited river stretches of Brahmaputra river system  Established a community based Dolphin conservation Network (DCN) for protecting 30 most prioritised dolphin habitats in Brahmaputra river system through local community participation. Due to the effective activity of this Network, dolphin mortality in these 30 sites has been reducing by about 80% over last 8 years. Total 12 residential training camps were organized for the capacity building of these DCN members on Ganges River Dolphin and their habitat conservation in 2008-2015.  Established boat based ‘Dolphin Yatra’ to conduct awareness campaign on dolphin and their habitat conservation among river side communities. In 2012-15, GDRCD conducted total 225 community awareness campaign under ‘Dolphin Yatra’ in 220 river side villages of Brahmaputra river system, where more than 50,000 community people with about 30% students participated.  Conducted total 86 numbers of fishermen awareness campaign on fishery rules and regulations to develop sustainable fishery in 82 river side villages located in and around important dolphin habitats of Assam, where total 5970 community people (majority fishermen) and total 140 Fishery officials from 13 District Fishery Development Offices participated.  Total 105 active fishermen (fishing in Brahmaputra through gill net) were trained on net entangled dolphin release.

 Provided alternate of dolphin oil (made from fish scraps) to 138 Bin fishermen, from where they caught a good amount of Neria fish, earned about Rs. 2.25 lakhs and got good confidence on the use of this alternate oil.  Initiated ‘Clean Brahmaputra campaign’ to keep the dolphin habitats clean and riparian area protected. Till now more than 50 organizations and thousand people participated in this campaign to keep 30 dolphin habitats clean in Brahmaputra.  Organized 2 regional level strategy development workshops (2006, 2009) and 1 national level workshop (2013) on Gangetic dolphin conservation.

Eyang Gam, Age – 26, Dolphin Conservation Network Volunteer

Dikhowmukh

There are about six dolphins - three adults and subadults that live here at the confluence of the Disang and Brahmaputra. During the rains of June-July, we see calves. In January-February when the water level subsides, they head out to the main channel of the Brahmaputra. Before I became a volunteer in 2010, there was no awareness and it is true that local people used to kill dolphins. When Aaranyak gave us trainings for awareness, and explained to us about dolphins, we spread the word in the village, among students and fishermen. In the last few years, we haven’t heard of dolphin killings by poachers. We also monitor the dolphins here with the help of information from the fishermen. When we ask the fishermen whether it helps them when dolphins are there. Dolphins keep the ecosystem healthy. Wherever there are dolphins, there is also fish; and the converse is also true. 59

PATUKARI TUYUB

Among us Misings, we have a folk story called Patukari Tuyub. Her name was Yakasi, but she was simple-minded and was not good at work. So they tied a wooden pestle to her back, two brooms to her hands and put her out in the river. She was wearing a Yakan Age – a black mekhela-sador, and people believe that when Yakasi drowned she became a black dolphin, the brooms becoming her fins. People believe this story, so our people do not harm dolphins. Now people are becoming aware of the need to conserve dolphins, and I try my best to spread the message of conservation.

10. KAZIRANGA TIGER RESERVE & THE GREATER ONE-HORNED RHINO

The history of Kaziranga is inextricably linked with the saving of the Greater One- horned Rhino from certain extinction in 1905 to individuals in the thousands (2400) now and recent downgrading of status of this iconic, prehistoric species from Endangered to Vulnerable. It is also a grazing ground for mega-herbivores like the elephant and wild water buffalo and a stronghold of the endangered Bengal tiger. The productive grassland of these three representative wildernesses and stringent protection provided has resulted in exemplary conservation success. Forest personnel narrate what it takes to protect rhinos.

Source: N.K.Vasu, 2002. Management Plan (2003-2004 to 2012-2013) Kaziranga National Park located in Nagaon, Sonitpur and Golaghat districts of Assam.

Background

It is well known that Lady Mary Curzon, wife of the then Viceroy of British India Lord Curzon, convinced her husband to create Kaziranga to protect its rhinos. An important story, not often told, is that it was Nigona Shikari, of Bosagaon, who in fact convinced Lady Curzon to protect the rhinos. Nigona or Bapiram Hazarika was from Bosagaon and on that January day of her visit in 1905, commandeered the elephant which the Lady rode. He convinced her that an animal they had seen in the distance

was a rhino, and not a wild buffalo as she believed. He showed her the distinctive tracks, then answered her many questions and urged her to stop white hunters from killing the rhinos.

The chance encounter set into motion the then British government’s plans to protect the rhino. For several years initially, the goal remained to have enough animals for game hunting. It was only in 1938 when Conservator of Forests AJW Milroy opened Kaziranga to tourists did people other than hunters gain access to the sanctuary and conservation began to take shape. In 1950, Assam’s legendary forest officer P.D.Stracey was instrumental in changing Kaziranga’s designation to a wildlife sanctuary. In 1961, a medical doctor Dr Robin Banerjee based in the area, made a documentary film on Kaziranga for Berlin TV that made Kaziranga world famous. From a dozen or so rhinos in the early years of the 1900s, to 2400 rhinos at the last count in 2015, Kaziranga has been a stunning conservation success story, an example for the world to emulate.

Key dates in the history of Kaziranga

1905 - Kaziranga Proposed Reserve Forest

1908 – Kaziranga Reserve Forest

1916 – Kaziranga Game Sanctuary

1938 – Hunting prohibited, opened to tourists

1950 - Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary

1974 – Kaziranga National Park (430 km²)

1985 – World Heritage Site

2007 – Kaziranga Tiger Reserve

Origin of the name Kaziranga

There are a few theories on the origin of the name Kaziranga. The name might be from the Karbi hill tribe words karjo – wild goat and longso – river or stream, indicating the place where wild goats from the hills descend to the plains to drink at the streams and beels. (It is possible the wild goat referred to is the red serow). Another story is that in the 17th century Ahom King Rudra Simha stopped overnight at a local chieftain Ranjit Phukan’s house, where Phukan’s skilled daughter Kamala wove a silk jacket for the king at his request. Pleased with the gift, the king declared her a kazi – an expert worker, and rewarded her and her husband Rongai with a plot of land. Hence it was that the place came to be known as Kazi-Rongai. Yet another legend speaks of Kazi and Rongai as a childless couple, asking the 12th century saint and reformer Mahapurush Srimanta Sankaradeva or his disciple Mahapurush Madhabdeb for a blessing, wherein they were advised by him to dig a large pond as their legacy instead. Ahom King Swargadeo Pratap Singh ate fish from the pond and finding it exceedingly palatable, enquired as to its source. From then on, the place around the pond became known as Kazirangai.

Habitat

Kaziranga is the largest protected area (859 km²) within the Brahmaputra Valley. It is the best representative site of an ecologically functional riverine, annually flooded plain, where natural processes that maintain this unique and dynamic grassland and woodland ecosystem have been preserved. Floods submerge 50-70% of the landmass each year, with erosion and deposition a constant phenomenon. The majority area of the National Park is covered by tall alluvial grassland (61%), the defining habitat of the park. These grasses and reeds grow 4-6 metres tall. Woodland comprising semi-evergreen and tropical moist mixed deciduous forest (28%), water bodies, swamps and marshes (7.6%), short grassland (3%) and sand bars (0.40%) make up the remaining area. This range of habitats provides space for a wide variety of fauna, from fish (42 species), turtles and tortoises (17 species), amphibians (24 species) and snakes (35 species), butterflies (493 species) and birds (495 species) to mammals (35 species). Kaziranga lies at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian migratory flyways and is an Important Bird Area (IBA) 63

where both resident and migratory species feed, nest and breed. The Bengal Florican, an iconic grassland bird, is among the 25 globally threatened species found in Kaziranga.

THE BIG FIVE MAMMALS OF KAZIRANGA

1. Great Indian One horned Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) Largest population in the world with 2401±100 rhinos, or 67% of the world population in India, Nepal and Bhutan of 3555 rhinos.

2. Asiatic Wild Buffalo [Bubalus arnee (=Bubalus bubalis) Largest population in the world with 1963 buffalo or 57% of the world population of 3400 buffaloes in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand and Cambodia; possibly Myanmar, Vietnam.

3. Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus) A significant population of 1200+ elephants, over one-fifth of the 5500 elephants in Assam.

4. Eastern Swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinghi) Currently the only known population of this obligate grassland species (1129±63), the Barasingha of the Eastern Region is one of three subspecies of Swamp Deer Rucervus duvauceli whose world population is 3500-5000 animals in India and Nepal. A current translocation project from Kaziranga to Manas National Park, where it might have been extirpated, is in progress.

5. Tiger (Panthera tigris) Largest population in North-east India (125 tigers), connected via the Brahmaputra’s river islands to Burhachapori and Laokhowa WLS and Orang National Park further west. The tigers in Kaziranga occur at very high densities because of the abundance of prey and suitable habitat.

BIRDS OF KAZIRANGA

The 25 globally threatened species found in Kaziranga are Swamp Francolin (Francolinus gularis), Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus), Ferruginous Pochard (Aythya nyroca), Baer’s Pochard (A.baeri), Blyth’s Kingfisher (Alcedo Hercules), Pale-capped Pigeon (Columba punicea), Bengal Florican (Houbaropsis bengalensis), Nordmann’s Greenshank (Tringa guttifer), Black-bellied Tern (Sterna acuticauda), Pallas’s Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus), Greater Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga), Imperial Eagle (A. heliacal), Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni), White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis), Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis), Dalmatian Pelican (P. crispus), Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius), Lesser Adjutant (L. Javanicus), Hodgson’s Bushchat (Saxicola insignis), Rufous-vented Prinia (Prinia burnesii), Bristled Grassbird (Chaetornis striatus), Marsh Babbler (Pellorneum palustre), Jerdon’s Babbler (Chrysomma altirostre), Black-breasted Parrotbill (Paradoxornis flavirostris) and Finn’s Weaver (Ploceus megarhynchus).

TURTLES & TORTOISES

Kaziranga had the highest diversity of chelonians, with 17 species, in the entire northeast India. It is their best remaining and best protected habitat. Commonly encountered species are the Assam Roofed Turtle Pangshura sylhetensis, Southeast Asian Box Turtle Cuora amboinensis and the Tricarinate Hill Turtle Melanochelys tricarinata. Kaziranga is also the only protected area in its range in India and Bangladesh where there exists a wild population of the Critically Endangered Black Softshell Turtle Nilssonia nigricans.

Photo: An Assam Roofed Turtle hatched on the sandbars of the Brahmaputra near Burhachapori WLS.

REPTILES OF KAZIRANGA

Twenty species of lizards and snakes are recorded from Kaziranga. In the lizard group are the Common Indian Skink (Mabuya carinata), Assam Olive-Brown Skink (Mabuya multifasciata), Tuctoo Gecko (Gecko gecko), House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), Common Bengal Monitor (Varanus bengalensis), Indian Water Monitor (Varanus salvator), Assam Greyish-Brown Gecko (Hemidactylus garnotii), Light-Olive Assam Garden Lizard (Calotes emma), Assam Garden Lizard (Calotes maria) and Dotted Garden Skink (Lygosoma punctata).

Among the snakes are the Black Krait (Bungarus niger), Bengal Cobra (Naja kaouthia), Common Kukri Snake (Oligodon arnensis), Striped Keelback (Amphiesma stolata), Checkered Keelback Watersnake (Amphiesma stolata), Common or Long- Nosed Vine Snake (Ahaetulla nasuta), Rock Python (Python molurus), Reticulated Python (Python reticulatus), Copperhead Trinket Snake (Elaphe radiata), Rat Snake (Ptyas mucosus), Common Krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus) and King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah).

BEELS OF KAZIRANGA

Kaziranga’s beels or waterbodies that are relicts of older channels, are habitat for both resident and migratory water birds. The beels shift and change with the annual moods of the river. The flooding helps to clear the invasive water-hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes that otherwise choke the beels and make them unsuitable for the birds. Siltation also makes beels shallow and small. In a 2005-2006 survey of 34 Kaziranga beels, 49 species of water birds were recorded, the most common being the Common Teal Anas crecca, Northern Pintail Anas acuta, Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus and Greylag goose Anser anser. Among these, at least nine beels are large ones ranging in size from 50-150 ha. Beels that silt up also create swamps and marshes that are habitat for many species of wildlife.

Among the water birds are two Vulnerable species - Lesser Adjutant Stork Leptoptilos javanicus and Swamp Francolin Francolinus gularis; and seven species are Near-threatened i.e. Falcated Teal Anas falcata, Ferruginous Pochard Aythya nyroca, Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus, Oriental White Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus, Spot-billed Pelican Pelecanus philippensis and Darter Anhinga melanogaster. The Sohola beel of Agratoli Range, Moorpholoni and Donga beels of Bagori Range and Tunikati beel of Burapahar Range host the most species (22-31) of water birds in Kaziranga. The Koladuar beel in Agratoli Range, with its simul or silk cotton Bombax ceiba used for nesting, is an important rookery for spot- billed pelicans.

THREATS

The main threats to Kaziranga are poaching, especially of rhinos, and loss of habitat connectivity and disruption of wildlife corridors. Several tea estates, few settlements and the National Highway 37 are major disruptors of the integrity of Kaziranga, cutting it off from the Karbi Anglong Hill forests on the south. Other major concerns are wildlife mortality during floods, inter-breeding of wild and domestic buffaloes, illegal fishing and habitat degradation including that caused by invasive weeds such as mimosa Mimosa invisia on land and water hyacinth Eicchornia crassipes in the 67

waterbodies. The pollution of the Brahmaputra waters that feeds this ecosystem, pollution from pesticide use in the tea estates nearby, unregulated and burgeoning tourism impacts, and changing demographic profiles, including densely populated fringe areas cause several negative impacts. Although the area of the park increased with the sixth addition to Kaziranga, encompassing the Brahmaputra and the chaporis therein, there is a large domestic cattle population on the islands which degrade, disturb and reduce the area available to wildlife.

Fig. No. of rhinos poached between 1965-2007. (Source KNP Records)

What it takes to protect rhinos

In 1904, the Chief Commissioner of Assam was magnanimous in sanctioning one gamekeeper at a salary of Rs 35 per month, to be assisted by three forest guards to protect Kaziranga. The annual budget was Rs 800. Kaziranga has a come a long way in the intervening hundred years, with 421 staff and 125 field camps spread throughout the park, and even stationed on the Brahmaputra as boat camps. Even this strength is not enough, however, for a such a large area, and shortage of manpower remains an issue.

Photo: Armed Forest guards on night duty along National Highway 37 at Ghorakati, Kaziranga NP.

Photo: A Boat Camp on the Brahmaputra in Kaziranga NP aboard which forest guards live while on patrolling duty on the river and adjoining forest sections.

Bhaskarjyoti Buragohain, Assistant Conservator of Forest, In-Charge Northern Range

Bishwanath Ghat, Kaziranga National Park

Northern Range of Kaziranga, there are a few floating anti-poaching camps for river patrolling on the Brahmaputra. Patrols are carried out night and day. Each camp has 6-7 staff, if suspicious persons or boats are seen in the riverine area. Our area of surveillance are on the main river, in the chaporis and near the cattle camps or khutis. In this northern range, there is a sizable rhino population. In the winter season, they move along and across the river, using the areas under our protection. When they move out, it becomes difficult to protect the rhinos. Local people panic when rhinos appear and poachers are always waiting.

