Addressing the Impacts of Linear Intrusions on Wildlife in the Western Ghats
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0 Staying Connected: Addressing the Impacts of Linear Intrusions on Wildlife in the Western Ghats CEPF Grant No: 62921 Report submitted to by F-13, Sector- 8,Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301 Phone: +91-0120-4143900 WTI Project Team Mr. Vivek Menon Principal Investigator Dr Sandeep Kr Tiwari Co-Investigator Mr Sabu Jahas Manager Mr. K Ramkumar Manager Mr S Rathnakumar Field officer Mr M Ramith Field officer Ms Smita Bodhankar Former GIS Officer Ms Kasturi Deb GIS Officer 1 CONTENTS 1. Acknowledgments 03 2. Executive summary 07 3. Introduction, Study Area and site selection 13 4. Impact of road on forest and wildlife 43 5. Impact of Railway tracks on forest and wildlife 96 6. Impact of Pipelines on forest and wildlife 133 7. Impact of Canals on forest and wildlife 151 8. Impact of Power lines on forest and wildlife 171 9. References 180 10. Annexure 188 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We express our heartfelt gratitude to all those who believed in this project and contributed to it and supported the work. Our sincere thanks to the Chief Wildlife Wardens of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala for granting us the permission to undertake this work and for all the assistance extended to our team during the course of survey and consultation. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Mr Srinivas Reddy (Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Mudumalai Tiger Reserve), Mr. I. Anwardeen (FD, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and CF, Coimbatore Circle,), Mr.Senthil Kumar (DFO, Coimbatore Forest Division), Mr.Rajkumar (DFO, Sathyamangalam FD), Mrs. Badhma (DFO, Hasanur FD), Mr.Bathraswamy (DFO, Nilgiri-South FD) and Mr. Soundarapandian (Former DFO, Nilgiri-North FD) and DFOs of Hosur FD, Erode FD, Mukuruthi NP, Gudalur FD from Tamil Nadu Forest Department for sharing information, logistic support and extending all support to the field team. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Mr. S.S. Lingaraja (Director and CF, BRT TR, Chamrajnagar), Mr. Kantha Raju.H.C. (former Director and CF, Bandipur NP), DFO/WLWs of Hunsur FD, Brahmagiri WLS, Bannerghata NP, Kollegal FD, Cauvery WLS and Field Director Nagarhole Tiger Reserve, Mr.Mujjammal (Ranger, Officer, Punjur Range, BRT Division) from Karnataka Forest Department for sharing information, logistic support and extending all support to the field team. We extend our sincere thanks to Dr Pramod G. Krishnan (Conservator of Forests, Wildlife Northern region, Palakkad), Mr.Sasikumar (DFO, Palakkad Division), Mrs Silpa V Kumar (WLW, Silent Valley NP), Mr B.N.Anjan Kumar (Dy. Director, Parambikulam TR) from Kerala Forest Department for helping the team in field and for their active participation and suggestions during the consultative meeting to discuss the information collected by the team. We are also thankful to the DFO/WLWs of Aralam WLS, Wayanad WLS, Wayanad North FD, Wayanad South FD, Nilambur North FD and Nilambur South FD for helping the team in field and sharing information on linear intrusions. We express our sincere thanks to the officials from the Palakkad Railway Division (Kerala), namely Mr. Anand Prakash (DRM), Mr.Mohan A Menon (ADRM), Mr.Rajagopalan 3 (Coordinator), Mr.Nandalal (Sr. Divisional Engineer), Mr.Ashok (former Sr. Divisional Engineer), Mr.Arunachalam (Additional Divisional Engineer), Mr.Krishnan (Senior Section Engineer, PWI) and Mr.Sunil Kumar (Section Engineer, PWI) and officials from Podanur Section (Tamil Nadu) namely Mr.Vishwanathan (Senior Section Engineer), Mr.Ushman (former, Senior Section Engineer), Station Masters, trackmen and keymen (Kottekad, Kanjikode, Walayar, Ettimadai and Madukarai) for allowing to undertake the work and helping the team in field, sharing details of the track, mortality and logistic support in the field. We are grateful to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board officials Mr S Raghu, Superintending Engineer, Generation Circle, Kundah, Mr S Viswanathan (Executive Engineer/PHS Kundah Power House- 3) and Mr.Aldurai (Chief Executive Engineer, Power House-1, Manjur) for helping the team and facilitating in collection of data as well as actively participating in the consultative meeting to discuss the report and measuresto minimise adverse effect of pipelines and canals on wildlife and forest. Our sincere thanks are due to the officials of Highway Authority (National and State) for helping the team during collection of data from highway passing through various forests and Protected Areas and sharing information. We are also thankful to Mr V Dinesh Kumar (Asst. Engineer, National Highway, Mettupalyam) and Mrs N K Shanthi (Asst. Divisional