george – Melagiris

Relaunching camera trapping, call for volunteers

KANS is relaunching its camera trapping exercise after a long hiatus. This is the report of the first trip. We need volunteers to keep this going.

Camera Trapping Trip Report – Tholuvabetta

Date: 4th July 2015
Location: Tholuvabetta, Kempereddy (?) Kere
KANS Volunteers: A. Prem Kumar, Girish Gopalarao, Rahul Gaur, Abhi
FD: Forester Munirajulu, Forester Kathiravan, FG Arumugam
Spot: Bank of a water hole
Signs found: Hoof marks of Gaur, deer and elephants, scrape marks by elephants on trees around the water hole
Local hearsay reports: hyena, sloth bear

Narration:
Rahul Gaur, in spite of having missed the fork to TVS factory and having proceeded towards Anekal before he realized he was on the wrong road, was the first to reach on his Duke at the agreed meeting point of the volunteers – the quintessential Koot road junction. Girish and Abhi came in their Maruti Swift and joined Rahul shortly and they had their breakfast.

Meantime Prem, filled up The Ratel’s tank and joined the rest of the party a bit later.

After a light breakfast at Ramakrishna lunch home, all KANS members went to the field office to pick up the CT and park the extra vehicles.

The volunteers proceeded onwards to the FRO, Denkanikotta. They met Ranger Munisamy and after a brief discussion on various locations decided to setup the CT at Tholuvabetta. The Ranger showed some earlier pictures of the place which did indeed looked promising.

He assigned two Foresters, Munirajulu of Denkanikotta Town and Kathiravan of Tholuvabetta, to accompany the volunteers.

After a brief wait for Forester Kathiravan to get ready, the convoy consisting of an anti depredation vehicle of the FD and The Ratel proceeded towards Melur. The Foresters had a stopover for breakfast on the way, just outside the town. At Melur more FD staff, both uninformed and plainsclothes joined the Foresters on some FD business. There were some incomprehensible heated arguments but eventually the convoy proceeded into the forest only to stop a short distance from the gate at the fork of Gullatty road.

A large number of villagers were seen cleaning the grasses growing on the ditches by the side of the dirt road. There was a vehicle belonging to the state govt dept providing medical care to tribals parked on the Gullatty road. Forester Kathiravan asked the villagers to stop working and had a heated conversation over the phone with some other dept person about sending people into the RF without prior permission. Only after the villagers all made a move towards the gate did the convoy proceeded further.

The convoy crossed two villages and parked at the end of the second village. Here the Foresters recruited some villagers to accompany the group and everybody proceeded towards the water hole after a brief discussion on the best approach. The villagers took the group through their village and fields beyond which the forests began.

A senior villager lamented at the thick bushes of lantana that had grown in the last few decades. The thorny bushes were all along the jungle trail. He recounted with lament how during his father’s time these were meadows where the villagers would graze they’re cattle.

After a gentle trek of 1.7 KM the group reached the destination and started noting the signs of animal activities. Fresh elephant, gaur and deer hoof marks were found as well as elephant scrape marks on trees that seemed old and well worn, indicating that these trees were frequently used by the elephants for scraping mud off their backs.

KANS volunteers scouted around the water hole for a suitable perch for the CT with a promising vantage point. Finally a small tree was chosen on the bank which stood between two approach trails to the water.

A villager climbed the tree to secure the CT at a height and small stones were placed between the CT and the tree trunk to angle the CT downward such that the animals entering the water on either trail could be captured.

The group returned after surveying a nearby well that serves an old Maramma temple and promises by Forester Munirajulu to take care of a day’s worth of food for all the villagers who volunteer to clean the well. The villagers also requested cementing the floor in front of the stones representing the goddesses but the Forester denied permission staying that this was beyond his grade and that the villagers would have to request the DFO.

KANS volunteers split at the village and proceeded back by themselves. A hearty lunch of was had at Hotel Padmavathi at Koot road junction post which the volunteers went to KANS field office to get their vehicles. The volunteers split from there towards their homes.