From the top to bottom rung at our range, all our forest staff are on protection duty. We have wireless sets, arms & ammunition, floating camps and there is a special Assam Forest Protection Force, whose battalion personnel are engaged for protection. In the southern bank there are the head offices and several ranges and beat offices under each. In the north, there is only one range office, under which are the beat offices. We have one speed boat, for rapid response in case of emergencies either with wildlife or our staff. Our staff live on these floating camps. We have four of these floating camps and 2-3 departmental vehicles. Our range is large, covering a large area from Bhumuraguri near the Koliabhomora bridge to Gohpur. Also included is the Panpur Reserve Forest that used to be formerly under territorial jurisdiction, and now under us, as wildlife area. With the latest 6th addition

of Kaziranga, mainly river area, our area has increased. The khutis in the chaporis of the Brahmaputra present a challenge for protection. We have done a survey and seek to remove these khutis and the associated disturbance, mainly because of grazing, and return the chapori areas to wilderness through natural succession of grassland and some woodland. The natural vegetation on the chaporis is grassland, which is the ideal habitat for rhinos. The responsibilities of our staff are increasing, and we will face new challenges. We need to take increase staff strength and infrastructure development in good time for protection of the rhinos and their new habitats, so that we are able to protect the rhinos, a world heritage, as we would like to. Our staff put their lives on the line to protect the wildlife. During the flood season, it is risky to venture out on the flooded river. We have to think about the safety of the forest staff, since the protection of Kaziranga depends on them. We have to provide them with basic facilities so that they can do their duty properly. To work in the field, of course facilities are important, but encouragement is vital. Encouragement is what enables them to do their tough duty of protecting rhinos with enthusiasm. Many NGOs have come up and it is commendable that they are working for the conservation of Kaziranga’s forest wealth. Together, there are other allied departments who give us timely help and we have to be thankful to them. There is much successful research being done on Kaziranga’s fauna and flora and we appreciate this research, because it helps us in our management and planning for the future. Modern methods must be applied, as is done in National Parks in other places, and we have to move with the times. That way we can ensure that we achieve our goals.

Manoj Kumar Das, Forest Guard

In-Charge Borgang Floating Camp, Northern Range, Kaziranga National Park

Our duty is mostly on foot, on nearby reserves doing patrolling, laying ambush. On the southern side the Sonde Tapu we patrol. Since we live in the Brahmaputra, we face different kinds of problems especially during the floods. During that time, even the streams get flooded and walking becomes impossible. We then take small boats with oars and check the chaporis where the wildlife take shelter. We take this floating camp up a nearby stream and park it there since it is then not possible to park it here on the main river during high floods.

We encounter elephant, rhinos and wild buffalo. We try to move away safely, but when we come face-to-face with wild animals, then we sometimes have to blank fire to save ourselves. In this Panpur Reserve area, elephant conflict is high although there are also rhinos and buffalo. The elephants are in good number. They stay in the reserve forest area in the daytime, and go out to the villages when it becomes dark. When they appear in the nearby villages, we try and chase the elephants back to the forest. The number of rhinos here have increased over the years, from 3-4 to 20-21 now, although buffalo are not that many in number.

Fig. A high density of guards and guard camps (above) ensures the protection of the high value rhinos in Kaziranga. (Source: UNESCO-IUCN 2007. Final Management Effectiveness Evaluation Report of Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India).

The Greater One-Horned Rhino

The range of the Greater One-horned Rhino once throughout the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from the Indus and Ganges to the Brahmaputra river valley. This included the present day countries of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The rhinos disappeared from the Pakistan-Northwest Indian region in the 17th century, and then declined precipitously over the next centuries till they were brought to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s with only about 200 rhinos worldwide. Strong protection measures in the last hundred years, however, have brought it up to 3555 rhinos in 2015, with the major success in being in Nepal and Assam the increase in numbers in Kaziranga National Park, where numbers more than doubled in the last 30 years alone, from 1080 rhinos in 1985 to 2401 rhinos in 2015. In Nepal, numbers increased ten-fold between 1960s and 2000 from 65 to 612. However, a long Maoist insurgency led to rampant poaching that reduced the population by almost 40% by 2005. 73

Initiated in 2005, the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 program is a collaboration between the Assam Forest Department, WWF-India, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and the US-Fish and Wildlife Service supported by other groups. The vision is to ‘attain a population of 3000 wild rhinos in Assam distributed over seven of its protected areas by the year 2020. Rhinos have now been reintroduced to Manas and Burhachapori-Laokhowa WLS which had lost their rhinos to poaching precipitated by political disturbances. The greater one-horned rhino, its habitat the grasslands of the Brahmaputra, now occurs in five populations in Protected Areas – Kaziranga NP, Manas NP, Orang NP, Pobitora WLS and the Laokhowa-Burhachapori WLS. Dibru-Saikhowa NP is a proposed site. D’ering WLS in Arunachal Pradesh also promises to be a good site for the creation of a rhino population. Stray rhinos are reported intermittently from Molai Chapori up to Dehingmukh Reserve Forest in the Jorhat-Dibrugarh south bank areas.

Map: Rhino-bearing areas in Assam. Dibru-Saikhowa NP is a potential reintroduction site. (Source: Indian Rhino Vision 2020, Progress and Plans 2011, WWF-India)

Photos: Orang National Park has about a 100 rhinos and is the only rhino-bearing site on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra now. The entrance gate (left) and the general habitat in the Park (right).

11. THE BRAHMAPUTRA CHAPORIS

Photo: Lohori Char near Orang NP.

Tayab Ali, 85 years, Settler, Lohori Char Near Orang National Park I have lived on these river islands for 35 years. At that time it was all jungle and elephants roamed on the islands. One year there was a big flood and we had to move out to a tapu south of the main channel where we built our hut and planted our crops. We move every two years or so, every time a flood washes away the island we live on. Elephants used to come by and two to four rhinos would stand around the house, but they did not harm us. We never harmed them. We people have ‘iman- dharam’ (values). The rhinos stopped coming 7 or 8 years ago when the channel between Orang NP and this chapori widened because of erosion on the southern side of Orang. I have seen wild boar and deer washed away during floods. 76

Nobi Hussai, Settler, Lohori Char Near Orang National Park This year, a tiger killed my gravid buffalo. Last year about 35 cows were killed, more cows are killed than buffalo. This year about 15-20 cattle were killed. Wild pigs cause a lot of damage to our crops on the island. The last 2 months, they have been eating our peas, tomatoes and brinjal. They hide out in the grass during the day and raid our crops at night. Even standing guard does not help. We don’t kill pigs. We did not have kills by tigers before 2006. Tigers have wild pig and deer prey, but they still kill our cattle. In January 2014, Ahed Ali was attacked by a tiger on the south of this island when he was waiting for a motor launch.

Safiuddin Ahmed, Badlichar, Teacher

Near Orang National Park

I came to Lohori Char in 1994 just to see the place. When I came, the people here thought I was a school master because I was wearing long pants. A senior person Nur Islam had sent me with a letter, where apparently he had written that I was to be their teacher. I felt proud and assured them I would be the village teacher. They set up the school and I started classes in 1995. I married and brought my bride here. In 77

1999, the government had an Alternative School scheme to which I shifted, working in this same school. I started on a salary of Rs 900, which was enough for me and my wife. In 1999, a very big flood came. We had two huts. One got washed away. In the one we still had, we put all our belongings on our cot and raised it off the ground by tying ropes to the house posts. There were one motor launch and one or two boats on the island, but we could not get help. In our hut there were 5 or 6 large snakes. We didn’t have anywhere really to tie a mosquito net, but the snakes wouldn’t go. So we put our mosquito net out and sat under it. We stayed like that for 7 days, with the snakes outside the net, and the two of us inside.

After the 1999 flood, while going with other villagers to the market on a motor launch, we crossed a small tapu (island) with lots of jhaubon (grass). On those grasses we saw many snakes hanging together, like black flowers. I asked for the launch to stop. It was very lovely to see. But nowadays, i don’t see them any more. I think there could be two reasons why there are no snakes like before. One, people sometimes poison the water to catch fish. Snakes also drink water, or they eat frogs which have drunk the poisoned water. In this way, snakes are disappearing. The other reason, is when the forests are set on fire, many snakes die. I once saw a big snake lying dead on the sand, burnt. Ten-fifteen years ago, when people used to boil and leave their ahu-dhan out, there used to be so many frogs around to catch the insects on the paddy. Now I no longer see them. My suspicion is that it is poisoning again that has killed off the frogs.

There is a belief that tigers wake up and pray every morning - ‘God, give me a place to hide’. God makes forests for tigers to live in. Only when there are forests is there rain. When tigers are no more, we will have no water. This was how it was explained at a conservation training that I attended.

Bagh thakile, thakibo bonani Where there are tigers, there will be forest

Bonani thakile, paam ami nirmal pani Where there are forests, there will be water

Another time we heard that when snakes flick their tongues, they absorb the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. In our area as snakes started disappearing, people are starting to get skin diseases.

