ANJANERI PLATEAU, Nashik District ____________________________________________________ Anjaneri plateau is one of the important hill fort Anjaneri Area Disturbance in the mountain range of Nasik- (sq. Tryambakeshwar. It is located 20 km away kms) from Nasik by Tryambak Road. The rocky hills Plateau 1 local grazing, fires, of Tryambak (famous Jyotirling), Brahmagiri Plateau 2 6.3821 trampling and and Anjaneri are well known sacred places Plateau 3 1.6491 wasteful picking by and part of religious pilgrimage circuit for Total 8.0312 tourists, devotees. The plateau top can be reached plant collection Illegal extraction for after a steep climb from Anjaneri village. It is sale. believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman, son of Anjani, and a temple dedicated to Anjani Mata is built on the plateau top. The mesa has steep cliff edges which descend into gently sloping hill slopes. The plateau and The hill top is an exposed basalt plateau its surrounding steep slopes have forest located between 19°53'39.12"N, patches affected by biotic pressures. Dense 73°34'48.20"E to 19°56'19.02"N, forest is seen only in less accessible areas. 73°34'28.56"E. The highest point is around 1300 MSL. The fort has 3 extensive plateaus With an exception of a few hectares land at the elevation of 800MSL, 1100 MSL and under private ownership, the entire area is 1280-1300 MSL respectively under RF category. Forest of the fort is divided into four Gram-Panchayats namely, Anjaneri, funding and local support by the Territorial Mulegaon, Pegalwadi and Pahine. There are Forest Department of Nashik circle. Joint Forest Management committee in all the Ecological surveys of the area have not been 4 GPs. undertaken. But observations have been made 2 International schools/ private colleges have during monsoon periods. The steep hill slopes mushroomed on the foot hills of the fort. They of the area have typical cliff vegetation have been constructing huge structures dominated by Tripogon spp. Small clumps of around the hill-fort. These educational succulent Euphorbia are also seen Eriocaulon- institutes have drastically changed the Utricularia dominated Ephemeral Flush economic scenario of the villages especially, Vegetation is seen on gently sloping rocky Anjaneri and Pegalwadi. Vicinity to city has areas. Pogostemon deccanensis forms dense also resulted in selling off of large percentage patches in the water logged areas. of privately owned land to urban investors. Typical basalt plateau endemics such as Ecosystem services: The steep hill slopes Cyathocline lutea, Senecio dalzellii, Smithia give rise to many cascades and streams that purpurea entirely cover the rocky plateau top. supply two major dams (Upper Vaitarna Dam) Several grasses ( Heteropogon, Dichanthium, and three minor reservoirs. At the end of Ischaemum, Themeda ) form dense growth monsoon, the plateau has tall grass cover during late monsoon period. providing sustenance for local cattle and The place has become well known as the type sheep. Natural and manmade ponds are also locality of Ceropegia anjanerica. It is not present on the plateau. reported from any other hill in the surrounding Gregarious numbers of seasonal flowering area. There is a great need of conservation of plants on the three different plateaus including this locality as the only site of existence of the Heracleum, Tricholepis, Blumea, Celosia, species. Ceropegia anjanerica is found in large Smithia, Senecio, etc. provide food material to numbers in association with clumps of Senecio the different pollinating insects of families dalzellii, Celosia argentea, Lepidagathis sp. including Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coeloptera, and Justicia betonica . Other western ghat etc. (pic Tricholepis ) specialists found on the plateau are Tricholepis amplexicaulis, Desmodium Honey bees nest on the cliffs and forest trees alysicarpoides, Heracleum sp, Pinda are a source of nourishment and subsidiary cocanensis, Paracaryum malabaricum, etc. income to locals. The area has several medicinal plant species, Along with this, other endemic and threatened and Vaidus from surrounding areas regularly species like Frerea indica, Ceropegia spp. collect medicinal species from this area. It has Habenaria sp, Dendrobium microbulbon, etc been declared as a medicinal plant are commonly seen here. conservation area (MPCA) by the forest The 10-12m high vertical cliffs are ideal and department and special protection has been safe nesting sites for long billed vultures ( Gyps provided against exploitation. indicus ). The critically endangered scavenging species is seen in healthy numbers on the fort. Many other raptors have been reported. Shri. Biodiversity Profile: Vishwarup Raha of Nashik has maintained The area is well known owing to its