The Ratel again had a filling drink on the way back.

Continue reading “Relaunching camera trapping, call for volunteers”

Web of Life

Panoramic view of Belakere village

Belakere, a small habitat inside the Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary with no metaled roads leading to / from it, is surrounded by ineffective Elephant Proof Trenches and houses a small Government Primary School where around 20-25 children go to study and get their free mid day meals. Barely 30-35 KM from Electronics City in Bangalore you would expect to be able to reach there by following Google Maps directions. But you can’t even find this place on Google Maps unless you know where to look for.

Elephant Proof Trench between Zero Point and Deverabetta

I first got to know about the existence of such a village earlier this year when I joined as a volunteer of Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (an NGO committed to the conservation of the forests in Melagiris) in a survey of the Elephant Proof Trenches (EPT) dug up by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department to prevent the elephants from venturing out of the forests and into farm lands. These are deep and wide trenches that an elephant cannot cross. But the trenches tend to get silted up, or their walls can slide in, or some shepherd or cattle grazer can place logs across the EPT to gain access into the forests for their cattle, sheep and goats. Free fodder you see. That it is at the cost of taking away the food of the elephants and other herbivores of the jungle is not their issue. They don’t own farms which might get raided by the elephants after all. Thus these EPTs are made ineffective due to the breaches through which the pachyderms can come into human habitats and thus the survey was conducted to help the Tamil Nadu Forest Department find these breaches.

The road over the hills to Belakere (from Gummalapuram)

Reaching Belakere is a tricky business. You can either walk, take a motorbike or take a four wheeler with a high ground clearance. Provided it has not rained. The terrain is hilly and the track is strewn with stones and soil. Lots of soil that can quickly turn in mush and stones that will be all wet and slippery in rains. And then there is the perennial danger of crossing paths with the elephants. Interestingly though, electricity reaches Belakere!

Our rides into the jungles to reach Belakere

So we, a bunch of volunteers from KANS, some children from TVS Academy, Hosur and their teacher, went to Belakere in two Tata Safaris, a Chevrolet Tavera and a Mahindra Scorpio after parking the hatchbacks in the Gummalapuram high school from where we were joined by the headmasters and the circle head for the National Green Corps. We drove very slowly and carefully since there was lot of loose soil and stones on the paths, with deep narrow gullies formed by the water from the rains in last two months since we went there for a recce.

Children of Belakere Panchayat Primary School

The children all welcomed us with their loud sing song chorus of “Good morning Sir” and there was a brief intro. There were less than 25 mixed age group children in total, with a few under aged children too, probably since there was no anganwadi (govt. preschool cum creche) in the village. It is a common practice nevertheless in the hinterlands to send the young child along with their older sibling(s).

Forming teams for the nature walk

We started the day’s program with a nature walk wherein groups of children were formed, each with 4-5 children, led by a student each of TVS Academy, Hosur. The children from both the schools introduced themselves to each other and they were explained what was to be done. Unsurprisingly, the children all mingled within minutes and were eager to head out.

A stroll through the woods

The objective was to take a nice leisurely stroll through the village, their farms and thereon to the edges of the forest to collect leaves, twigs, fruits, flowers, interesting stones, etc. that the children find along the paths they walk through.

The children with their collection.

The children led us all through their village and I asked them to identify a few birds which were either flying nearby or calling from afar. And they collected quite a good lot of stuff only children have the innocent curiosity to find interesting. 🙂

After coming back to the school the teams started making things out of the stuff they picked up. A tree out of twigs and leaves, a camp site, etc. And by this time the children had broken ice with the all of us and were quite enjoying all the attention and novelty. And then it was time for all the adults to admire their creations. 🙂

Pictures of Flora & Fauna on a lanyard being distributed to the participants.

This was the perfect time to rope in all the adults present for the next activity, Web of Life. Everybody, including the adults, were asked to stand in a big circle and each one of them was given a chart with the picture of a tree/plant/grass or animal/insect/fish/bird on it, with a lanyard to wear round the neck.

