Report on Delineation of Nine Animal Corridors Connecting Kaziranga
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REPORT ON DELINEATION OF NINE ANIMALCORRIDORS CONNECTING KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK TO KARBI-ANGLONG SUBMITTED BY THE COMMITTEE FOR DELINEATION OF CORRIDORS (Constituted by Govt. of Assam Vide Order No.FRS.142/2018/474 dtd. 4th May 2019) CONTENTS Acknowledgements Committee’s mandate .............................................................................................................. 1 Committee’s members ............................................................................................................. 1 Committee’s approach............................................................................................................. 2 Committee’s Discussion and Analysis .................................................................................... 3 Kaziranga landscape.................................................................................................................. 3 Need for establishing the connectivity ........................................................................................ 5 Corridors and its classification .................................................................................................. 6 Identification and delineation of nine animal corridors of Kaziranga National Park ...... 8 Annexures Details of Revenue Land within the nine Functional Animal Corridors as received from the Revenue Circle Office, Bokakhat and Kaliabor .................................................................................. 29 Animal Corridors and Human Habitations within the corridors …………………………………..41 Coordinates of corridors ...................................................................................................................... 42 Acknowledgements The members of the Committee, who are responsible for the writing of this report, place on record their sincere gratitude for the unflinching support given by the PCCF &HoFF Shri. A M Singh, the CWLW & PCCF(WL) Smt. Ranjana Gupta, the Addl. PCCF (R E &WP) Shri. M K Yadava and the Director (Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve) Shri. Sivakumar in the preparation of the report. The members of the Committee place on record their gratitude to Shri. B V Sandeep (DCF), the Circle Officer (Bokakhat), and his staff, the Circle Officer (Kaliabor), and his staff, Shri. Papul Rabha and Shri. Himanshu Gogoi of Tiger Cell (Kaziranga National Park), for providing the necessary information and technical support in the preparation of the report. The members of the Committee thank the field staff of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve for giving the assistance during the field visits of the committee to the corridor areas. Committee’s mandate 1. The Committee will prepare a comprehensive report regarding the current status of occupancy, frequency of use by wild animals and physical structure constructed on the corridors. 2. The committee will prepare geo-referenced maps delineating the boundaries of the nine animal corridors. Committee’s members 1. Shri D. D. Gogoi, IFS, Conservator of Forest, Wildlife O/o the PCCF (Wildlife) & Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam 2. Shri Rohini Ballave Saikia, IFS, Divisional Forest Officer, Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, Bokakhat 3. Shri. Rajen Choudhury, Divisional Forest Officer, Nagaon (T) Division, Nagaon. 4. Divisional Forest Officer, Karbi-Anglong East Division, Diphu. 5. Shri Parshant Dhanda, IFS, DCF, O/o CCF (LAZ), Guwahati 6. Shri Aniruddha Dey, AFS, DCF, O/o the PCCF & HoFF, Assam. 7. Shri.Bhaskar Deka AFS, Divisional Forest Officer, Golaghat (T) Division, Golaghat. 8. Shri. Vivek Shyam, Sub Divisional Officer, Bokakhat Civil Subdivision, Bokakhat. 9. Shri. Bitupan Neog, Sub Divisional Officer, Kaliabor Civil Subdivision, Nagaon. 10. The Sub Divisional Officer, Bokajan, Karbi-Anglong. 11. Shri Rabindra Sharma, Wildlife Research Officer, KNP. 12. The Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO), Phuloni Circle, KAAC 13. The Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO), Silonijan Circle, KAAC COMMITTEE FOR DELINIATION OF CORRIDORS 1 Committee’s approach The committee has deliberated over the following reports and the data prior to the delineation of the corridors 1. Human-wildlife conflict data for last 3 years. 2. Animal Mortality on the Highway since 2010 3. Camera traps data of Kaziranga National Park and Kaziranga Tiger Reserve of camera traps located along the NH-37. 4. Elevation and slope data from Digital elevation Model. 5. Type and coordinates of Commercial structures along the highway data provided by KNP authorities. 6. Village polygons data collected from Assam Land Records Survey Department. 7. Extent of habitations in corridors from remote sensing satellite imagery data as well as form records made available by Circle Officers Bokakhat and Kaliabor. 