great detailed records of the birds of this region diversity of medicinal and endemic species. reported more than two hundred species from Floristic surveys were carried out for the Flora the area. Detailed surveys of herpetofauna, of Nashik district work by BSI. Dr. M. R. invertebrates etc. have not been conducted so Almeida has also published a checklist of far. But observations during monsoon indicate species from this locality. Most recent work is potentially rich snake, gecko and amphibian started by Jui Pethe (2012 onwards), who is fauna including Trimeresurus gramineus and making a digital herbarium of the area with geckos like Hemidactylus spp. , Geckoella deccanensis. The rocky cliffs are ideal habitat for many cliff dwelling and stream dwelling Threatened plants are collected by the species of animals. botanists. Browsing tourists pick gregariously flowering Ceropegia anjanerica wild plants like Adelocaryum malabaricum, Pinda cocanensis, Cyanoglossum zeylanicum, © Sanjay Thakur Smithia purpurea, S. bigemina , etc. To prevent this, awareness creation activities are being conducted by local researchers, JFM committee and forest department. Special protection has now been given to the Medicinal Plants in Conservation area. Sensitization of tourists has been started by the JFM members who are allowed to run parking facility and collect toll from the local villagers. Some documentation on lichens and other cryptogamic fauna is available, however, very little has been published so far. Endemic lichen, Graphis maharashtrana , is reported from Anjaneri area. Current and potential threats The pressures on the plateau vegetation are currently low. Local grazing and putting of fires by the villagers does have some impact. The annual fare where reportedly a lakh of pilgrims visit the temples is a major cause of trampling, Hanuman carved on rocks littering. There is high degree of illegal extraction of medicinal and religiously © Sanjay Thakur important plants like Heracleum grande, Terminalia chebula, T. Bellarica, Embelia basaal, Desmodium sp, Curcuma Suggestions for conservation: pseudomontana, Eriolaena quinquilocularis, • Increased protection of the Medicinal Plant Neuracanthus sphareostachys etc. which are Conservation Area in huge demand in Nashik and surrounding • Continued awareness generation for all the markets like Ghoti, Igatpuri, Tryambakeshwar, surrounding villages to reduce etc. overexploitation of plant resources There is serious overexploitation of plants by • Prevention of accidental fires local communities. Tubers of Ceropegia spp. • Special protection of bird habitats, especially are collected and eaten in large numbers. of the vultures • Complete documentation of faunal and • Management of existing tourism to avoid cryptogam diversity and regular monitoring of problems of garbage, nuisance to wilderness flora and fauna etc. • Visitor sensitization regarding religious, • Planning conservation oriented low-impact cultural, historical and aesthetic importance tourism of the area • Protection of natural drainage and micro- Based upon information provided by : planning for water and ecological conservation Jui Pethe, Amit Tillu, Kiran Rahalkar, Ketan Patwardhan, Vishwarup Raha, Nature • Capacity building of JFM committees to Conservation Society, Nashik; Sanjay Thakur, design a sustainable harvesting policy for any commercially important wild plant. Biome Conservation Foundation Pune; Joint Forest Management Committee, Anjaneri, • Eco-friendly enterprises can be promoted to Office of CCF (Territorial) Nashik Division. give locals added income sources. © Jui Pethe Anjaneri hill top © Aparna Watve Anjaneri JFM committee members, forest department staff with Jui Pethe and Amit Tillu © Jui Pethe Anjaneri JFM committee meeting JUNNAR PLATEAUS, Pune District ____________________________________________________ The basalt plateau of Ambe-Hatvij is one of the Durgawadi killa (fort) is a name given to a largest and florastically rich rocky plateau in rocky hill top above the sacred grove. It is the Pune district. It is located 60 kms away entirely made of boulders and holds many from Junnar town. The plateau top can be endemic and threatened species of plants. reached after a steep climb from Inglun village. JUNNAR Area Disturbance The road passes through villages of ambe- (sq. hatwij and Kathewadi and ends at the sacred kms) grove of Durguwadi, which overlooks the Warsubai 0.0977 local grazing, Konkan area. Adjacent to it is the plateau of Hatvij 2.0299 fires, trampling Warsubai temple. Durgwadi by tourists, 0.7517 plant collection The plateau is located between 19°11'37.99"N, Total 2.8793 proposed 73°41'42.57"E to 19°13'3.59"N & windfarms 73°38'33.92"E. The highest point is around Ecosystem services 1200m ASL. The steep hill slopes