It was so beautiful to see the elder children helping the younger ones put the lanyards round their necks. There was a lot of laughing when even the teachers, headmasters, forest department staff and KANS volunteers started wearing the charts.

The oldest and the youngest members of the Web of Life!

The highlight was the octogenarian joining the game and standing right next to the youngest of them all, who incidentally got an Elephant. There was quite some cheering and laughing at that. 🙂

Children were then asked to identify the flora & fauna they had all got. And then beginning with plants, the children were asked what/who ate (preyed on) them. At this point a spool of twine was passed around to connect the food to its consumer. From the flora we moved onto the eaters of the herbivores, and so on until we connected every living thing to the other as a web.

The big Web of Life.

Soon we had a huge web of crisscrossing twine and everybody could see how we were all interconnected. Fabulously too! And now came the final act. To show the grim consequences of the dastardly acts of man to rip out the forests in the name of progress.

When man destroys the forests, the Web of Life begins to shrink.

First the children representing the trees and plants were asked to leave their end of the twine and sit down. Next children were asked to identify which are the animals that could no longer survive due to unavailability of their food. Now these children had to leave their end of the twine and sit down. And after that the animals dependent on these felled animals. Soon nothing much was left except the tiger and man. Top predators of the food chain. And without food, they too perish. A serious concept very beautifully explained to the children. And when asked what they learnt from this activity, pat came the response – forests are our life. Mission accomplished!

Quiz in progress

There was a lunch break where free mid day meals, cooked in the school premises, was served to the children. Post this Girish, our project lead, conducted a short quiz where the children identified different animals, birds, reptiles shown on the laptop screen. A correct answer was rewarded with a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate. And soon everybody had a chocolate in hand. 😉

The returning TVS Academy, Hosur team.

This was immediately followed by a movie show on Nagarhole National Park that ran for an hour. And then it was time for the team from TVS Academy, Hosur, to leave after enriching the lives of us all. Thank yous were exchanged and byes were told.

KANS President Sanjeev distributing the books to the children.

Finally Sanjeev, president of KANS, distributed a book on animals in Kannada to all the children. A few were given to the headmaster of Gummalapuram school to be kept in their library.

Ragi mudde, saaru – our lunch

But that was not all, we were invited by a village resident for a sumptuous lunch of Ragi Mudde (huge balls made of boiled flour of millets) and saaru (spiced up stock of boiled leaves) along with avarekai palya (fried beans and leaves tempered with seasonings). And then it was time to disperse. We KANS members stopped for a while in the jungle for our committee meeting, on a lookout for elephants which were apparently being driven over to Tamil Nadu side by the Karnataka Forest Department, we did hear loud crackers being burst. Then we went to the Gummalapuram school to pick up our vehicles and dispersed from there with promises to take this model to other schools in the Melagiris.

Originally published at http://sfh.naasat.in/2014/12/web-of-life.html

Melagiri Bird Survey 2014

Melagiri Bird Survey 2014, the first comprehensive study of avian biodiversity in Melagiri Hills was conducted on 1st and 2nd of February, 2014. Over 40 bird watchers including expert camp-leads from different parts of South India, and an equal number of department staff participated in this effort.

Participants were given a brief orientation at the main camp in District Forest Office, Mathigiri, Hosur on 31 st January, 2014, after which the teams dispersed to their respective base camps. Twelve base camps were selected in such a way that all representative habitats and altitudes are covered and they are well spread-out.

A total of 48 transects were conducted across the 12 base camps. This amounted to over 130 hours and nearly 200 kms of surveying, in which a total of 7191 birds of 216 species were recorded. This includes 29 species which are being recorded for the first time from Melagiri Hills.

Significant recordings inclueed Nilgiri Wood Pigeon and Dark-sided Flycatcher from Kodekarai, Lesser Fish-Eagle, River Tern and Oriental Darter from the riverine areas along Cauvery, Painted Stork from Panchapalli near Chinnar river, good population of Blue-winged Parakeet from 8 out of the 12 camps, Besra, Lesser Yellow-nape, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Oriental Turtle-Dove, Oriental Scops Owl , Indian Blue Robin, European Bee-eater, Common House-Martin and Hair-crested.

