Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park RJP The Story so far… Rao Jodha Desert Rock Park

RJP

The Beginning…

 August 2005 – first discussions with CEO-MMT about greening the rocky area around Mehrangarh, within the City Wall  September ’05 – Project Proposal prepared, essentially to plant native trees & shrubs and interpret the landscape for visitors  Winter ’05-06 – approval in principle from the Trust to go ahead & prepare a Budget and implementation plan, and hire core staff  February ’06 – Supervisor appointed; Project slated to begin 1st April RJP Key Questions…

 What sort of landscape did we envisage at the end of the project? - like a laid-out garden with carefully arranged plants, or more like a natural rocky desert?

 How would we decide which species to plant? How strictly did we want to interpret the word ‘native’?

 How far should we take the idea of an ‘outdoor museum’? Crisscrossed with trails for visitors? Interpretation centre? Cafe?

 Should we consider collecting plants from other arid rocky areas, such as the Central Indian highlands and the Aravallis? Might we at a later date want to represent the flora of foreign rocky deserts such as Mexico, south Australia or the Namib? In special Sections? Some answers… RJP

By April 2006, the following decisions had crystallized:

• Rao Jodha Park would be undertaken strictly as an ‘Ecological Restoration’ project. The aim would be to restore the landscape as far as possible to a ‘natural state’. Only plants native to ’s rocky desert would qualify… • Only one Block – , 27 hectares in size – would be developed as an ‘outdoor museum’. The rest of the 42 ha would be planted up and left alone, with a view to upgrading the aesthetic surroundings of Mehrangarh • The idea of going beyond Marwar and representing features and plants of other rocky deserts, in or outside, was abandoned Implementing RJP the Project

 Protecting the area from foraging animals (and others!)

 Gathering information to further our understanding of the natural ecology and existing flora of this habitat

 Drawing up a list of lithophytes (plants adapted to rocky habitats). This would form the heart of the project: finding and propagating these plants in sufficient numbers in a nursery, and then laying them down in a manner that looks natural, aesthetic, and most likely to ensure their survival

 Preparing a 3-Year budget for the Project

 Hiring a Project Team RJP

Problems, things to overcome…

 The site was infested with hardy ‘invaders’ like angrezi baavli

 Difficulties of creating planting pits, most of them in sheer rock

 To identify & then find appropriate plants to raise in planting holes

 How to tend these plants once planted in… (problems of watering, nutrients, protection) Strategies, first steps… RJP

We needed to make sure that we could create a suitable home for the species that we were bringing back from the wild This meant…

 Minimizing disturbance of the landform & existing plants

 Effective eradication of competing weeds & invasives

 Devising suitable planting pits with the right kind of soil mix and micro-organisms

 Exploiting every opportunity for soil and water conservation

 Encouraging new germination in crevices by dusting bare rock

 Mulching (with stone) to prevent desiccation Getting rid of angrezi baavli RJP

• Understanding baavli • JCBs & augers • Dynamite • Learning from baavli The Khandwaliya solution RJP Falling back on traditional mining methods Making the Pits RJP Filling the Pits RJP RJP

Planting begins July 2006 RJP Planting Season 1

Jaswant Thada Block August 2006 Planting Season 1 RJP (Jaswant Thada )

May 2006

October 2006 RJP

Grass gave us the first indication that we were doing things right October 2006 Ranisar Block RJP August 2006 October 2006

RJP Planting figures 2006-08 RJP

 2006 – 2,500 plants

 2007 – 2,680

 2008 – 3,650 Total 8,830 Jan 2007 records : Ranisar Block Info recorded about 651 pits planted in 2006… No: of surviving plants: 612 plants (of which 47 plants reported to be in ‘poor condition’)

Jaswant Thada Block Info available about 1,793 pits planted in 2006… No: of surviving plants: 1,728 (of which 79 plants are reported to be in ‘poor condition’) We wanted to keep tabs RJP on our plants…

Each pit was given a number, and we recorded the depth, soil quality, situation (rocky or not) and what species we were placing in it. At intervals, the plants were assessed and pit reports prepared. This told us what was ‘working’ and where we might be going wrong. It also yielded meaningful figures… Pit Reporting… RJP Here’s a typical example of an entry in a Pit Report (in Excel format). By re-ordering the information by category, it is easy to see, for example, how all kumatths have fared. Or all plants that have received 50% clay soil… Or all plants in pits of 3 feet depth… pit # terrain depth clay %age species remarks 615 R(ocky) 1 25% kumatth Ok

616 R 3 25% jaal Good

617 S(oil) 2 25% arna Ok

618 S 3 50% roheda dug up by dogs…

619 S 1 75% goondi v good

610 R 1 25% kumatth Ok Making sense of Pit Reports

RJP An example of how we analyzed our pits data…

• Bordi - 74 seedlings planted in Ranisar Block, 150 in JT. Has done fairly well in both rocky sites and those with deep soil. Deeper pits (+2 feet) have shown better results. Some bordis planted close to water’s edge in JT have perished, a few have been nibbled by hares, pigs…

• Chudel - 6 in Ranisar Block planted only in deeper pits. 7 plants in JT Block. Highly successful. No casualties, no problems

• Desi babool - 7 seedlings planted in high-clay content pits, all of 3 feet depth. Some near water’s edge. All surviving, doing very well

• Dhok - 13 seedlings planted in Ranisar Block. Total failure, probably due to ‘poor quality seedlings’ which had not yet formed roots.

• Kumatth - 257 plants in Ranisar Block. of which 25 are doing poorly, and 7 were dug up by animals. Strong correlation of ‘v.good’ with depth of pits. Compressor holes made no difference at all. Lithophytes – plants adapted to rocky habitats

RJP

Striga gesnerioides – a root parasite of thhor More lithophytes… RJP And more… RJP By mid-2007 the Nursery had grown to RJP over 8,000 plants. Over 50 species... Each one was a native lithophyte. Some had been gathered as seed RJP from 200 kms away… Estimating plant requirements RJP for the nursery

REQD THIS ESTIMATE NURSERY MORE REQD FOR NEXT YEAR NOW HAS YEAR desi babool 50 155 - - kumatth 2,000 600 1,400 2,000 dhok 1,500 0 300 1,200 indrokh 200 - 20 180 hingot 200 45 50 100 salai 20 - 20 30 kair 1,500 700 300 1,000 googal 1,000 330 300 700 goonda 20 - 20 30 goondi 500 225 Ok - sanesro 25 20 5 30 thhor 1,000 650 350 200 chudel 50 50 Ok - slowly, but surely… RJP the land started changing… Even bare rock began yielding to plant life… RJP Photographs after

RJP Planting Season 3 October 2008 RJP Budget matters

Budgeted Actual Year 1 (2006-07)……..35 lakhs 25.2 lakhs Year 2 (’07-08)………..36.5 lakhs 24.3 lakhs Year 3 (’08-09)………..47.1 lakhs 18.4 lakhs (up to December ’09) TOTAL 118.6 lakhs 67.9 lakhs

Main Heads of Expenditure Budgeted Actual Boundary wall/Fencing………………………………. 7 lakhs 10 lakhs Site clearance (baavli removal) & pit-making.. 17 lakhs 14 lakhs Nursery development………………………………… 1.5 lakhs 2.8 lakhs Labour (incl khandvaliya salaries)………………….. 20.4 lakhs 15.9 lakhs Budget matters RJP

significant under-spends

budgeted actual Trails & pathways 11.0 lakhs 60,000 Signage – big & small 2.5 lakhs 6,400 Interpretation Centre 7.5 lakhs 1,155 Designer/architect 2.0 lakhs 00 RJP What the Park could be like 5 years from now… RJP The End

Zanana gardens Nakoda hills Bal Samand, Pali District