Engineer, National Highways, Sathyamangalam) for not only helping the team in field but also actively participating in the consultative meeting held at Coimbatore on 29th September 2015 to discuss the results and recommendations to minimize adverse effect of roads on wildlife and forest as well as traffic safety. We are grateful to Mr K Kalidasan (President, OSAI & Member, State Wildlife Board, Tamil Nadu) and Dr. B.Ramakrishnan, Asst. Professor, Government Arts College, Ooty for helping us organise the consultative meeting at Coimbatore to discuss the outcome of the study and discuss the recommendations with officials of various linear agencies, Forest Managers and wildlife conservationist as well as to develop a synergy of planning between these agencies and wildlife planners and conservationists. We express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Dr T R Shankar Raman (Sr. Scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation) for formulating a good background paper on linear intrusion and fabulous guidelines on roads and powerlines as part of National Board of Wildlife members. We are thankful to him for participating in the consultative meeting and 4 sharing the main features of the guidelines and background paper with the participants. Once again, we express our sincere thanks to officials from forest department and linear agencies for actively participating in the consultative meeting held at Coimbatore on 29th September 2015 to discuss the results and recommendations to minimize adverse effect of linear intrusions and giving a balance views of means that could help in sustainable development keeping the wildlife welfare into consideration. We are also thankful to scientists, professors and members of various conservation organizations and Institute including Dr. N. Baskaran (Asst. Professor, Department of Zoology, A.V.C. College, Mayiladuthurai), Mr Srinivas Vaidyanathan (Foundation for Ecological Research, Advocacy & Learning -FERAL), Mr. D. Rajkumar (Wildlife Conservation Foundation, Mysore), Mr Venkatachalam (ATREE, Bangalore), Dr C Arivazhagan (Indo American Wildlife Society, Chennai), Mr G Sivasubramanian and Mr Krishna B (WWF, Tamil Nadu) Dr P. Jeganathan (Nature Conservation Foundation), and Mr Kyle Leucas (Colorado, USA), Mr K. Syed (OSAI), Mr. Guru (OSAI) and other members of OSAI, Coimbatore for their active participation, experience sharing and giving a scientific evaluation of threats and possible mitigation measures. Our thanks are also due to Dr. P. S. Easa (former director, KFRI), Dr. S. Sankar (former scientist, KFRI), Dr.H N Kumara (Sr. Scientist SACON), Dr.Sunandha (Scientist, Kerala Veterinary and Animal science University) for their guidance and Dr. Srinivasan (Wildlife Biologist, Coimbatore) and Dr. Nixon Armstrong (former colleague, WTI) for helping the team in statistical analysis of data. We are also thankful to Mr. Vinayan P. A. (Biologist, WWF), Mr. Suresh T. (Senior Research Fellow, KFRI) and Mr. Robi A. J. (Research Scholar, KFRI) for their kind help in identification of various species. We are grateful to Dr. Sajeev T. V. (Scientist, KFRI) for providing insights in to the invasion of exotic plant species. We express our thanks to Mr. Samson A., Mr Vinu Mr. Karthik, Mr. Shameer T. (Research fellows, Govt. Arts College, Ooty) and Mr Sujin N. S. for their help in various ways during the field work. Our whole hearted thanks are due to Mr.Ramaswamy, (Field assistant, Sathyamangalam), Mr. Kethan & Mr.Sivakumar, (Field assistant, Mudumalai), Mr. Maran & Mr.Mathan (Field Assistant, Bandipur) for their assistance and full support in the field work. The entire team is thankful to Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) for funding the project, especially Dr Jack Tordoff (Grant Director, CEPF) for his guidance and support at every 5 stage of the work. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the European Union, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation. We are also thankful to ATREE, especially Dr Bhaskar Acharya and Dr Jagdish Krishnaswamy for their support and guidance during the entire period of the work. We are grateful to our colleagues Mr James Zacharias, Mentor- Southern India projects for his guidance and support to the team and Dr Rahul Kaul, Senior Director for helping the team in designing the study, guidance and for reviewing the document. We would also like to extend our thanks to Mr Jose Louies, WTI Regional Head- Southern India for his assistance and contant support to the team during the entire period of the study. Last but not the least, our whole hearted thanks to other colleagues, friends and family for their support in successful completion of the work. 6 Executive Summary The development of linear infrastructures like road, railways and power lines for connectivity