Detailed analysis is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/juwd44tlxe9u4k5/analysis.xls

KANS would like to thank all the volunteers who participated, Hosur FD for their wonderful support and IBCN for supporting the Survey via Small Grant Programme.

Camera Trapping Project

Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (KANS) started the Camera Trapping project in May 2011 with the primary aim of documenting the biodiversity in Melagiri by getting photographic evidences. As the animals in Melgiri are extremely timid and shy due to human interferences, KANS decided that the best way to get photographs was to deploy camera traps at different locations in the field. Camera traps are silent and effective as they detect motion and body heat to take photographs automatically.

A camera trap deployed in the field

The camera trapping project is undertaken to support the vision of KANS, that is, conservation of Melagiri and its wild denizens. Conservation cannot work if we don’t know what we are trying to conserve. This project is aimed at understanding and filling that gap.

The purpose of the camera trapping project can be broadly classified into primary and sub-objectives.

Primary objective:

To obtain photographic evidences of fauna in various ranges of Melagiri.

Sub-objectives:

To capture movement of cattle in the forest.

To identify human disturbances such as vehicular movement, movement of people along forest trails/tracks etc.

Method of deployment:
A suitable range is selected based on claims of animal activity. The traps are then placed in a selected beat within the range based on direct or indirect evidences.

As of now KANS has deployed three camera traps in the field. These have been successful in getting photographs of leopard, small indian civet, palm civet, sambar deer, elephant, wild boar, spotted deer, jungle cat, porcupine and a few birds.

A few camera trapped denizens of Melagiri

This is an ongoing project and if you are interested in participating or getting any other details, please get in touch with me(Arun) at arunaccess@gmail.com.

Training workshop for Protection Staff of Anchetty and Urigam Ranges

on 11^th and 12^th August 2011

Kenneth Anderson Nature Society is organising a 2 day workshop for the Protection staff of the Hosur Forest Division wherein approx. 60 staff will be trained in field craft, anti-poaching tactics, proper use of firearms and guidelines on legal issues. The objective of the workshop is to enhance the skills of the staff and also highlight the importance of their role and improve their morale and self-esteem.

The workshop will be conducted by Wildlife First, represented by Mr. Praveen Bhargav (a former member of NBWL) (http://www.theearthheroes.com/the-awards/2006-awards/29-praveen-bhargav-) and Mr. KM Chinnappa (http://www.maheshbhat.com/heroes/chinnappa/index1.html), a former Range Officer of Nagarhole National Park

This workshop is a follow up to an earlier workshop conducted in November 2010 for 32 Range Officers of the Dharmapuri Circle. See newsreport

The staff will be trained in field craft, anti-poaching tactics, proper use of firearms and guidelines on legal issues. The objective of the workshop is to enhance the skills of the staff and also highlight the importance of their role and improve their morale and self-esteem.

Itinerary

Workshop timing: 9am – 5pm
11^th August 2011: Training for staff of Anchetty Range at Rasimanal APC
12^th August 2011: Training for staff of Urigam Range at Uganiam APC

Atleast 3 volunteers are required. Please contact Laxmeesha, laxmeesha@gmail.com if you wish to volunteer for the event.

Tree Walk @ Melagiri

Tree walk is an initiative to understand and catalogue the tree species in Melagiris. Our member Sheshadri who is an expert on trees is leading the walk which has been very informative to say the least.

In his own words Sheshadri puts down the following on flora and on the Tree walk project
“Trees dominate the landscape in the rich Forests of South India. Every species of Tree makes possible the existence of hundreds of other members of Biological community.

We need to acquaint ourselves with these harmonious lifeforms. They evolved from 250 to 350 million years ago. Humans are only 1.5 lakh years old !

Tree walks are the first steps needed for Tree conservation. Accurate Field Botanists and Effective Foresters are the need of the Hour.