Nurul Islam, 65 years, Headman, Badlisar Village

Near Orang National Park

In Darrang district, our village Badlisar south of which is the Brahmaputra, and next to our village is Orang NP. The wild animals do not harm us. They come out occasionally – the rhinos, elephants, pigs and deer. Our people chase them and they go back to the forest. If for some reason they get stuck here, we inform the forest department and they chase them back. Since the last 6-8 years, there have been no incidents of wild animals in our crop lands.

Photo: A typical goth or cattle camp on the Brahmaputra.

Sunnilal Yadav, Age-67, Cattle-herder

Sande Chapori (proposed Kaziranga 6th addition), Sonitpur

I was born in Burhachapori village on the side of the Brahmaputra. I have herded cows and buffaloes all my life. My goth was near the river and there were many rhinos there, many times I’d come face to face with them. I survived even that. When the grass finished in Burhachapori I went to Sadiya in the east and kept the cattle there for 12-14 years. There were 150-200 elephants in those days. When the grass finished there too, I returned with the cattle to Burhachapori. The river had eroded many places and without highlands it became difficult there, so we moved

here to Sande chapori where I have been now for 10-11 years. In Burhachapori, there were elephants, wild pig, monkeys, rhino and tigers. Here elephants come often, but they do not cause us any damage. Just 15-20 days ago, three or four elephants had come. A tiger killed a horse recently on the chapori, and the wild pigs roam around, but the wild animals really don’t disturb us.

The forest department demolished our huts and have asked us to move out. We rebuilt them. Where do we go? At this age I can’t leave my livelihood nor hold on to it. My family is in the village, but my life is here in the goth. I have 30-40 buffalo and about 70-80 cows. Right now I don’t even get enough money for tea. I don’t know any other skill. Even if you give me Rs 5 lakhs to set up a shop, I will not be able to run it.

There was one time when I came upon a tiger. I quickly climbed a tree, and it took a piece of my shirt from my back. God save me that time. The other day an elephant came up to this hut, and I spoke to it. I said, ‘Wait Baba. You are also a god to me, I am afraid. Tomorrow I will worship you and give you salt’. The next day I got banana, rice and salt and left it out for the elephant. It came and ate all of it, but did not touch the hut. In all these years, elephants have never broken our huts. They pass through here on the way from the forest to the fields to eat sugarcane and crops and back again. We also pass them quietly when they are 50-100 m away. In a year, tigers will eat 2-4 upto 10 of my cattle. They will eat from other goths as well. They say god has made tigers lazy – once they eat, they lie around for 7 days. There is even a python lying outside the cattle shed now.

There should be wild animals. When there is wildlife there is jungle, and the village women and children do not come. Of course wild animals take a cow or buffalo, but they do not other harm. When there is jungle, there is grass and the cattle can feed well. When they feed well they give more milk, and there is more income.

There is no more wildlife on the Brahmaputra in the numbers there used to be before. There are fewer elephants, tigers and the rhinos – which are only in Kaziranga. They don’t have place to shelter, less to eat and they are being poached. These large animals are not like chicken or pigs that they have many offspring, they only have one or two at long intervals and if they are killed, then how will numbers

increase? But in trying to keep the poachers out, the forest department is also chasing us out.

Anon., Sande Chapori, Sonitpur

This is Chandra Tapu. There are some 10 wild buffaloes here and I don’t go through the jungle in the morning. They attack when they hear people and keep killing people. Last year one man had gone to his field. When he saw buffalo, he thought it was a khuti buffalo and went to chase it, but got killed instead.

Photo: A cattle camp on Sande Chapori. Only men live in these goths.

Mahendra Upadhyay, Age – 61 yrs, Cattle Owner, Ganeshghat, Tezpur.

My birth was in Burhachapori. Our family’s khuti occupation has been for generations, over 115-120 years. This part of the river was called Rongdi. People used to cultivate vegetables in parts, and the rest was jungle. In the older days, only men lived in the khutis, never the women and children. Till 1963-64, we never would see families in the char areas. But after 1965, immigrants settled with families, and because of them the wildlife has disappeared. When they cultivated, and the animals damage crops, they would kill them. Because of this, the animals started disappearing. Before 1980-81 Burhachapori had so many rhinos, there were places named after rhino foraging and resting areas as Gainde Hola. There were tigers and elephants. Elephants had enough in the jungle and would harly ever come out. But it is now when the people have cut down the jungles, that the elephants come out to the villages and tigers to the towns. The staying of families in the chars should be stopped. If two or three people keep khutis with 2-4 cattle, then they do not harm wildlife. They prefer that there is jungle, and unknown people cannot enter.

When the grass dried out here and our cattle was taken up to Sadiya, it used to take our fathers 4-6 months to go up the river in the dry season. The temporary goths were set up wherever there was some grazing such as at Mesaki in Sibsagar and Bogibeel, Dibrugarh and then to Sunpura in Sadiya where we reached in 1966 and then stayed for 13 years. There too encroachers came in, but they were not Bangladeshis, they had come down from the hills. When they began harming our cattle, we sold our livestock and came back here. There too there were the big animals - the wild buffalo, tiger, elephant and many sambar right up to 1976-77 after which we left. Yes, tigers killed our livestock, but not indiscriminately. Whatever damage has been inflicted on the char wildernesses, it has been by human beings.

12. The Bengal Florican

With fewer than a thousand birds in three populations worldwide the estimated 250- 280 birds in India, most of it in the Brahmaputra valley is of great conservation significance. An obligate grassland species, the Bengal Florican prefers very specific habitats, avoids flooded areas and prefers a mix of tall and short grass for nesting and display respectively. They are direly threatened by conversion of their preferred grassland habitats to agriculture and settlements.

Namita Brahma, Aaranyak

Guwahati

The Bengal Florican prefers very specific habitats – they avoid inundated areas, prefer higher grounds and a combination of grasslands, both tall and short. Grass height is a crucial requirement. Short grass areas are for territorial displays, and tall grasslands are for nesting and shade.

They used to occur widely along the entire terai belt from Uttar Pradesh to Arunachal Pradesh in the Brahmaputra Valley. Ulu-Moira (Ulu – Imperata cylindrica, a grass has a specific height and does not grow very tall. People see them mostly in the Imperata grasslands, and hence the name – The Imperata Peacock).

In Kaziranga, the entire area is flooded, so towards Debeshwari where there is less water, more floricans can be seen. They used to occur in the Mihimukh area as well, however, because of disturbance by humans and livestock, not many are seen now.

The global population of the Bengal Florican is not more than a thousand birds in three populations: India, Cambodia and Nepal. There are about 250-280 birds in India. The biggest population is in Cambodia, ca, 500-600 along the Mekong river. 84

However, because of changes in traditional cultivation to changing systems for higher production yields, the main challenge to conservation of the florican is change in available habitat.

In Manas we have the Kokilabari Seed Farm set up in 1971. The place was eventually abandoned because of civil unrest and the 30 year lease was not renewed. It is likely that the Bengal Floricans started using the area when it was abandoned. Bibhuti Lahkar heard about them and I did my PhDon them. They stay in the paddy cultivated area where the grass height does not exceed the optimum for floricans. At Kokilabari, I have compared habitat between forest and the seed farm area, and a static population of 10-15 birds. They are territorial and have a lek mating system.

In Northeast India they occur in specific pockets in Assam (Manas, Kaziranga, Orang and Dibru-Saikhowa and on some chaporis on the Lohit) and Arunachal Pradesh (D’Ering WLS). The Bengal Florican used to occur all along the Brahmaputra valley. In fact, there is even a record from Beltola, which used to be a low-lying grassland, in Guwahati during British times. In places like Sonai-Rupai WLS where the grassland has degraded, the floricans have not been seen recently (2009-2010). They also occur in Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh). There are old records from West Bengal, but no recent ones. Because they are obligate grassland species, we cannot conserve the Bengal Florican until we can protect the grasslands it needs.

13. Laokhowa and Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuaries

Grassland sites that lost most of their flagship species such as rhino, wild water buffalo and tiger to human disturbance and poaching, where natural dispersal of these species are being facilitated through protection of the river islands that serve as animal corridors. The site has also recently received its first reintroduced rhinos.

