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Introduction

Under Project Tiger, Dampa Wildlife Sanctuary was declared a tiger reserve in the year 1994. In accordance with the Wild Life (Protection) Act, an area of 988 km² (consisting of 500 km² as the core/Critical Tiger Habitat and 488 km² as the buffer area) was notified as Dampa Tiger Reserve (vide notification no. B.12011/14/2009-FST dated 16 March 2011). Subsequently, in 2018 an area of Serhmun village with an extent of 45 km² (earlier notified as the buffer) was added to the core, increasing the area of the core to 545 km².

Dampa TR (DTR) is located in Mamit District of western Mizoram. It is surrounded by the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh to the west, the Indian state of Tripura (Mamit and Kawrthah forest divisions) to the north and Mamit Forest Division to the south and east. The area lies in the Lushai Hills, a series of parallel, north–south-oriented ranges allied to the Rakhine Yoma Arc. The reserve lies between longitudes 92° 16′ 08″ E and 92° 27′ 41″ E and between latitudes 23° 18′ 27″ N and 23° 43′ 50″ N. The Tropic of Cancer passes through Dampa TR, near the Range Office at Phuldungsei.

The core area is under the control of the Field Director, but the buffer zone is not under the control of the FD.The control of the buffer is vested for part of the areas of Mamit Range, Marpara Range and Saithah Range in Mamit Forest Division and for Kawrtethawveng Range in Kawrthah Forest Division. The headquarters of Dampa TR are located at West Phaileng. The distance from the nearest airport, Aizawl is 60 km and the nearest rail station, Bairobi, is 80 km away. The core area is divided into two ranges, namely Teirei Wildlife Range, with its headquarters at Teirei, and Phuldungsei Wildlife Range, with its headquarters at Phuldungsei. There are eight beats (four beats under each range) in the core area. In addition, there are 20 APCs, which are manned by the Tiger Protection Force (constituted by engagement of casual workers), patrolling the core area on a rotational basis. During visit of the team Sh. Lalnunzira was holding the additional charge of the FD in addition to the charge of DCF, Wildlife Mizoram.

Dampa TR lies at the tri-junction of Bangladesh and two Indian states viz., Mizoram and Tripura. It is the largest protected area (PA) in the state of Mizoram, occupying 4.68% of Mizoram’s geographical area. The old core of the TR is inviolate, being free from human habitation. It has a single and probably an isolated population of the tiger. The picturesque reserve is interspersed with precipitous hills, sparkling streams and rivulets, and dominated by moist deciduous forests in the lower reaches while a mixture of tropical wet evergreen and tropical semi-evergreen forests occur in rest of the reserve. The altitudinal variation is from 50 m to 1095 m, and heavy precipitation is received, with an annual average rainfall of approximately 2000 mm to 2,500 mm. This high diversity of habitats helps comprehend why Dampa supports such an astonishingly diverse flora and fauna.

According to Champion and Seth’s (1968) classification, the vegetation/forest types of Dampa TR are (1) Tropical Evergreen and Semi-evergreen Forests (1Bc3 and 2Bc2); (2) Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests (3C/C3b and 3C2S1); and (3) Sub-montane Type (2B1b). There are wet evergreen and semi-evergreen forests, orchid areas and two famous bamboo species of Mizoram, Melocanna baccifera (Mautak) and Dendrocalamus longispathus.

The TR has a large number of important endangered and threatened species. The endangered species (CR/EN) in the TR are the tiger, dhole, elephant, western hoolock gibbon, Phayre’s/spectacled leaf monkey, Bengal slow loris, fishing cat, Chinese pangolin, Asian brown tortoise, and red flying squirrel. The vulnerable (VU) species include the leopard, clouded leopard, gaur, stump-tailed macaque, northern pig-tailed macaque, capped langur, Asiatic golden cat, Malayan sun bear, Asiatic black bear, binturong, hog badger, king cobra, Burmese python and small clawed otter. A survey of the faunal diversity indicates that there are 242 species of bird in the TR.

