.. .. -.. - . ;.,.. ~ .... ~ ... '.' 4 . • . ~ .. : ': '. 'to.. _. .... ':~~' ." • ' .. " . / " .}t.. .. .. , ....."• • .. ." • ~ILDl:IF'~~"OF .HIMACHAL PRA"DES~ THE ~ •• . .. , _.-.,-- THE WILDLIFE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH WESTERN HIMALAYAS Report of the Himachal Wildlife Project 1981 Technical Notes No.B2 School of Forest Resources University of Maine Albert D. Nutting Hall Orono, Maine 04469 U.S.A. $5.00 Left to right CRB HLH AJG GK PCT VH rJe VJZ AJG SCS AHG RP RK AC VH JH SKC HLH PJC HHR GK PJG CONTRIBUTORS Dr. C. R. Babu, Dept. of Botany, University of Delhi S. K. Chattopadhyay, Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta A. Chauduri, Dept. of Botany , University of Delhi P. J. Cioffi, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine Dr . P. J. Garson , Dept. of Zoology, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Dr. A. J. Gaston, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa Dr . M. L. Hunter, Jr., School of Forest Resources, University of Maine R. Khandwa, Dept. of Botany, University of Delhi A. Kitsos, Jr. , School of Forest Resources, University of Maine G. Kumar, Zoological Survey of India, Dehra Dun V. Hatthai, Bombay Natural History Society Ramakrishnan Palat, Dept. of Zoology, University of Cali cut P. R. Phillimore, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Durham H. H. Ridley, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oxford S. C. Sharma, Dept. of Zoology & Entomology, Palampur Agricultural University P. C. Tak, Zoological Survey of India, Dehra Dun B. Vashisht, Dept. of Botany. University of Delhi S. K. Vats, Palampur J. W. Witham, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine Dr. V. J. Zacharias, Dept. of Zoology, University of Calicut EDITORS &1thony J. Gaston, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa, Ontario KIA OE7 Canada Malcolm L. Hunter, Jr. ,School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 0446~ U.S.A. Peter J. Garson, Dept . of Zoology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle­ upon-Tyne NEI 7RU, U.K. PREFACE I first visited Himachal Prades h and Manali in 1969, and I fell in love with the birds of the high mountain valleys. I can vividly remember ,vatching flocks of purple Grandalas swirling against the sky while avalanches rumbled dO\vo the slopes of Beas Rikhi and the high ridges stretchi ng below the Rohtang Pass, before the motor-road had been completed. In 1973, I began to think about a multi­ disciplinary research project in the Western Himalayas. My wife Anne-Marie and I had taken a week's trek through Saraj, the district that straddles the watershed between the Beas and Sutlej Rivers. Inspired by Penelope Chetwode, the indefatigable author of Kulu, the End of the Habitable World, \ve had become interested in the people of these high valleys with their quaint villages and temples clinging to awesome slopes along the skirts of the sno"'Y ranges. When we crossed the Bashleo Pas s and gazed over the forested expanses of the upper Tirthan Valley we appreciated for the first time what real Himalayan forests looked like and understood the magnitude of the changes that human activities have brought to these mountains. The i.Jestern Himalayas presented two di fferent, though related, challenges. Firstly, I knew that t hey were reputed to support a rich fauna of large manmlals and pheasants most of which were rare or much reduced in numbers. So there \vas the immediate problem of how many remained, where they were, and what could be done to conserve them. Secondly, there were the purely scientif ic problems presented by a mountain range which not only compressed the most abrupt environ­ mental change in the terrestrial world into a few tens of kilometers, but also Jcted as the line of demarcation bet\veen two of the world's great faunal realms; the 0rie ntal region to the south and the Palaeartic to the north. No biologist could fail to be excited by the challenge that thes e great mountains pose. Initially, I had thought in terms of an intensive study covering a limited geographical area and concentrating on ecological studies of the most critically endangered species. Discussing my ideas with ~ac and Peter, however, it became clear that intensive studies in the Western Himalayas were premature. lfuat was urgently required, was an extensive s urvey of suitable areas o f undisturbed forest to dis cover wha t remained of the fa una and how serious ly it was endangered. It was also ii./ 1 rtant to link our efforts to those of the State Forest Department, which had been contemplating the creation o f a National Park near Manali, at the head of the Beas Valley, for some time. It would be s illy to pretend that organizing an undertaking of the scale of the Himachal Wildlife Project is an easy matter, or that everything in the early stages went as we had hoped. There was a distressing period of nearly