Photo: A map of the Laokhowa-Burhachapori Sanctuaries at the interpretation center at Burhachapori.

Smarajit Ojah & Prasanta Bordoloi (Wildlife Photographer and Filmmaker), Laokhowa Burhachapori Wildlife Conservation Society

The Brahmaputra is one boundary of the Burhachapori. I have been coming to Burhachapori since 1995-96. At one time, when there were cattle carcasses, I used 86

to see the rare king or red-headed vultures. Four years ago, we saw and photographed a flock of hundreds of vultures – mostly Himalayan Griffon and Eurasian Griffon, and also White-backed and Slender-billed Vultures. When travelling on the Brahmaputra, we once saw white-bellied heron (Assamese: Kona musori), a very large and rare heron. The migratory birds come to the river islands. At one time when Burhachapori was disturbed, the Bengal Florican moved away to the river islands. We get quite a few reports of floricans from the chaporis, but now because of better conditions, they come to Burhachapori as well.

Quite a few river dolphins are seen, especially on the channel of the Brahmaputra that flows through Burhachapori. There are otters that are breeding well. Among reptiles, the Brahmaputra is conducive habitat for turtles. Especially in the Burhachapori area, due to erosion large trees fall and these provide ideal spaces for turtles. There are several WPA Schedule 1 species such as the Spotted Pond Turtle, three species of Softshells – the Ganges Softshell, Peacock Softshell and the Indian Flapshell and the Tricarinate turtle whose habitat is mainly the grassland.

Tigers move through Burhachapori and the river islands. One part of the Brahmaputra is inside Burhachapori. Once in 2010, we received news that a tiger had attacked a buffalo near Burhachapori. At the kill site there was the carcass and blood, and the bundles of grasses that the grass-cutters had dropped and fled, but we could not find pugmarks because the sand had been disturbed. Nearby, though, we found tiger claw marks on a tree. Another time at Bilal Tapu, we heard of a tigress and two cubs at a cattle kill from the khuti people who had seen them. (When the Koliabhomora Bridgewas built, several islands changed form and people gave them various names).

Laokhowa and Burhachapori have a common boundary and it was also connected to Kaziranga, with wild animals moving between the sites. This was the case until the Koliabhomora bridge separated the sites, due to heavy disturbance during the construction between 1981-1987 .In 1983 we also had a serious political disturbance during which rhinos and other wildlife in Laokhowa-Burhachapori being killed or chased away. This resulted in Laokhowa-Burhachapori being neglected, although now things are looking up. The Brahmaputra wildlife corridor, however, is extremely

necessary and if this route can be opened up between Kaziranga and Laokhowa- Burhachapori, with necessary security, then issues like inbreeding etc. can be avoided. Buhachapori has returned to a wonderful environment.

From March-April, blue-tailed bee-eaters that usually nest on river banks, nest here on a small grassland on relatively high ground at Koroitoli. We realized that the bee- eaters avoid the erosion prone sand banks, and breed here instead. There are predators like hawk eagles, adjutant storks and mongoose, but they cannot easily come to the open field where the bee-eaters nest, the grassland is naturally sheltered. The bee-eaters have abundant food here with crickets, dragonflies and butterflies. If there is big flood, Koroitoli gets flooded, but by then usually the chicks have usually fledged.

We have an organisation called the Laokhowa Burhachapori Wildlife Conservation Society. We started this Society in 2008 with the Nagaon Wildlife Division, and as volunteers our first work was to document and understand these sanctuaries. We found that there may not have been the attention-grabbing large mammals like Kaziranga or Pobitora, but there were many small and interesting ecological events happening. LBWCS is a good example where common citizens and a government department have collaborated for the conservation of a site. There is much to be done here. Laokhowa (70 sq.km) and Burhachapori (44 sq.km) are contiguous habitats, and Burhachapori, being a river island, is a very important area. It is mid- way between Orang and Kaziranga. We realized that we needed to look at it at the landscape level, as a Laokhowa-Burhachapori Landscape Complex, not just as a 114 sq.km site.

We did not have much support – neither from higher-ups in the department, nor from common people nor from the media. Under the circumstances, we worked as volunteers for documentation. We got some cameras, practised some field techniques. With this simple beginning, we have now have photographically documented more than 240 bird species. We have camera-trapped evidence of tigers coming from Orang and Kaziranga. In 2009, November 19 we heard of a tiger at Koliabhomora bridge. We went and checked pugmarks. On November 21st, we heard that at Mikirbheta village at Morigaon a tiger had killed cattle. We reached

there and saw the carcass. WWF arrived and Nowgong Wildlife Division provided compensation to the owner. On the night of November 23rd, further west, to the south of Orang, a tiger killed a woman when she came upon it in a paddy field. Some 30 – 40,000 people collected at the scene, and in a classic case of human-wildlife conflict, the tiger killed 4 people before it was eventually shot dead. We later found out that the tiger had come from Kaziranga through the river corridor. This incident in 2009 was a turning point – we decided that we must document the Brahmaputra river corridor was important. That was when we – the LBWCS Research Cell - collaborated with the Nowgong Wildlife Division and found out that the river islands function both as prime habitat and crucial corridor. On every island, there is rich presence of avifauna – including Bengal Florican. We were not subject experts then, but we realized the importance later. Even Dr Asad Rahmani of the Bombay Natural History Society hadn’t known that these river islands are the non-breeding winter habitat for the floricans.

With the understanding of this importance, with Nowgong Wildilfe Division, we submitted a proposal for including the Brahmaputra riverine area as the first extension of Burhachapori WLS that is now at the approval stage. When this gets approved, then this stretch of 195 km² from Singri Hills in the west to the Koliabhomora Bridge will connect the entire river section from Singri Hills, Dhekiajuli to beyond Kaziranga at Jorhat. We believe that this entire section – Orang, Laokhowa, Burhachapori and Kaziranga connected by the Brahmaputra - must be treated as one landscape and protected as such. A piecemeal protection approach will not work. There are many limitations on research work on the river islands in terms of logistics and funding, but once protected, future research work can be taken up and we will learn much more about the wildlife on the river islands. There are many illegalities and settlements happening now, and the beautiful Imperata cyclindrica (Ulu kher) grasslands will disappear.

There used to be 50 -60 rhinos in Laokhowa-Burhachapori until 1983, when, during the time of the Assam Agitation, 40-50 rhinos were killed within 15-20 days and they were wiped out. Now under the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 – a program of the Assam Forest Department, WWF and the US-Fish & Wildlife Service we welcome the plan to reintroduce rhinos to Laokhowa and Burhachapori. 89

Mohammad Idris Ali, Age: 50 yrs. Boatman,

Burhachapori WLS

The Burhachapori WSL area starts from the Kolibhomora bridge. When rhinos and elephants come from Kaziranga, they come into the villages here and we have to chase them. The river island here Puhodra Tapu has deer and at Jahaj Tapu ahead there are deer, pig, buffalo and sometimes the elephants come occasionally during the rains. There are settlements dotting the river islands. This makes it somewhat difficult for the animals, but they move to Orang National Park via these islands, for example, Jahaj Tapu, Jahajghat and Lankeshwar. There are wild animals on all the islands. During the floods, Jahaj Tapu is relatively high ground and this is mainly where the animals take shelter.

Now is the time for the turtles to lay eggs. They emerge from the water, dig nests in the sand where they lay eggs and cover it again with sand. I have seen turtles up to 4 - 5 kgs in weight. They climb out on tree stumps and we can see their tracks on the sand. We protect them, along with all the other animals. In the island area, we look out for dolphins. At this time when the mouth of the channel is sandy, the dolphins are not able to come in, but when the water levels rise, we see them in this channel. There is a good population of fish and we do not permit fishing. We have come face to face with wild buffalo and elephants, while we are on duty on our boats. We remain on patrol duty regularly whenever the animals are on the islands until they move into the jungles on the banks. We stay on duty for the birds too in the island territories, so that they are not hunted.

Shabana Hussain, M.A. Student, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati.

