MEE TR Web Portal

Introduction

Pilibhit Tiger Reserve is located in the terai region of Uttar Pradesh and consists of dense sal forests, tall alluvial grasslands, savannahs and impenetrable swamps. Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests, Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests, Seasonal Swamp Forests and Tropical Semi-evergreen Forests are the major forest types found in the reserve. The reserve is home to a rich diversity of 35 mammal species and 350 bird species. The tiger, leopard, sloth bear, swamp deer, hispid hare, honey badger, Bengal florican, Finn’s weaver and swamp francolin are the major wild animals of great conservation interest. The total area of the reserve is 730 km², inclusive of a 602 km² core zone. The buffer zone amounts to 127 km². Pilibhit is one of the crucial parts of the Terai Arc Landscape and nestles between Terai East division in the north, Royal Shukla Phanta NP in the north-east and Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Buffer Division in the sout-heast.

The Pilibhit forests were notified and reserved in 1879, and scientific forestry was initiated for the first time in 1893. For the ensuing 120 years, the forests were managed primarily for timber production. The area was notified as a wildlife sanctuary in February 2014, which was followed by the declaration of a tiger reserve in June 2014.

Piilbhit Tiger Reserve is located in the terai region of Uttar Pradesh and consists of dense sal forests and tall alluvial grasslands, savannahs and impenetrable swamps. Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests, Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests, Seasonal Swamp Forests and Tropical Semi-evergreen Forests are the major forest types found in the reserve. The reserve is home to a rich diversity of 35 mammal species and 350 bird species. The tiger, leopard, sloth bear, swampdeer, hispid hare, honey badger, Bengal florican, Finn’s weaver and swamp francolin are the major wild animals of great conservation interest. The total area of the reserve is 730 km², inclusive of a 602 km² core zone. The buffer zone amounts to 127 km². Pilibhit is one of the crucial parts of the Terai Arc landscape and nestles between Tarai East Division in the north, Royal Shukla Phanta NP in the north-east and Dudhwa Tiger Reserve Buffer Division in the south-east.

Consequently, the protection was upscaled by completely curbing the anthropogenic dependence of the fringe villages on the core zone. This was ensured by systematic patrolling using M-STrIPES, construction of 82 anti-poaching camps and watch towers, overhauling the protective infrastructure and training the field staff in wildlife identification, tracking, forensics, law and enforcement, etc. The tiger reserve administration has also done a SWOT analysis and identified principal threats injurious to the long-term survival of the wild animals. Meanwhile, actions oriented to settling many of these threats are in progress through robust planning. The location on the international border, flooding, fires and road hits have been identified as major threats. Anti-snare walks are conducted on the boundaries as well as other sensitive areas to protect wildlife. Allthe regions of the reserve, including the remote ones, are connected through wireless communication. Cutting edge technologies, including the use of drones, are employed for monitoring and protection. A state-of-the-art e-surveillance system has also been established at four sensitive places for 24-hour monitoring of large swaths of open areas. Joint patrolling is also conducted with the SSB, police, Nepal authorities of Shukla Phanta NP and Terai East Division of Uttarakhand to curb crime at vulnerable borders. Landscape-level conservation planning is done in coordination with Shukla Phanta NP and neighbouring forest divisions. To overhaul the administration, protect the tiger reserve and streamline the management, the post of Field Director was created on 28 June 2018, and the whole area of the reserve was put under the unified control of the FD in 2019. On 29 December 2022, Tarai Elephant Reserve was notified, and Pilibhit TR is a crucial part of it.

The reserve is in a position to abide with all four statutory requirements (legal delineation and notification of core and buffer areas; establishment of Tiger Conservation Foundation; development of Tiger Conservation Plan; constitution of a state-level Steering Committee under the chairmanship of the CM); and compliance with tripartite MoUs and three SoPs of NTCA (on straying of tiger in human dominated landscapes, tiger mortality and disposal of carcasses).