It is important to identify Forest trees and discover their various functions in supporting biodiversity. The botanical names, local names of Trees and Shrubs.. Their various Shapes, Sizes, Forms and occurrence in the Wild will be explored in detail. In this way we can relate to them and learn to conserve them.All other species of Flora and Fauna shall follow….

In-Situ conservation measures are – protecting their habitat and minimizing Human activity ( except some ancient tribes who have always lived in harmony with the forests ). Special protection for Rare and Endangered Trees.

Ex-Situ conservation measures are Collection of Seeds, generating Tall Saplings in local TNFD Nurseries or Nurseries and Farmlands in adjacent locations. Planting them in appropriate locations on the periphery of forest areas to Improve Natural Forest Cover. Thus attracting a wide variety of Local Fauna.”

We have completed 2 sessions on the tree walk session so far that began first in May 2011.

We came across to a variety of trees from the evergreen trees like Mimusops elengi to scrub jungle varieties like Capparis sepiaria. We even documented a few Eastern ghat species like Givotia rottleriformis. This verily proves that Melagiri indeed is this unique landscape, where the the eastern and Western Ghats meet!

Sometimes we came across rare varieties like Wrightia arborea.

There were trees like Mitragyna parvifolia where we witnessed several hundreds of common crows and plain tigers busy nectering reminding us of the ecological services these trees provide.

Please find the documentation on the tree walk here, https://sites.google.com/site/aboutmelagiri/main/flora and images at the KANS picasa album https://picasaweb.google.com/ka.naturesociety/FloraOfMelagiri

Documenting Flora is an ongoing project. Please get in touch with Karthik (karthikguna@gmail.com) for more details regarding participation during the tree walk and other details.

Grizzled Giant Squirrel and Four Horned Antelope re-discovered

The grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) is a large tree squirrel in the genus Ratufa found in the highlands of the Central and Uva provinces of Sri Lanka, and in patches of riparian forest along the Kaveri River and in the hill forests in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala states of southern India.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as near threatened due to habitat loss and hunting.

The (GGS) is a previously un-recorded species for the Hosur forest division (HFD). Specific search for GGS was made by researchers of Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF) after Mr.Ganesan former DFO of HFD expressed his deep conviction that this animal would surely be found along the riverine tracts along the Cauvery river. Sure enough, a number of nesting sites and a handful of individual animals have been recorded at various places by Dr.Bhaskaran, Saravanan and Senthil Kumar from ANCF through record shots of a single GGS in 2009.

Recently KANS member, Mr. Prasanna was fortunate to spot and obtain some good images of the GGS. Thus the GGS presence has been verified again.

Another species found in this region, the Four horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricornis), also known as Chousinga is listed as vulnerable under the IUCN Red list of threatened species. It is usually found near to perennial water sources since it needs to drink water regularly. Its preference to dry deciduous forests has exposed it to a lot of biotic pressure from MFP collection and livestock grazing.

Both these rare species have discovered in the Urigam and Anchetty ranges of the Hosur Forest divisions during the year long bio-diversity survey carried out by KANS with ANCF along with the TamilNadu Forest department.

A recent Frontline article by Dr.AJT Johnsingh recently conjectured that the four horned antelope was probably extinct along the Tamilnadu side of the Cauvery. A dead specimen was also

recovered a few years back from the Udedurgam area of the Rayakota Range of Hosur Forest division.

It is a cause for celebration that they are found in good numbers with as many as 30 defecation sites spotted along the banks of the Cauvery river. The four horned antelope usually a solitary creature is regularly sighted in the Hosur Forest division as small herds of upto 3 individuals.

Recently Dr.Ravi Raja Singh, son of the late Mr.Raja Singh who was the DFO of these parts in the 70s, also a KANS member sighted FHA.

Its a matter of deep concern that these bio-diversity rich areas are under pressure from cattle penning, fire wood collection and Minor Forest Produce collection . The current DFO, Mr. Ulaganathan has taken a positive step by creating checkposts at points of entry to GGS habitat. He has stepped up vigil and posted watchers, which was not there earlier.