Burhachapori WLS

I am here for dissertation field work. My study is on ‘Livelihood challenges of fringe villages in Buhachapori-Laokhowa WLS’. Studying the socio-economic aspect, peoples view is that the land belonged to the villagers, but due to new encroachments they gave the land to the forest department so the forest may be protected. When the area became WLS in 1995, their grazing and entry rights stopped. They faced some challenges due to that, but overall the people are very positive. They want the forest and sanctuary to be saved. They mention that there used to be rhinos and they disappeared, and are happy that rhinos will be reintroduced. However, their economic aspect has been hampered. In my survey, they are looking to the government to support them in small ways; for example with LPG cooking gas connections or perhaps milch cows, then they would no longer need to go into the sanctuary to collect firewood.

Premprasad Adhikari, Gaonbura, Dhaniya Village

Burhachapori WLS

We were traditionally graziers living with our cattle in this area. I think we have been here about 100-150 years, the lower primary school was established in 1930. In 1967, Burhachapori became a professional grazing reserve and we paid taxes to the government for grazing rights – at Re. 1 for a cow, and Rs. 3 per buffalo. Then in 1967, suddenly encroachments began from the Nowgaon side. First it was the Biharis and later in the 1970s, the Bangladeshis came in and encroached the entire reserve. As graziers, we needed the forest and place for cattle camps. Our villagers got together for a meeting and informed the Deputy Commissioner about the encroachment. Our President was Narbahadur Subedi. With the DFO Bedananda Sharma and with the help of a battalion and villagers in 1970, we helped remove the encroachments. In 1971, many Bengalis encroached again, in the area near the present Inspection Bungalow. At that time some people from our village committed murders there and stayed in the reserve. Dil Bahadur Karki and Kul Bahadur Karki were jailed for these incidents. There used to be rhinos, tiger, deer, Bengal Floricans and good forest when we were grazing in the reserve. If a rhino died then, it was of old age. Seeing that we couldn’t keep the site safe anymore from the encroachers, we gave an application to the government in Shillong , the then capital. The government sent surveyors and about 4600 ha of revenue land was given to forest. Dhaniya village has about 1200 bighas revenue land. Our old village shifted here for the reserve, with the idea that we would be on one side and the forest would remain on one side, the goal was to preserve the forest and protect the animals here. That is what our forefathers wanted and that is what we want. The rhinos used to come out from Orang and on their way to Kaziranga, use the river islands. But once the river islands were encroached and settled, our livelihood as cattle graziers also stopped. On this side, our grazing reserve became a wildlife sanctuary, and our cattle were no longer permitted inside. Before the WLS was declared, the Forest Department had given us alternative land for grazing, and asked us to leave grazing in the soon-to-be sanctuary area. We did not agree to move, then we heard that our village was also going to be taken for the WLS so I filed a high court case. Then we got our village secured as revenue land. The tapu we had been allotted for grazing was encroached by others and we said there would be conflict with the encroachers if we went there, so we did not want it and that they should remove the encroachment. That has not happened to this day. I suggest to conservationists that they should secure the 92

islands as wildlife corridor, that way some of our cattle camps can also exist. I don’t know when it will happen.

Regarding wildlife, we made this reserve and we want wildlife to be safe and welcome the reintroduction of rhinos to Burhachapori and Laokhowa. Before, when rhinos used to fight in Laokhowa, the loser would escape here through our courtyard. One morning when I went looking for my cattle, I came upon a rhino resting below a simul tree after feeding on the fallen simul flowers. I landed in front of its face and got so nervous I fell down. My companion came running back to the village to announce that the gaonbura has been killed by a rhino. Meanwhile, the rhino just kept looking at me. I came to my senses and reached up with one hand for a branch of the tree, at which the rhino charged me. I climbed higher, shivering in fear. It didn’t kill me, just put me up the tree. We respect the rhino and welcome it and there has to be strict protection for it here. If there is corruption, it has to be taken care of. If they say we have to stop grazing, we will – we can stop our cattle, we have done it, but the government should also help us with alternatives and facilities.

14. THE ISLAND TIGERS

A WWF-Aaranyak study documents the use of the Brahmaputra river islands between Orang and Kaziranga NP by tigers for feeding, shelter and dispersal. These islands are crucial in maintaining the genetic linkages between sites that are otherwise isolated from one another. They feed on livestock from khutis during their stay or movement on the river, and removal of cattle, while essential, has to be done over a period of time in order to sustain these tigers until the natural vegetation regenerates and wild prey are established.

Photo: Fresh tiger pugmarks on river sand at Orang National park.

Tridip Sharma & Jimmy Borah, WWF-India

Tezpur

The Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) is an apex predator, flagship species and an indicator of the health of a forest. It is globally endangered and Assam’s population is about 15% of the Indian total, most of it concentrated in four key sites of the Brahmaputra valley in Assam i.e. Orang, Burhachapori, Laokhowa and Kaziranga. These four are solated sites connected by the Brahmaputra. The dispersal and survival of the tigers here are governed by the dynamics of the river. Kaziranga’s tigers disperse use the river islands to disperse to the north and west, as ‘ stepping stone’ corridors.

Over the last three years, we have been surveying the Brahmaputra river islands for wildlife use. We carry out the surveys during winter months, usually in January- February, in the stretch of the river from Orang National Park and Burachapori WLS then here along the Kaziranga’s 6th Addition (from the Koliabhomora bridge to Bhakta chapori). On the north bank are Panpur and Kathanibari RFs.

Kaziranga’s animals move out of the National Park and through the Brahmaputra move to Laokhowa-Burhachapori, then Burhachapori to Orang. However, the connectivity between Burhachapori and Orang has been disrupted due to various disturbances. Our surveys are to check how the animal movements are occurring between these sites. In addition, the Brahmaputra’s have some tributaries such as the the Boroi, Jia Bhareli and Borgang. These tributaries also function as corridors: e.g. the Jia bhareli connects to Nameri National Park of the foothills and the Boroi and Borgang connects to Behali RF, then to Nameri NP and Pakke Tiger Reserve. In

earlier years, this connection used to extend to Bornadi and Khalingduar RFs. Presently, the Jia-Bhareli corridor is still in use. A tiger we camera-trapped in Kaziranga, here on the river in 2012 was camera-trapped in Nameri in 2013. Last year, a tiger attacked people here on the north bank. The tigers come to the chaporis. It is to see and monitor this movement that we do the river corridor survey. The Brahmaputra is the main corridor for the wild animals. The forests I have mentioned – Laokhowa, Burachapori, Kaziranga, Panpur, Kathanibari are all along the Brahmaputra. Upstream of Kaziranga, animals move up to Majuli. Recently we surveyed the Golaghat section of the river and found signs of elephants and deer, east of Kaziranga. This river is a long-used corridor. This section of the river is now being protected as the 6th addition to Kaziranga.

Tigers which use these islands depend on the prey such as hog deer and sambar, but mostly they are dependent on the livestock in the khutis, and livestock comprise their main prey. If protection and management can be done properly, tigers can use these islands for breeding and living in. For removing the livestock, there has to be a transition time since the livestock are serving as prey. Once the pressures are removed gradually, then natural prey will have time to come up in the islands.

The main problem of the Brahmaputra is erosion. Large areas of Kaziranga have been lost to the river, reducing the area available to wildlife. They therefore now have begun using the river island areas. We have had direct sighting of tiger on an island; and have found signs of hog deer, sambar and bear among other animals. We found pugmarks of tigers on nine Brahmaputra islands last year. We stay in touch with the khuti-walas and they inform us that tigers kill their cattle, and about 10-12 livestock heads are taken each year on almost every island.

Elephants come at different times to the chaporis and damage houses. Some elephants come from Behali RF along the Boroi river corridor, stay on the Rangsali and Doloni chaporis on the Brahmaputra, then move back up along the Borgang river corridor. Not just the large mammals, many kinds of fish, turtles and dolphins also found here.

The Brahmaputra is closely associated with wildlife. From Sadiya to Dhubri, the river is habitat for different kinds of animals, as also different communities of humans.

They make their livelihoods through khutis or fishing. Due to erosion, people have lost their agricultural land and now live off the river. Just as the river is critical for the wildlife, it is equally important for the people. For conservation, we have to protect the river – while protecting both the wildlife and the people. To save wildlife, we have to save the people – and for this we have to provide the people alternatives. This is not something that one man can do. The government, NGOs and others have to work together towards this goal.