Habitat amelioration was initiated with proactive grassland management, wetland and waterhole development, weed eradication and fire protection. Sustainable scientific grassland management practices are now in place. Important corridors have been identified for the dispersal of the wildlife population within the reserve and to outside forest areas. The Garha-Lalpur and Lagga Bagga-Shukla Phanta corridors are the major ones and the action plan for the same has been formulated. Pilibhit Tiger Reserve has sent a proposal for the declaration of an eco-sensitive zone to the government. The success of these initiatives is evident from the 2.6-fold increase in tiger population in the reserve and the presentation of the international TX2 award to it for this unprecedented feat. The population has increased from 25 in 2014 to 65 in 2018. The populations of other major species of great conservation interest like the sloth bear, leopard, swamp deer, hog deer, honey badger, white-rumped vulture, cinereous vulture and red-headed vulture are also on the rise.

Scientific research to understand the habitat dynamics, wildlife populations, connectivity and corridors and individual species has been completed is the reserve. Other research is being conducted. Understanding the grassland habitat, grassland birds (Bengal florican), grassland distribution and plant community, ungulate density and development of vulture-safe zones are some of the important ones.

The increased wildlife populations, particularly of the big cats, has invited human–wildlife conflict in the reserve. To deal with it, active conflict mitigation plans are in place. A Rapid Response Team has been formed for quick actions. Since 2016, a total of eight big cat rescue operations have had seen the release of nine tigers and two leopards back to the wild. The rescue of a tigress from a rubber factory of Bareilly, in a difficult setting and challenging circumstances, is a great achievement for the reserve. Moreover, compensation is granted in all cases of human life loss as well as loss to property. Bagh-Mitras, an ingenious way to mitigate conflict, is a great achievement of the reserve. These voluntary community members help the department by providing information in time, controlling mobs and tracking animals. Proactively, 72 conflict-prone villages have also been identified. Further, solar fencing and chain-link fencing have been put in place over 65 km on the fringes to prevent big cat conflict as well as crop raiding. Loss of human life has been curtailed in the last 3 years, after reaching a peak in 2016–17.

Environment-friendly ecotourism, with no or minimal disturbance to wildlife and the habitat has also got a boost since 2014, and tourist numbers have increased by three times, from 7122 in 2019–20 to 18,745 in 2021–22. This has also provide employment to the youth of the fringe villages who operate as nature guides, drivers, souvenir shopkeepers, homestays owners, etc. To boost tourism and incorporate community involvement, eight EDCs have also been revived.

Management Strengths:

The area, which helps local soil and water conservation, is the catchment region for a number of rivers and tributaries. The very good tree cover and grasslands in the ecosystem prevent the rivers in the terai belt from shifting course. For villages in the command area in Lakhimpur Kheri and Hardoi districts, the Sharada barrage has significant irrigation and electrical potential.
The site, which is shaped like an inverted U in the north–south alignment and has multiple villages scattered around it.

Management Weaknesses:

The ISFR 2021 report indicates that the TR has lost more than 45 km² of forest cover in 10 years. Senior officers of the management suggest that the River Sharada has consumed these forest tracts. In the absence of any study, the perception of the management appears to be misplaced. During the visit, the team found that the culprits have not been brought to justice in several cases of cutting sal trees. Either they have not been arrested or the filing of the charge sheet in the court is delayed, leading to long pendency of cases.
The boundary pillars to demarcate the boundary of the forests against agricultural field are either missing or have not been regularly maintained. Agriculturists on the periphery have been slowly occupying the forest lands, making the boundary concave. This could also be one of the reasons for the loss of forest cover as reported in ISFR 2021. The encroachment in Barahi Range was reportedly by 25 families in the fourth MEE cycle. Now the families are reported to be 30. If the management cannot clear the encroachment, they must at least contain it.
The vacancy in the frontline staff (Forest Guards and Foresters) has been lingering for a long time. The observation was also made in the fourth MEE cycle. The state should recruit and train the staff to fill up the vacancies.
The Chief Wildlife Warden of Uttar Pradesh is not empowered to exercise administrative control over the management of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. It appears to be a unique case in the country, and the state government should set it right.
Movements of safari vehicles and stays of tourists are organized in a core area of Tiger Reserve. The directive from NTCA is to phase out tourism from the core area; the management has not taken appropriate steps in this regard.