However, villagers and city folks alike have found these forests to picnic and hold social gatherings. Loud music, vehicle horn, human presence and littering of plastic and beverage bottles have continued to disturb the last refuge of the GGS in HFD.

The common Langur is nearly extinct in this range and GGS and FHA may follow suit. The cry of the hour is to take immediate steps to secure the future of these endangered species by addressing the immediate threats posed by cattle penning and human disturbance.

Mammal Survey 2011, Hosur Forest division

Hosur FD in collaboration with the local NGO, Kenneth Anderson Nature Society conducted the Mammal Survey in the ranges of Hosur Forest Division namely – Anchetty, Urigam, Denkanikottai, Javalagiri, Krishnagiri, Rayakottai and Hosur. Volunteers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu participated in the synchronised survey. Each team with one or two volunteers and watcher/guard started on their pre-assigned beat in all ranges at 6.00 am exact so that no repeated data got recorded.

All volunteers underwent orientation program by the KANS range coordinators on the survey that covered the importance of conducting the survey, entering data during the survey, the survey methodology, the geography and history of the forests and the mammals in it, the do’s and don’t when in forest etc., The survey was divided into a 2 day event to collect direct and indirect evidence of the mammals.

On Saturday, 19th, the volunteers did a block count by walking in criss-cross fashion through the beat area in the morning and sat patiently by a waterhole to count the mammals in the evening. The next day, Sunday 20th, volunteers collected indirect evidences in the same beat area via block count strategy in the morning. They recorded all hoof/pug marks and carnivore scratch marks. Line transect method was followed to record the elephant dung in the evening.

Overall the survey went smoothly and the data collected so far has been encouraging. Almost all the ranges saw good activity by the elephants with one team in the Denkanikottai coming across a herd of 17 elephants. Healthy Leopard activity was observed. Significant numbers of Gaur, Chital, Sambar and others were observed.

Images from the mammal survey are uploaded here : https://picasaweb.google.com/surveyphotos

The following are the reports that appeared in the newspapers:
Bangalore Mirror : http://www.bangaloremirror.com/article/10/2011032820110328000229803984dc3a/What-did-you-spot-Elephant-or-dung.html
City Buzz : http://www.scribd.com/doc/52386766/CB-25-03-11-Page-12-13

One Day State Level Seminar on Urban Green Initiatives for Environment Teachers
& Kenneth Anderson Memorial Lecture, 2011
Date : Wednesday, 16th March 2011
Venue : MLA Academy of Higher Learning, 14th Cross, Malleswaram Bangalore 560003

Report by Jayaram Karkala

The programme started at 9.30 A.M. with the welcome address by the Principal Dr.Padmaja.
The official inauguration was done by lighting the lamp, and a Kannada song on Mother Earth.

All audience took the following Nature Pledge:
We, who have gathered here today, take a solemn pledge

To conserve and protect Mother Nature in all possible ways
To be compassionate towards all creations including fellow humans, animals, insects, plants, trees, rocks etc.
To conserve water and its resources.
To reduce the use of plastics & leather.
To recycle and reuse all nature resources as much as possible.
To reduce pollution in all forms.
To reduce carbon foot prints on our planet.

Jay, Secretary KANS spoke on KA and KANS .

Mr. B K Singh

Then Chief Guest Mr. B.K.Singh spoke on problems faced by Karnataka FD on man –animal conflict. He cited population growth and encroachment on jungles by people on the fringes of forests, as main the reason for such occurrences. He said that conflict of interest is there even in villages, where FD have spent lakhs of rupees for solar fencing. People have removed pockets of solar fences for their easy movement into forests for collection of firewood, honey etc. The elephants use this openings for raiding crops. He even stated that a recent experiment to relocate elephants from tea estates have failed after the elephants who were born in tea estates do not like forests and they come back to estates. Thus there are many problems, he said, unknown to public on man-animal conflicts. He cited that food crops like ragi etc should not be cultivated with in 5 kms of elephant corridors, to prevent elephant raiding crops.