Farid Ali, Forest Guard

Orang National Park

One morning about a month and a half ago, we saw pugmarks of a tigress with cubs on the sand along the river. We crossed over to the next sand bar and found the same pugmarks. Two three days later, she killed a cow on the grassland on the sar. We buried the carcass (to prevent carcass poisoning by people). Three days later, she killed a buffalo. We buried that kill as well. She is still there, and we hear her calling occasionally and find her pugmarks. Because male tigers will kill small cubs, she will stay on the river island with the cubs for their safety. When the rains come and the cubs are bigger, she will bring them back into Orang.

15. POBITORA WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

Photo: A rhino grazes in wetland in the Pobitora WLS.

Ashok Das, Range Officer

Pobitora WLS

We have one or two surrendered poachers who returned to the mainstream and became our informers. Once in a while they provide us intelligence on poacher movements. Once we received information that two poachers have entered Pobitora to kill rhinos. That same day, a large contingent of the Special Task Force (STF) arrived here when they received an outside tip that poachers were on the prowl. Neither I, nor the Officer-in-Charge at the police station knew about it. The STF went into the field. I got worried – if the poachers killed a rhino, I would be in trouble. We 99

tried all night to find them but failed. It later transpired that the two poachers who came with them, were themselves informers. The poachers therefore knew all our movements, they were watching our car headlights. Then I realized that the poachers have as good a network as we do. They erroneously believed that one of the surrendered poachers had informed us, and shot him dead 10 days later. That case is still on.

The emboldened poachers issue challenges, this time saying they will kill a rhino within 20 days. This has been going on since Puja. I keep changing duty pattern, and allow no outsiders, so that information on our protection and patrolling strategy does not leak to the poachers. The last rhino killed in November 2014 was killed with one gun shot, outside the WLS. When she was shot, she ran almost 300 m back into the sanctuary. Animals evidently have a sense of safe area, running to the shelter of Pobitora WLS when threatened. I heard later that the shooters had to leave in a hurry, and it was yet someone else who stole the horn, probably some fishermen. Since that incident, the poachers are afraid to come in because we have the license to shoot poachers at sight.

The Brahmaputra waters come in via Pokoriya river into Pobitora, spread out and sweep out near Tamuliduba Camp back to the Brahmaputra. The flood waters flush the small wetlands and ditches, including the rhino and buffalo wallows, the fresh water saving them from stagnation and contamination. Only when the water stays for a long time, say for a month, then the grass roots die and it becomes difficult to keep the rhinos in. Then, when the waters dry, the rhinos stray a lot in search of forage and makes it challenging for us. This year even though there were four waves of flood, the water did not stay for long, so there were no problems. During floods we do not have rhino mortalities, the rhinos shelter on the nine highlands around Pobitora. Each of the highlands are about a hectare in area. We have problems with weeds such as Mimosa and water hyacinth and we have to remove them manually. We do not set fire to the grasslands in Pobitora as part of our management, but accidental fires occur.

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16. RIVERS AND FORESTS – A FOREST OFFICER’S PERSPECTIVE

Photo: Sareshwar Beel, Parbatjhora Division

Dr C.Ramesh, IFS

Divisional Forest Officer, Parbatjhora Division, Kokrajhar

Assam has the Brahmaputra is not being protected the way it ought to be. It harbours a lot of wildlife, but that wildlife can be sustained only when the river’s life itself is sustained. Any river needs an area to flow. But the Brahmaputra is silting up rapidly. Why this siltation happens is from the rivers that join the Brahmaputra with

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high silt loads. And why they carry silt is because the forests along these rivers have been cut down and the soils have been washed away. We cannot sustain the Brahmaputra till we sustain the forests in the entire Northeast.

The effect of flood was less because there was flow of water, but now there is erosion through the scarrifying effect. Whether it will flow it’s own course or through villages. The second thing is that the Brahmaputra is not being used to the maximum. We have a total ban on removal of silt from the river, but desiltation is important.

Humans do not value natural resources. Where the climate is going dry, it is not that there are no clouds, but we have destroyed the natural resources that will cause condensation and bring the rain down to earth. In Assam, there is plenty of resources - water, good soil and there was good forests. Every department is valued based on the revenue they generate. The forest department has almost stopped giving revenue from timber since the logging ban in 1996 and other forest related resources. But is it that the Forest Department does not provide any value or products to the people? It does. Just as an example, I cite firewood as a forest resource. 80-90% firewood comes from the forest. When we calculate the value, it is huge. In Parbatjhora Division last year we did a small survey where we counted people with firewood at some main exits from the forest. We calculated that every day firewood worth about 3 lakh rupees per day is being extracted. That would be 200-300 crores of rupees per year just for firewood alone. People see forests as a dead asset, but they do not realise or appreciate that there is biodiversity and ecosystem values here, including rain precipitation.

It is odd that the Brahmaputra is flowing in Guwahati and there is water shortage there and the water table is at 500 feet. It is obvious that we are missing some vital link here. We think of the Brahmaputra as a stream for discharge of water and as a problem, but we need to start thinking of it as a resource for eternity, value its water, biodiversity, even transportation, then we will start protecting it.

When I went to Sweden for a study course, for example, I learnt that they started protecting their first order streams 5 m on both sides, declaring this as a no disturbance zone; second order streams are protected 10 m on either bank, kept free

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of disturbance and there is provision for water monitoring every one kilometre on the streams. In Stockholm, which is called the City of Lakes, they say that one can drink water from any lake. They protect the entire stretch of water. We can do that, and our ancestors worshipped all of these natural resources, because they knew that these were essential to life and survival, but we seem to have forgotten.

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17. THE GOLDEN LANGUR

The endangered and endemic golden langurs in altered habitats are ecological refugees, and an example of our failure to secure large extents of forest where natural processes can occur undisturbed and provide self-sustaining systems for wildlife.

Debahutee Roy, PhD Scholar

Abhaya Rubber Garden, Kokrajhar

The golden langur Trachypithecus geei was discovered in 1952 in Jamduar. This endemic, endangered, Schedule 1 species is found in the western part of Assam and the bordering areas of Bhutan, its global range demarcated by the Sankosh, Brahmaputra and Manas rivers to the west, south and east respectively, and the Bhutan hills to the north. It is folivorous i.e. leaf eaters. The global population is about 5000 individuals. The species is very shy, but here at the Abhaya Rubber 104

Garden, a royal estate they have become habituated to humans. Abhaya rubber garden was once connected to the Chakarashila WLS (Photo above), the only protected area set aside specifically for the conservation of golden langurs. At Abhaya, there are 112 individuals in 12 groups of langurs. In this altered habitat, they have adapted to feeding on rubber fruits and young leaves. When the fruit is raw they eat the outer skin, but when it dries and falls, they break the outer shell of the fruit and eat the kernel. The golden langurs are also found in different small pockets in the region like Kakoijana Reserve Forest, in western Assam, where they are isolated by the fragmentation of their habitat.

18. Wetlands of the Western Brahmaputra

In the Bongaigoan, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Nalbari and Chirang districts of western Assam, a few large wetlands like Urpad, Tamronga, Doloni, Dheer and Diplai were well known. There are many small wetlands, however, which were unexplored until recently. Here hundreds of migratory birds come each year , but there are also several which are degrading or degraded due to human disturbance and encroachment. Ill-advised construction of embankments that prevents annual floods from flushing out from the beels weeds like water hyacinths, speeds up eutrophication. Loss of wetlands is also loss of livelihoods and cultural elements of the communities who are dependent on them.