DTR has a single and probably the only isolated population of the tiger in the region. With its completely inviolate core habitat, Dampa has a potential for not only the tigers but scores of other equally important species. Along with the core and buffer areas, the adjoining area of DTR is equally important for long-term tiger conservation in this landscape. There are possibilities of establishing connectivity between the core area of DTR and the adjoining areas such as Thorangtlang Wildlife Sanctuary (TWLS), which has an area of 198 km². TWLS has natural habitat suitable for tigers, co-predators and prey. This extension is important to accommodate the spillover population of tigers, co-predators and prey, and TWLS can be considered as the satellite core of DTR. Eco-tourism is almost non-existent in TR.

Management Strengths:

The initially notified core area of 500 km² is completely inviolate. The newly (2018) added area of 45 km² of the core has also almost become inviolate after the relocation of 229 families (only nine families are to be relocated).
Dampa TR is a part of the north-eastern hill region landscape, contiguous with the with Chittagong Hill Tract region of Bangladesh. It is located at a unique junction of the Indian, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese bio-geographical realms. This landscape is also a part of the Indo-Burma Global Biodiversity Hotspot, an Endemic Bird Area (EBA) and one of the Terrestrial Eco-regions of the World.
The picturesque reserve is interspersed with precipitous hills, sparkling streams and rivulets and dominated by moist deciduous forests in the lower reaches, while a mixture of tropical wet evergreen and tropical semi-evergreen forests is found in the rest of the reserve. The altitudinal variation is from 50 m to 1095 m and heavy precipitation is received, with an annual average rainfall of approximately 2000 mm to 2500 mm. This high diversity of habitats helps in comprehending why Dampa supports such an astonishingly diverse flora and fauna.
DTR is gifted with a very rich floral/faunal diversity which is still unexplored. Out of the 15 primate species in India, eight are found in Dampa. It includes the western hoolock gibbon, one of the world’s 25 most endangered primate species. The endangered species (IUCN’s CR/EN) include the tiger, dhole, elephant, western hoolock gibbon, Phayre’s/spectacled leaf monkey, Bengal slow loris, fishing cat, Chinese pangolin, Asian brown tortoise and red flying squirrel. The vulnerable (VU) ones are the leopard, clouded leopard, gaur, stump-tailed macaque, northern pig-tailed macaque, capped langur, Asiatic golden cat, Malayan sun bear, Asiatic black bear, binturong, hog badger, king cobra, Burmese python and small-clawed otter. A total of 242 species of bird have been identified so far.
There is no grazing pressure due to the absence of livestock in the buffer areas.
The roadless wilderness area with excellent primary and regenerating secondary forests.
The boundaries of the reserve are well-defined, and there are no conflicts over the protected area’s land.
Presence of perennial water sources such as springs and nallahs and many pools of water in dry stream beds.

Management Weaknesses:

Out of a total of 37 field positions, 20 posts (54%) are lying vacant. Against the sanctioned posts of 15 Forest guards and 10 Foresters, only four persons and one person, respectively, are in position (vacancy of 80 %). Apart from the unusually high vacancy, the number of sanctioned field posts of the core area is very low. With a core area of 545 km², the sanction of two ranges and eight beats (with sizes ranging from 39 km² to 54 km² ) is well below the standard norms. The proposed reorganization to five ranges and 30 beats as proposed in TCP-Core 13.4 appears to be rational. Severe understaffing is the greatest weakness in the DTR management.
To overcome the severe shortage of staff, about 176 casual workers have been employed and named the TPF (Tiger Protection Force). But the mode of their deployment in APCs is only for 7 days, and moving them out to non-patrolling duties is not desirable for efficient smart patrolling. These TPF staff members have not been provided with gadgets, equipment and devices essential for effective patrolling due to their changing nature of duties. Consequently, all the devices are lying in range offices instead of in APCs.
There are very few incentives for the staff and little capacity-building. Modules have not been prepared for the training to be carried out as proposed for Human Resource Development and anti-poaching/patrolling.
Lack of ecological information on the key threatened species including the tiger, co-predators, prey and other plants and animals of the reserve.
Very small tiger population—in the recent estimation, only one tiger was captured in the camera traps.
Extremely difficult terrain and lack of road network, including bridle/foot tracks to patrol interior areas.
The forest areas within the buffer area of the reserve are still not within the unified command of the Field Director, which adversely affects the buffer area management.
The feeling of alienation by the local people due to conservation-related restrictions has not been alleviated because the eco-development/JFM and eco-ecotourism activities are extremely inadequate.
Eco-tourism has been completely neglected in the TR, and as a result of poor eco-tourism infrastructure, such a beautiful area is hardly frequented by tourists.

