Forest students visualising ‘Green world’, resolving man-animal conflicts
Adilabad: Students for the B.Sc Forestry course are visualizing the creation of a ‘green world’ with their field visits and coming close to the nature and learning about practical problems involved in the management of forests and wildlife.
The development of grasslands and eco-systems and management of flora and fauna at Penchikalpet Forest Range is giving great field experience to the final-year students of the Forestry course at FCRI (Forest Course and Research Institute), Mulugu, Telangana.
These students are also conducting a survey on the livestock in Gundavelli and other villages in Penchikalpet mandal and coming out with their own practical and feasible solutions to reduce livestock’s dependence on the forests for grass.
These students are also burning their midnight oil to develop an alternative mechanism to resolve the man-animal conflict that is going for the last two years in the Kagaznagar forest division, following the migration of tigers in the Komaram Bheem Asifabad division from the Tadoba Andhari tiger reserve of Maharashtra.
Altogether, these students are in the midst of a new environment for the last 10 days.
Nearly 16 students including 10 girls of FCRI got rare field- level experience on forests and the flora and fauna management as part of the fieldwork as part of their course.
Under the supervision of Penchikalpet FRO Satla Venugopal, these students visited various places in the forest ranges of Kagaznagar, Sirpur (T) , Bejjur Kagaznagar and Kawal Tiger Reserve.
Satla Venugopal said the local forest staff has clarified doubts raised by the students during their visits and explained the practical problems the forest department and staff encounter in forest and wildlife management.
He said these students will emerge as protectors of the forest and wildlife in the future if they are trained properly. He added that this kind of field-level experience at a tender age will give them their own perspectives.
Student Nasreen of FCRI, who is actively participating in the field visits, said it was a rare experience for them interacting with villages and watching the conservation of forests and wildlife efforts live.
Another student, Varun, said field visits give immense practical knowledge unlike classroom experience and added that nature gives a lot of knowledge if probed.
Notably, Suharsha Bhaskarla, student of B.Sc Forestry at FCRI got admission last year for PG course at the internationally reputed School of Forestry and Wildlife Biology in Auburn University, Alabama. The university waived her annual tuition fee and offered a monthly scholarship for her two-year course.