Immediate Actionable Points:

Decadal change in forest cover. The decadal assessment of change in forest cover within Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR)by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun during the period between IFSR 2011 (2008–09 satellite data) and IFSR 2021 (2019–20 satellite data) was carried out primarily to assess the impact of various conservation measures and management interventions carried out during the period. As per the change analysis matrix, the forest cover during IFSR 2011 was 610.45 km² and in IFSR 2021 it was 565.20 km². The overall loss was 45.25 km² (-7.41%).

As per the above data, without going into the details of the areas of change in the canopy class (>10%), there is an urgent need to verify the locations, where a loss of 45.25 km² has been reported by the acquisition of the data from FSI, and analyse the same in the spatial domain and take corrective measures. It is also relevant to mention that the loss of area due to the meandering course of ‘The Sharda River’ over the decade is not very significant and therefore, there is an urgent necessity to check the accuracy of the FSI data for ruling out any spread of agricultural cultivation in the recorded forest area.

The forest consolidation could also be carried out by the construction of boundary cairns, preferably, at an interval of 50 m (at curves) or 100 m (straight boundary) by prioritizing vulnerable areas abutting villages.
Tiger population dynamics. As per the summary report titled ‘Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India, 2018’ (NTCA, TR No./2019/05), the number of tigers was increasing at a rate of 6% per annum in India when consistently sampled areas were compared from 2006 to 2018. However, the data in respect of Pilibhit (PTR) as compared with the previous enumeration depicts an increase of almost 160% in a 4-year cycle, with 25 tigers (2014) and 65 tigers (2018), whereas, in the whole state, the increase with reference to the previous cycle was by 48%. Also, the state had not shown any increase in the previous two estimations (2014 and 2010).

It would be worthwhile to plot the data of the last four enumerations in the spatial domain for understanding the skewed increase during the 2018 estimation and to substantiate the same by establishing prey–predator relationships and habitat considerations.

Besides, the NTCA report states that eight tigers were found outside the forest habitat in non-forested areas of the tiger reserve (possibly sugarcane fields). This population could be a potential threat and critical for any future human–tiger conflict in the area and needs to be spatially located and monitored with the help of WII or any organization with resources.
Maintaining prey–predator relationship. As per the report titled ‘Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India, 2018’, the chital was found to be the most abundant ungulate, with a density of 40.71/km², followed by the nilgai (12.78/km²) and wild pig (12.43/km²). Other deer species like the sambar, hog deer and swamp deer have low densities (1–3/km²) in spite of the tiger reserve having nearly 11% of the area under the grasslands and marshy patches, implying that such populations within the reserve are isolated by intervening agricultural lands and the canal network within the horse-shoe shaped forestland and perhaps by the loss of connective corridors, which could also lead to local extirpation. The prey–predator relationship also becomes highly critical when the chital population exhibits an increase of 4% and the tiger population almost 160% in the last 4-year estimation cycle (2014–18).

Therefore, for maintaining a healthy prey–predator relationship and ensuring landscape and forest spatial heterogeneity, acquisition of agricultural land in the Garah-Lalpur-Deoria corridor is essential. Propagation of tree cultivation as part of the agro-forestry component under an eco-sensitive zone is also important in such areas.

Also, animals straying out in the agricultural lands are susceptible to poaching and therefore all efforts may be envisaged in the development of an intelligence network besides the erection of barriers (chain-link fences, solar fences) and involvement of the NGOs in wildlife protection.
Managing grasslands. The tall grasslands in PTR form an integral part of the forestland. Biological values and ecological functions of the grasslands including complexities of various management practices and their effects on grassland values and functions are poorly understood. However, several studies on different faunal species strongly advocate for a mosaic of habitats with cut, uncut, burned and unburned patches for the persistence of diverse faunal species.

Therefore, experimental trials are needed to understand the effect of different burning regimes in combination with treatments viz. grass cut, grass cut and removed, grass harrowed, simple burned, and no burn (control) blocks (five such blocks of 100 m × 50 m each) specifically aimed at knowing whether there is an increase in the dry season forage for ungulates. Trials aimed at understanding whether harrowing and burning will simulate processes which keep tall grass down when people are allowed to graze livestock and cut grass are needed. This practice may provide more palatable forage species, but it needs to be investigated.