Arnab Bose, NGO Nature’s Foster

Bongaigaon 105

In the Bongaigoan, Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Nalbari and Chirang districts of western Assam, there are many wetlands which were not explored before. We knew well of a few large wetlands like Urpad, Tamronga, Doloni, Dheer and Diplai. Equally important are some small wetlands, where many kinds of migratory birds come every year. Since 2014-2015, in the Brahmaputra floodplain wetlands, among these some of the important wetlands that were not covered such as Puthimari Beel – we have recorded birds we had not recorded before. We are also seeing some wetlands degrade. One of these is Bongaigaon’s Hatimutura Beel which is totally degraded and no longer has water or fish. At one time we recorded thousands of ducks and other birds. There are many wetlands which have degraded, by a natural process of eutrophication that has been speeded up because of human intervention. There are several factors responsible for this One, for example, is the weed, water hyacinth. Most wetlands of the Brahmaputra valley have feeder canals, along which water comes up in the opposite direction of normal water flow during the floods. Along with the flood water comes fish, insects and plant species. There is a similar movement out towards the river during the receding, during which the water hyacinth also gets washed out. The system is therefore naturally balanced. However, we see in some wetlands that government policy is sometimes implemented without much study or thought having gone into it. For example, embankments have been built where they should not have been built, blocking the water hyacinth from being annually cleared by flood waters. Thick mats of water hyacinth then destroy the wetlands. Another problem of wetlands is siltation and yet another major problem is encroachment and conversion to agriculture, such as we see in beels like Urpad. Some people we ask say that they prefer there are no wetlands, because that area can be used for farming. Other people disagree, and lament the loss of wetlands because their livelihoods and culture are connected to them. A loss of a wetland is not only the loss of the water cycle of an area. Peoples’ stories, living and livelihoods also disappear. For example, the Doloni wetland, the largest in Bongaigaon, is famous because Srimata Sankardev had visited there. A place there is called Sankarghola, a lovely place where tourists visit. Near it is the Bishnupur Satra, a culturally important place. Now, if the wetland disappears, so will the story associated with it. In addition to culture and custom, there is the fish of the wetlands. Local people live on fish they catch, they do not buy fish. If we do not protest and 106

make the government and people aware, then we will lose our wetlands one after the other. In Barpeta district, I had toposheets from the 1950s which showed a wetland that has disappeared. Now people do not even remember that there was a wetland. Change of landform is a natural process, but the rate at which it is happening is not natural.

Photo: Diplai Beel in Kokrajhar with Chakrashila WLS hills in the background.

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Insan Khan, Dheer Beel

Kokrajhar

Eight to ten streams feed the Dheer beel here, where the water collects, then goes into the Brahmaputra 5 kms from here. Thousands of people from various communities like the Muslims, Bodos and Rajbongshis live off the fish here. The government leases fishing rights for 4-5 lakh rupees, and the fish is sold in Barpeta and Bongaigaon. During the rains the water rises and fills the beel. From April onwards, fish come up from the Brahmaputra with the flood waters that stays for 7-8 months. People make good harvests of fish and they sell their catch in different places. In November and December when the water recedes, people grow Bodo, aijong and iri rice here. They also block the fish from returning to the river and continue to fish. There are 10-15 fish species here like rou, borali, catla, baim, sal, tenegena, magur, singi etc. During the winter season, many kinds of wild water birds like ducks, geese and openbill storks.

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Photo: Women collect firewood from the zizyphus scrub on Rupshi Airfield, Kokrajhar next to Sareshwar Beel. On the same abandoned runway are droppings of rufous- tailed hare (right). Leopards also prowl the scrub jungle.

Girish Ray and Mukul Kalita, Sareshwar Beel, Parbatjhora, Kokrajhar

Sareshwar beel drains into the Gadadhar river, which in turn connects to the Brahmaputra. During the rainy season, water comes back up to the beel through the same connections. There are large mats of kosoripana or meteka (water hyacinth) dotting the lake, under which the fish like rou, catla and ilish, take shelter. Fishermen surround the mats with bamboo stakes to keep the fish inside. When they have to catch the fish, they net the area around the mat all the way to the bottom of the beel. They then remove the water hyacinth. One man dives in to keep the net to the beel floor, then draws the net in with the fish; he can stay up to several minutes underwater. Some days about 100 quintals of fish are caught.

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Photo: A signboard of the Forest Department of the Deepar Beel Wildlife Sanctuary, part of a larger wetland, notified as such in 2009. It typifies many of the problems of wetland degradation.

Lakhan Teron, Guide

Deepor Beel, Kamrup

In May, June and July much water comes in to Deepor Beel from the Brahmaputra. Along with the water comes fish fingerlings in huge numbers. In years before, these fingerlings would feed on natural feeds and grow very quickly. Now, however, the

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water of the Deepor Beel is very dirty from the sewage of Guwahati emptying here through the Bharalu and Bahini rivers and the city’s garbage is dumped here. The water is now toxic. Before, we used to count birds from October but now it is already November and there are no birds to be seen. Fish have reduced, so have the birds. The elephants drink water here. The government has much to do, starting with pollution testing of the waters.

People used to do ‘Bao’ paddy before, but now as they germinate, the water comes in and the paddy rots. People have stopped cultivating now. The local people have appealed to the government several times about the death of fish and disappearance of the aquatic herbs and water lilies, and the government has much to do, but unfortunately, our appeals are not heard. Before the pollution happened, the ground was only mud on Deepor Beel. But now it is now dangerous to step on the ground of the beel – there are pieces of hospital syringes, plastic, broken glass, tyres and rods

The water hyacinth is a problem when it spreads into large areas of the beel. They remain stuck on the highland areas, where the floods cannot clear them out. The hyacinth chokes the aquatic ecosystem and some species of fish like rohu, bahu, bhokua, miriga which need clear water, cannot survive in water-hyacinth invaded areas. On the other hand, some species like goroi, sol, senegeli, singi and magur thrive in areas with hyacinth. For all species to survive, with their various requirements, the beel needs to have a mix of habitats – clear water, some with hyacinth or reeds.

In March, the beginning of summer, the water in the hills begin to dry out. At this time, the elephants come down from Rani and Garbhanga forests to Deepor Beel for the water and to feed on an aquatic plant locally called Mokhona Euryale ferrox, a favoured food that grows well in various patches in the beel. During this time, when they cross the railway line, elephants sometimes get killed. In the last 8-9 years, some 14 elephants have died from small calves to adults. In the last two years, 25- 30 local people have been engaged to patrol the tracks, but there is not enough incentive.

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CONCLUSION

Photo: Hog deer at Orang National Park.

Like all alluvial systems, the riparian habitat of the Brahmaputra is created and maintained by silt deposited by overflowing of the banks. Deforestation in the upper catchments of tributaries and the main river has resulted in heavy silt loads and subsequent reduction in the depth of the river bed, slowing of flow and erosion of banks. Changing dynamics disrupts successional stages of vegetation.

There is a need to value natural resources for the tangible benefits they provide as watersheds and clean environments, that in turn impact lives and livelihoods. Indiscriminate damming of rivers in the North-east will have unforeseen and negative impacts on the environment and communities, as seen in examples like the Ranganadi in Lakhimpur. Drying up of rivers will in turn impact all the wetlands fed by seasonal flooding and on which both resident and migratory wildlife depend.

The systematic encroachment of forest areas has resulted in Assam having the highest rate of forest loss in the country. Unless government policy takes into 112

account the value of forests and preserves them for the long term good of the region and country, forest loss and the associated loss of biodiversity is inevitable. Eco- tourism may be a viable incentive for local communities to protect wilderness areas, but these have to be planned in a scientific manner with the help of experts to be of minimal impact and maximum value.

Landscape planning for forest and wildlife conservation is the way forward. Currently, conservation strategy is to preserve the already isolated patches of forest and maintain status quo. With all the attendant pressures on such isolates, it is not possible to envisage a long term future for our forests, rivers and wildlife. In Kaziranga, attempts ate on to protect the Brahmaputra river islands to connect separated patches. Further upstream, Kobo Chapori, a proposed reserve forest under Dhemaji division, represents a crucial wildlife corridor connecting the forests of Arunachal Pradesh, Poba RF of Assam, D’ering WLS and Dibru-Saikhowa NP. It is important to secure these key linkages sooner rather than later.

Another conservation measure that has borne fruit at several sites is education, awareness and community involvement in conservation. Although it takes time to show results, sustained effort for conservation awareness and the buy-in of the community is crucial to the long-term conservation of Brahmaputra wildlife and wildernesses.

Photo: A young girl and her pet parakeet with its wings clipped. While NGOs have raised much awareness about wildlife and conservation issues, making a difference to species such as the river dolphin, much more remains to be done. 113