Sri Suresh Heblikar

Kenneth Anderson Memorial Lecture was delivered by Sri Suresh Heblikar, who held the audience spell-bound by his oratory. His first subject was the loss of lakes in Bangalore. He said that he can show from records that 20 years ago all major lakes were connected together in with overflow systems. With the encroachment of real estate, all connections are cut and lakes have dried up. Even marsh at the edges of lakes was bio-diversity pockets in those days. With sand mafia’s activities, the lakes have disappeared. The next topic he mentioned was the influx of rural population to cities. The infrastructure requirements like water, power have reached exorbitant proportions, making it impossible for govt to provide them. He advocated basic needs of villages to be met, youth employment opportunities given in villages to reduce this influx. The third point he stated was that Tiger, being a glamorous animal, is being used by every conservationist in talks and plans. He insisted that saving bio-diversity should cover conservation of all animals, insects, birds etc, not the only just the tiger. His speech was well received by the audience.

Karthik JLR speaks

After a break, morning session started with session on Urban Ecology by Mr. Kartikeyan of JLR. He engrossed the students with his slide show and inimitable interesting interactive session. He told so many unknown facts about common insects, snakes, and rodents encountered every day by urban people. The audience, in future after this session, will see all urban insects, animals in a different perspective.

The next session was by Hasiru-Usiru team of Vinay Sreenivasa and Seshadri, with a slide show explained about trees of Bangalore and efforts taken by HasiruUsiru to protect through activism/appeals.

The next session was Shubha/ Karan of Biome- Solutions on Rain water harvesting. They explained in details various aspects, methods, and advantages of RWH.

A short film on KANS shown to the audience was much appreciated, as seen in feed back forms.

A nature quiz was conducted by KANS team of Girish/ Warrier. A prelim was done with 20 teams during lunch break, short listing 4 teams for the finals.

During Lunch break another short film on Sholas was shown to the audience.

Post lunch session started with ATREE team talking on Urban trees and their conservation. This topic was well received by the audience.

Nine teams presented papers for environment competition, and were judged by KANS team of Girish/Warrier/Nirmala.

quiz finals

The finals of Nature quiz was conducted in a very interesting manner with power point by KANS team of Warrier/Girish. The whole audience also enjoyed the quiz by participating and answering for questions which the finalists could not answer.

Feed back forms (designed by Girish-KANS) were collected back from all participants for analysis by the college authorities. They would inform us the feed back points in a few days. The successful, satisfactory Seminar ended with Vote of Thanks by Dr.Kalyani.

Synchronized Mammal Survey 2011

We have just received information from the Tamil Nadu Forest Department that the Synchronized Mammal Survey in Hosur Forest Division will be conducted on the 19th and 20th (Saturday and Sunday) of March 2011. They have requested our help and participation.

This is an excellent opportunity to explore and experience this vast forested area which we hope will soon be made a wildlife sanctuary. We request your participation to make this a successful survey.

How to Register

To register for the survey, kindly fill in and submit the following form:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDJpXzBHMlVQYlFneElJcXNFQzdud1E6MQ
(This is to avoid sending unnecessary emails to people in our volunteer database who will not be participating in this Mammal Survey)

Arrangements

Volunteers will have to report at the DFO’s Office, Near Cattle Farm, Mathigiri, Hosur on Friday, 18th March at 06:00 PM. The survey will conclude by 02:00 PM on Sunday, 20th March.

Volunteers will have to reach Mathigiri by themselves. Pick up and drops to transect points will be arranged by the Forest Department. However please do keep your own options in case you want to move around.

Volunteers will be accommodated in various FD guest houses and camps available in various ranges. Lady volunteers will be allotted ranges with the better guest house facilities.

Packed food will be arranged by the Forest Department.

We will send further information on arrangements, detailed programme and survey methods, documentation procedures etc to the people who register on the above link. If you have any queries, send it to melagirisurvey@gmail.com