8. No data was made available by the committee members of Karbi-Anglong Autonomous Council. 9. WII reports titled “Possible rationalization of proposed mitigation measures on NH-37” & “Eco-friendly measures proposed for NH-37 between Jhaklabanda and Bokakhat on the periphery of Kaziranga National Park”. 10. NTCA report titled “Review on the proposed mitigation measures in the interest of Wildlife Conservation with respect to NH-37” 11. KNP Management plan 2007-17 and draft Tiger Conservation Plan 12. Centrally Empowered Committee Report No.6 of 2019 dated 1st March 2019 and Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 12th April 2019on corridors of Kaziranga National Park/Tiger Reserve. 13. Data collected from discussions with the committee members and field visits. COMMITTEE FOR DELINIATION OF CORRIDORS 2 Committee’s Discussion and Analysis Kaziranga landscape One single ecological unit Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve is in the floodplains of the river Brahmaputra, a result of silt deposition and erosion by the river. Kaziranga floodplains are highly dynamic and during the flood season the survival of the fauna is dependent on the access to the hill areas of the landscape. Karbi-Anglong hills were contiguous on the southern side of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve forming the Kaziranga landscape. Kaziranga landscape formed one single ecological unit as the habitats of the species are shared between both the floodplains and the hills. Disturbances in the landscape The NH-37 highway with heavy traffic during its peak hours fragments the once contiguous Kaziranga landscape into two discrete regions. To the North of the highway, are the floodplains of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve and to the South of the Highway are the Karbi- Anglong hills, the refuge for animals during the flood season. Human habitations and activities, tea plantations, truck parking lots and commercial establishments on either side of the highway are augmenting the fragmentation of the landscape. Despite the fragmentation, animals negotiate the NH-37 and other non-forest land use areas to seek refuge at the risk getting killed in accidents. Although the animals can negotiate the tea plantations, practices such as fencing and unscientific trenching as tool for drainage severely restrict the movement of the animals causing stress and trauma in times of flood. The lowlands of the tea estates are rich habitat for the Schedule I animals like Rhinocerous unicornis, Elephas maximus and Cervus duvacelli ranjithsinghii and also the drainage of the tea estates flow through these lowlands but the excessive use of pesticides in the tea plantation areas are draining these toxins into these lowlands and are causing threat to the habitat as well as the species. COMMITTEE FOR DELINIATION OF CORRIDORS 3 The images below show the elephants and rhinos negotiating the tea estates. Land use change from agricultural to other land uses such as commercial crops, commercial land use (opening of resorts and dhabas, shops etc.), truck-parking lots, mining (stone quarrying) and industrial land use (stone crushers etc.) has also adversely affected the landscape by promoting fragmentation. COMMITTEE FOR DELINIATION OF CORRIDORS 4 Need for establishing the connectivity Seasonal movement of animals During the flood season, Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve becomes flooded forcing the dispersal of the fauna for seeking refuge on the elevated lands and for food. The Karbi- Anglong hills are such landscapes which provide refuge and food to the fauna during such times. The only way for the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve fauna to reach these hills is by crossing the NH-37, which fragments the landscape. Adding to the habitat fragmentation by the NH-37, the human habitations, tea estates, commercial establishments, truck parking areas etc. along the NH-37 on either side further escalate the fragmentation dividing the landscape into two different unsustainable regions. Metapopulation Metapopulations are spatially structured populations that persist over time as a set of local populations (Schedule I species, for ex., Rhinocerous unicornis, Elephus maximus, Panthera tigris etc.) with limited dispersal among them. At equilibrium, the frequencies of local extinctions and colonization are in balance at a landscape level. Absence of connectivity disturbs the equilibrium by restricting the dispersal among these spatially distributed populations within the landscape and confining them to their respective regions, making them susceptible to extinction at local level and eventually at the landscape level. Bos gaurus is locally extinct in Kaziranga though it is found in Nameri Tiger Reserve due to an unsustainable local population and lack of connectivity to the populations in the