Immediate Actionable Points:

The vacant positions should be filled up immediately.
The patrolling equipment like GPS, binocular, walkie-talkie, smart patrol devices and first-aid kits should be made available as per norms to all patrolling teams along with all standard camp amenities. Lighting of all camps by electricity or solar power should be done as a top priority.
The personal kits and camp equipment are meagre and not as per standard norms. The essential personal amenities for staff in anti-poaching and observation camps like mosquito nets, daos (machetes), torch lights, water bottles, back packs and measuring tapes etc. as per standard norms should be provided.
There are no vehicles for Range Officers, which is a cause of concern keeping in view the need to patrol the area, especially in the rainy season, when the road conditions are bad.
The wireless sets and equipment have become totally defunct. In the absence of wireless communication, the staff are forced to communicate using mobiles. The network in the TR is very limited. Efforts should be made to revive the wireless network at the earliest.
Proper training records for all training programmes should be maintained both module-wise (in one register) and person-wise (in another register) so that the information for any person or for any particular module can be retrieved easily.
The amount of funds allocated to the TR are not adequate. Besides the limited fund allocation, the late release/sanction of funds has created problems for timely commencement of the works, and often the funds remain unutilized in the year, resulting in non-implementation of many essential works proposed in the year. Hence, all concerned should try to remove the delay in fund allotment and provide the TR the required funds for effective management.
Eco-development and eco-tourism programmes should be taken up in mission mode. Various activities of IGA and SHG programmes need to be carried out by leveraging funds from the district and other sources for addressing livelihood issues and providing alternatives.
The guidelines for the display of work details with year and cost at all work sites as well as maintenance of year-wise photo albums of all works should be rigorously complied with.
M-STrIPES, which has not been implemented so far, should be implemented without any further delay.
The TR has to regularly carry out Phase IV estimation every year. The TR must develop its capability of making in-house the analysis of data by utilizing the service of the Biologist who has been deployed in the TR. His services should also be utilized for assessment of the carrying capacity as well as for monitoring the populations and habitats of key endangered and threatened species including the tiger. NGOs should be involved in tiger estimation as per NTCA guidelines.
In the newly added Serhmun village (added to the core from the buffer), out of 238 families, nine families have not yet opted for relocation. The decision of the Chief Secretary’s meeting to expedite the process of their voluntary relocations should be implemented. Similarly, families who are trying to stay after accepting money should be evicted as per the decision without any delay. The vacated sites must be ecologically restored.
A security audit and threat assessment and preparation of threat maps should be carried out expeditiously following the NTCA-circulated protocols. Listing and prioritization of key biological resources should also be done.
Threat from poaching is high in the TR. The TR managers should make serious efforts to apprehend all the offenders and ensure that they are punished after a successful prosecution. The investigating staff should be specially trained in techniques of detection, investigation, collection of proper evidence and collection of forensic reports mechanisms for regular monitoring of court cases at appropriate levels should be established and in important cases, engagement of special counsels should be done. Rigorous punishment of offenders is always the best deterrence.
Rapid Response Teams with proper training and necessary equipment should be in place to deal with emergent HWC situations.
The TR should maintain a complaint register showing the logs of complaints received, enquired into and disposed of.
Written orders should be issued on the complaint handling and disposal system including intimation to the complainant. Suggestion registers should be made available at public places for receiving feedback from visitors.
Proper records of the execution of annual fire prevention operations, extent of fires, assessment of fire damage, the monitoring and reporting system adopted and preparation of fire maps and fire-fighting measures taken should be maintained without fail.

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Dampa Tiger Reserve

Introduction

Management Strengths:

Management Weaknesses:

Immediate Actionable Points:

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