Summer blues overcome: DFO

Kurnool: Forest officials in Atmakur division, forming part of Nallamala range, claim sucess in tiding over summer blues of controlling straying of animals into habitats for water.

DFO Sambangi Venkatesh said "We could successfully combat water scarcity and stop animals straying out. This also helped in controlling fire incidents and habitat improvement including protection."  

Solar-powered borewells, saucer pits, and even filling tanks with tractors helped animals quench their thirst, said the DFO. “Protection of wildlife, forest fire control, anthropogenic pressures particlulary from pilgrims, scarcity of water were major challenges faced in the management of wildlife,” Venkatesh said.

He said with the meticulous planning and integrated approach with a systemic and scientific base, management of wildlife in Atmakur division could successfully be achieved in the forest areas this year.  

Though there is a limitation on staff availability and presence of more number of vacancies in the division, he said interventions like  patrollings, using 23 base camps, three strike forces, five check posts, one river party, dog squad, anti-poaching squads and wildlife protection and rescue went on. More than 150 protection watchers belonging to Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes are employed and engaged in the Protection.

The DFO said during 2018-19, about  177 km of fire lines and 114 km of view lines are taken up in the fire prone areas to prevent and control fire. Because of the extreme temperatures and low ground waters this year and increase in the sensitivity of the satellites, the number of fire points detected  increased but the damage is reduced because of the real time monitoring of forest fires and decrease in the response and reaction times by the fire fighting parties deployed at Range level.

The Atmakur Wildlife Management Division has to deal with the enormous pressure from the pilgrim movements during Mahasivarathri and Ugadi festival. More than 10 Lakh pilgrims pass through the forests by foot and make the condition more vulnerable and sensitive for wildlife protection.

By engaging special teams controlling and guiding the movement of the pilgrims in a defined pathwas and by creating awareness and education through continuous dissemination  of info on destruction of the forests and wildlife, littering and plastic pollution could be reduced drastically.

Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, the largest in the country,  spread in four divisions in AP is endowed with rich biodiversity.

The summers register temperatures more than 450C and with meager rainfall of less than 700mm.  Protection of wildlife, forest fire control,anthropogenic pressures particlulary from pilgrims, scarcity of water and

The Tiger Reserve is characterized with mostly dry deciduous forests, steep slopes and deep valleys. These difficult terrains make the job of management of the forests much challenging. This year the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh knowing all these challenges planned very well in advance on scientific terms following a grid approach and taking the help of Satellite Data and Global Positioning Systems.