Besides, studies on Bengal floricans reveal that the floricans start arriving in the grasslands after burning is completed in February. The breeding season extends from early March to end June, with the peaks in April–May. Thus, late burning of the grasslands and particularly harrowing of the ground grasslands during the breeding season are considered detrimental to the floricans and other nesting birds, viz., swamp partridges. Hence, staggered cutting and burning would create different patches, providing varying forage and cover conditions.
Managing specific habitats. There is a need to manage key wetland and grassland habitat and to recognise the importance of fruit-bearing trees in wildlife areas. There is also a necessity to recognise the ecosystem and wildlife value of defective and dead wood (snags and down logs) instead of their value in salvaging them as such trees. And snags provide key cover and foraging habitats for cavity excavating birds and secondary cavity nesters (woodpecker holes). Down logs are also key habitats for invertebrates, reptiles and small mammals. So, manipulative management practices need to be carefully considered in light of the ecology and wildlife values of PTR.

Hence, as a management intervention, the standing eucalyptus trees in the wetlands/grasslands may be removed on priority basis; if not, the same could be manipulated into snag or den trees, with a minimum of 10 trees per hectare for enriching the wildlife habitat of PTR.
Strengthening in-situ conservation across trans-boundary landscape. Though India and Nepal share a long border in the terai belt, this area that was once forested is now largely agricultural, and the wildlife is restricted to remnant forest patches in this landscape. The habitat connectivity also has been severely compromised and the tigers exist as one wholly-connected population in the PAs of Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve, Nepal and Lagga-Bagga Block of Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, India. There are large differences in the tiger and prey densities within and between the sites, which could be due to the influence of habitat (forest-grassland mosaics and riparian areas) on the distribution and density of tigers and their prey and on account of anthropogenic pressures, including road development.

Advocacy and policy interventions are required to enable conditions for maintaining corridors and connectivity in the trans-boundary landscape besides strategic restoration and management of key habitats and strengthening of protection measures. To achieve the same, periodic coordination meetings would be required between the officials of the two protected areas. This needs to be facilitated by MoEF&CC and NTCA.
Threats from feral cattle. Wildlife-related zones are a diverse and complex issue. The presence of feral cattle in PTR poses a grave threat to wild animals as they could be carriers of various viral, bacterial or parasitic diseases, besides competing for the limited grass resources. Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is one of the important transboundary diseases, and it is extremely difficult to control. It is suggested that preventive measures be geared towards improved disease surveillance by spatially locating such feral/domestic cattle in PTR using improved diagnostic techniques, vector control and implementation of restrictions on anthropogenic animal movement, concomitant with public enlightenment campaigns and behavioural change.
Strengthening ecotourism with emphasis on bird tourism. Ecotourism can be a vehicle for community-based conservation. PTR has a controlled ecotourism plan, well within the carrying capacity and the same should not be expanded any further. However, the parking lot at Chuka Ecotourism Centre can have wooden signage for sensitizing the tourists when they are embarking.
- PTR also harbors 326 species of bird, and therefore birdwatching tourism in PTR has a high potential to improve the financial and environmental well-being of local communities, educate them about the value of biodiversity and create incentives for the successful preservation of natural areas. In this regard, birdwatchers form a large group and are, on average, well-educated and committed, making them ideal eco-tourists for community-based conservation. It is suggested that a checklist of the birds of PTR be developed and the same provided for developing birdwatching tourism. Binoculars and spotting scopes are to be developed and a library is to be developed at Chuka Centre.
- The conflicts with carnivores keep the management on the toe. Rescuing the animal and its release/bringing it to captivity has to be taken up fairly frequently. It is necessary to fill up frontline posts and also train and prepare them for any eventuality.

Download Section:

File Description	Download

Pilibhit Tiger Reserve

Introduction

Management Strengths:

Management Weaknesses:

Immediate Actionable Points:

Download Section: