Oak Forests, Lopping, and the Transformation of Rural Society in Central Himalaya, India

OAK FORESTS, LOPPING, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF RURAL SOCIETY IN CENTRAL HIMALAYA, INDIA by Yuka Makino A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Natural Resources and Environment) in The University of Michigan 2009 Doctoral Committee: Professor Emeritus Burton V. Barnes, Co-Chair Professor John A. Witter, Co-Chair Professor Thomas E. Fricke Associate Professor William S. Currie © Yuka Makino All rights reserved 2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to deeply thank all those who helped me during my two years as a Master’s student from 1992-1994, and the four years as a doctoral student from 2005- 2009 at the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE). Dr. Burton Barnes, for tirelessly providing me mentorship throughout my doctorate career and patiently reading through numerous drafts of my dissertation. I had the honor of being Burt’s last PhD student and sharing the office with his first PhD student, Dr. Terry Sharik, during my last year at SNRE. Dr. John Witter, for providing his unwavering support and guidance during both my Master’s and Doctoral degrees; Dr. Tom Fricke, for providing me with valuable guidance on anthropology; Dr. William Currie, for his guidance on ecosystem modeling; Dr. Don Zak and Ms. Patricia Micks for their advice and assistance during my soil and leaf analysis; Ms. Kathy Welch, for her statistical advice and being so generous with her time; Dr. Joel Blum for assistance in identifying rock samples; Ms. Diana Woodsworth for helping me navigate through the entire grant and fellowship process at U of M; Ms. Dixie Barnes, for providing me a warm home and family while in Ann Arbor; and my father, Dr. Kazuho Makino for painstakingly helping me count all the growth rings on my increment bore samples. This research would not have been accomplished without the generosity and hospitality of the people of Beli Village, and every person in Delhi, Dehra Dun and Mussoorie who graciously met with me to explain the ecology of the forests of Garhwal, ii current research in Garhwal, and the culture and customs of the people. I would like to thank Reverend Bob Alter and Mr. Surender Singh who introduced me to the village; Ms. Saroj Kapadia, who introduced me to my two assistants, Ms. Anita Bhandari and Ms. Reena Singh, who were critical to my research; the staff at the Woodstock School Alumni office, Mr. Pete Wildeman, Mr. Chris Starr, Ms. Monica Roberts, and Ms. Sharon Seto who allowed me unlimited access to the email and scanning facilities necessary for storing my field data; and Ms. Kathy Hoffman, for her warm hospitality during my stay in Mussoorie, allowing me to recharge my energy. I deeply appreciate the assistance I received from the Professors at the Forest Research Institute; and the officials at the Survey of India, Geological Survey of India and Census of India. I am also grateful to the staff of the office of the Chief Conservator of Forests, District Forest Officer, Foresters, Rangers and the Block Development Office for providing invaluable data concerning the forests of Tehri Garhwal, Uttaranchal. This research would not have been possible without the funds that made it possible for me return as a doctoral student: Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute, Center for the Education of Women, Wheeler Family Scholarship, Rackham Discretionary fund, SNRE doctoral research funding, SNRE Alumni Incentive Internship Program, the Carleton-McCarron Forestry Fellowship, and the Field Studies in Forest Ecology Scholarship. Finally, I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Racki and the Vice-President Praful Patel at the World Bank for permitting me to take three years leave to pursue my doctoral studies. iii PROLOGUE CONDUCTING ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN TEHRI GARHWAL HIMALAYA, INDIA INTRODUCTION The back portion of the TATA truck reeks of urine of previous hitch-hikers who did not manage to hit the roof of the driver’s section hard enough to ask him to stop in time. Banging the roof with your fist is the only way to communicate with the driver once you have boarded the truck. If you were lucky, you got a truck that was transporting string beans or cauliflower which meant you were guaranteed a comfortable seat. However, if it was empty, you had to stand the entire ride hanging-on to the wooden sideboards. If you ever loosened your grip, you would be thrown to the other side of the truck every time the driver turned a corner on the narrow roads that wound around the Himalayan Mountains. In 1993, the ride to Beli village took nearly two and a half hours from Mussoorie. The first hour was fairly comfortable since Tehri Road was paved. But once we reached Suhakholi and headed towards Tatyur, it became a dirt road. As we drove along, we would cover everything along the road with a cloud of dust. Beli village is nested in the valley between two mountains. So it suddenly appears in front of you when you turn the corner. The houses are lined in neat rows above the road along the slope of the mountain. The walls of the houses are made of stone and sealed together by mud, and the roofs are made of slates of black shale. The iv second floor veranda is framed by ornately carved wooden arches and pillars. On the walls at each end of the veranda are small rectangular mirrors which face the front of the house. These mirrors are for decoration and reflect the sun as it rises above the mountain ridges. When I returned to Beli village in 2006, some of the old ornate houses were abandoned and others were being torn down and replaced with brick and concrete houses with tin roofs. This visible difference in architectural preferences indicated a much deeper change that was occurring in the lives and attitudes of the people of Beli village that is intertwined with their relationship with the forests surrounding the village. CONDUCTING ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN TEHRI GARHWAL Facilitating factors and barriers for conducting ethnographic research in a Himalayan village There were five main facilitating factors for conducting research in the village. These factors were: (1) the existing trust between the villagers and myself that was developed during the summer of 1993 during the baseline data collection period. I returned to the village in 2000 to request permission to return again in 2006 and was granted the permission; (2) I am fluent in Hindi, one of the national languages of India and Nepali a vernacular very similar to the local Garhwali language. Being able to communicate directly with the people greatly facilitated the trust building process; (3) since I grew up in the region, I am familiar with the local culture and customs thereby reducing the chance of unconsciously doing anything disrespectful. In 1993, I made v considerable effort to attend all the important religious ceremonies and greatly increased the trust and respect that the people had for me; (4) being a female researcher greatly facilitated the interview process since the fodder collection groups mainly consisted of females, it was socially acceptable for me to follow the women into the forest every day; and (5) being an Asian woman with black hair enabled me to physically blend in with the local population reducing the “foreignness” or outsider aspect. There were five main barriers for conducting ethnographic research in the village. These were: (1) being a foreigner or outsider, I needed to ensure that trust was carefully built between myself and the villagers, and sensitive to any social customs or norms; (2) the region, being in close proximity to the Chinese and Nepali borders, is a sensitive area for the Indian military and prudence needed to be exercised to ensure that I did not take any action that drew unnecessary attention to my research activities; (3) there has historically been distrust of government representatives by the local people, and I needed to strike a balance between requesting information from the government representatives and ensuring that the village people saw me as a neutral figure; (4) most of the people in the village can not read and write, and it is easy for an outside researcher carrying a pen and paper to seem intimidating. It was very important for me to be sensitive to this perception and limit incidences where the villager may be required to write anything down such as consent forms and detailed maps; and (5) I needed to ensure that the research was conducted in such as way that it did not raise the expectations of the villagers for any immediate change in the management of the forest by the government. The main factor in overcoming any of the barriers mentioned above was being extremely clear and consistent with my agenda and purpose in the village. I spent time vi explaining to as many people as possible in the community about the goals, objectives, and activities of the research. It was important to be transparent in every action that I took. Unless there was sensitive information contained in my notebooks, all written documents were made available for anyone in the village who was interested. Finally, the most important attitude that I needed when conducting this research was humility and the willingness to listen. The ethnographer Though I am a Japanese citizen, I moved to India with my parents at the age of four in 1973. My parents moved to India nearly 40 years ago to pursue their passion of working with the rural poor and assisting them to become self-reliant through rural development activities and education. My father went on to found the College of Continuing and Non-Formal Education at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute Deemed University.

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