seven months from t he date at which we intended to start to the point at which we f inally had all the necessary clearances to proceed. Credits will be given elsewhere to the man y individuals and organizations who assisted our work, but [ would like to make a personal mention of the efforts of Mr. N. D. Jayal, then of the Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi, and of Dr. Salim Ali, both o f \vhom purs ued our case when I believe that some might have counselled despair, and to Mr. Keith Howman of World Pheasant Ass ociation, who found funds to support other research projects which I carried out in a private capacity, but which yielded results eventually contributing to those of this project. I hope that this report will do something to justify the faith that they reposed in me at that time. AJG ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A project involving so many people and so many diverse interests, and covering such a long period of time and so wide an area inevitably has debts to a huge number of organizations and individuals. Here we attempt to acknowledge everyone but there were many people who assisted us briefly and remained anonymous. Firstly, we mqst thank the organizations which sponsored or assisted us: Bombay Natural History Society, Canadian Wildlife Service, Fauna Preservation Society, Mountaineering and Allied Sports Institute Manali, Overseas Development Administration (U.K.), Pheasant Trust, Royal Geographical Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, University of Maine, University of Newcastle, Van Tienhoven Foundation, Volkart Foundation (India), World Pheasant Association, World Wildlife Fund~India, and World Wildlife Fund­ International and the Zoological Survey of India. We are especially grateful to the many representatives of these organizations with whom we interacted; only those individuals who were actively involved in the project are identified below. Individuals who assisted us in the planning of the project include Mrs. Dilnavez Variava, Mr. Lavkumar Khacher, and Mr. Duleep Mattbai of WWF-India, Mr. N. D. Jayal of the Union Ministry of Agriculture ; Drs. B. S. Lamba and T. N. Ananthakrishnan, Zoological Survey of India, Mr. Bachan Singh, Chief Conservator Department of Forests, Himachal Pradesh, Mr. P. Wayre of the Pheasant Trust, Mr. K. Howrnan and Mr. C. Savage of the World Pheasant Association, Dr. Salim Ali and Mr. J. C. Daniel of the Bombay Natural History Society and Major Ian Grimwood and Sir Hugh Elliott. For assistance during our stay in Manali we are most grateful to Dr. Harnam Singh of the Mountaineering and Allied Sports Institute, Mrs. Prem of Prem's Orchards and Tara Chand Thakur of Vashisht. Captain G. S. Shergill of Manali, Mr. V. Singh of Shangarh, Mr. Brijendra Singh of Chamba and Mr. R. Bharti of Bandal provided us with much valuable information on the wildlife of their respective areas. Throughout the project we found excellent support from the central government, initially from Mr. N. D. Jayal and more recently from Mr. Samar Singh and Mr. V. Pillai. These gentlemen, officials at the U. S. Embassy, and Dr. David Ferguson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were most helpful in dealing with some of the difficulties inherent ' in an international project. He enjoyed generous cooperation from many members of the Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh, particularly the successive Conservators, Mr. I. S. Kang and Mr. P. C. Sharma, their Deputies Mr. Joginder Singh and Mr. K. B. Vaidya, the D. F. O. Kulu, Mr. Pandi, and Surindar Kumar, Range Officer. Special mention must be made of Mr. N. D. Rally, A. C. F. (Wildlife) Kulu who provided us with excellent logistic support and took a very keen interest in the project. For information on Himalayan wildlife outside our area we would like to thank Michael Green, Rodney Jackson, and Tony Lelliott. TABLE OF CONTENTS . PAGE 1 INTRODUCTION ....•..•....•..••...•..•....•..••..•.•......•.....•... 1 2 ENVIRONMENT ............................... eo .. ................................................... .. 5 Geography of the Western Himalayas ••.. .•••..... ..•............. 5 Forests ...•..•.•....•........•..•..••.•........••.........•..... 16 Structure and composition of the vegetation in relation to human disturbance, C. R. Babu, A. Chauduri, and . R. Khandwa .. ...••..•................... .......... .....•..... 26 3 Wf.LDLIFE ................... • ....... " .. " . .. .. ..• . .. .. 35 Pheasants .... ... •...•......•.....••.•.•.........•..........•...• 35 Mammals 56 Raptors .................... -................ ... .............................................. 86 Smaller birds .........•........•.•......•...•....•..•...•.•..... 91 4 PEOPLE ....... • ....•.......•..........•.•.........••.•.•••...••. ; .. 98 Migratory graziers and their flocks, Peter R. Phillimore ..•.•... 98 Hunting and poaching,