Forests in Assam

 

            Assam  Geography 

       Forests in Assam 

Introduction:The State of Assam; criss-crossed by mountains, is located in the eastern most part of India between 24°.07' N to 28°00' N Latitude and 89°.42' E to 96°. 02' E Longitude and extends over geographical area of 78,438 sq. km. which constitute 2.39% of the country's total area.

Hem Barua, a prominent scholar of Assam,in his book Red Rivers and Blue Hills, wrote, "To many outsiders Assam is no more than a land of mountains and malaria, earthquakes and floods and the Kamakhya Temple. To others it is a green woodland where slothful serpents, insidious tigers, wild elephants and stealthy leopards peep and peer with virulent eyes and claws. Assam to most of the people is mentally a distant horizon like Bolivia or Peru – less known and more fancied".

Assam is very rich in natural vegetation. The areas with heavy rainfall support evergreen forest and the relatively dry belt is clothed with deciduous type of forests. 

Forest Area

The forest area of Assam is 26,832 sq km accounting for 34.21% of its geographical area.

According to its legal status, Reserved Forests constitute 66.58% and Unclassed Forests 33.42% of the total forest area.

Types of Forests:

A)Tropical Evergreen Forest : This type of forest is seen in the areas of high rainfall. Such forests are also called rain forest as these occur in the areas having a yearly rainfall of  more than 200 cm and average temperature of 25 degree C . The trees are tall with evergreen foliage. Here we see the presence of a thick undergrowth at the ground level and many cpeepers and lianas at upper level . But these are not to be seen in the pine forests.  These forests are found to occur in the foothills close to Arunachal Pradesh, the easternmost part of the Brahmaputra valley region in patches particularly along the Himalayan foothills of Sonitpur, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts. Such type of forest is also found in the southern parts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts, in the districts of Jorhat and Golaghat and some  to other hilly areas of the Barak valley ( Hailakandi and Karimganj districts ) and North Cachar hills.

           Generally the evergreen forests occur with three layers. 

The first layer ( the top storey) is composed of very tall trees It is often constituted by one or two trees of the deciduous species of enormous size . In the evergreen forests of Assam, very tall trees like Holong and Mekai are found. The second layer is formed by some shorter trees like Nahar, Chiya Nahar, Amari etc. The middle storey is constituted either by a gregarious species or by a large number of mixed species. The third layer is composed of short trees and grasses. Besides trees, a variety of climbers, bamboos, canes and orchids are found in the evergreen forests. At present, this type of forests has been badly reduced in size due to several causes.

B) Tropical Semi-evergreen Forest: This type of forest is found to occur in the northern Bhabar zone of the Brahmaputra valley, parts of the hilly Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts and the southern part the Barak valley. The soils of the Bhabar zone are composed of the sands and pebbles transported by the streams coming down from the Himalayas. These soils are loose in structure. Such an environment is fabourable for the semi-evergreen forest. The main species of these forests include Nahar, Bonchom, Cham, Sirish, Ou, Gandhsoroi, Agaru, Poma etc. Bamboos and canes, ferns etc, are abundantly found in these forests. However, the semi-evergreen forests are getting highly disturbed due to the expansion of settlements and roads to the foothill zones.

Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest : In certain parts of lower Brahmaputra valley, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts and the Barak valley, tropical moist decidious forests  occurs. Generally the areas having yearly rainfall of 200-250 cm favour the growth of this forest. Most of the trees of this type of forests shed their leaves during the winter. The trees which shed leaves during winter are called deciduous trees. Sal, Makori Sal, Gomari, Amlokhi, Bhomora, Gohara, Khokon, Simul are the dominant trees of the most deciduous forest. Sal forests are mostly seen in the slightly higher lands of south Kamrup and Goalpara district.

Riverine Forest : Assam is basically a land of rivers. The natural environment of the state is to a large extent, dominated by the rivers and wetlands. A special type of forest is generally seen in the wet peripheries of the rivers and wetlands which may be called reverine forest.

Once a large part of Assam was covered by reverine forests. This type of forest is dominated by some tall trees and grasses. Among the trees, Chom, Showalu, Uriam, Moz, Ou, Ajar are important. However, the riverine tracts are very favourable for grasses and bushy vegetations like Nal, Khagori, Tora, Koupat, cane, Jao, Kohua etc. Kaziranga, DibruSaikhoa and Orang national parks and Pabitora wildlife sanctury are located maintly in the riverine tracts. However, due to the expansion of human settlements to the riverine areas these forests are getting reduced in size rapidly.

E) Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest : Generally, in the relatively dry floodplains slightly away from the rivers, this type of forest is seen. Two different groups of plant are found here - considerably tall trees and grasses. The dominant trees include Sisoo, Bhelkor, Simul, Khair and Bogori etc. Birina, Khagori, Ulu, Khush etc. are the dominant grass species. The dry deciduous forests mainly occur in the dry sandy areas close to the wet riverine forest areas. This type of forests is also getting rapidly degraded due to the gradual expansion of settlements to the riverine tracts.

In addition to the above mentioned types of forests, some other types also occur in certain areas of the state.Likewise, the pine forest scattered in the high hills or Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts .Moreover ,short bushy vegetations are found to occupy the forests are called degraded forests. Degraded forests are commonly seen in most of the districts of Assam.

Protected Areas

The protected area network of Assam includes 7 National Parks and 18 wildlife sanctuaries.

According to the India State Forest Report,2011, Forest Survey of India, the estimated tree cover in the state is 1,564 sq km which is1.99% of geographical area of the state.

Forest cover in the state is 27,673 sq km that is 35.28% of the geographical area of the state.

Thus the Forest and tree cover in the state is 29,237 sq km which is 37.27% of the geographical area.

Benefits from forest cover of Assam:

1) The benefits of forests of Assam includes both commercial as well as household consumption that include industrial wood, fuel, bamboo, thatch and thatching material, cane, traditional medicines, edible fruits, bark, gum and resin, fiber and floss etc.

2) Home for several wild species or wildlife.

3) Protect our environment , it keeps our environment clean.

Threats to the forest cover of Assam:

Between 2001 and 2023, Assam experiencing a 100 percent reduction in relative tree cover. Most of this loss occurred mainly in two regions —

Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao ,which together account for over 62 per cent of the state’s forest loss.

Cause for the loss of forest cover in Assam

1) Human intervention on forests.

Strategy for conservation of forest cover by the Government of Assam:

To conserve the forest cover in Assam, the Government of Assam (GOA) with the support of Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency - AFD), is implementing the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation (APFBC). It aims to restore forest ecosystems, in collaboration with the forest dependent communities to enhance their livelihoods, ensuring conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.