PALNI HILLS CONSERVATION COUNCIL 11th Annual Report - 1995 - 96 This is the 11th year of the councils effort in Safe Guarding the flora and fauna of the Palni Hills, and initiating ecodevelopment projects. This years Executive Committee consisted of the following members: 1. Mr. R. Kannan President 2. Mrs. Pippa Mukherjee Secretary 3. Mr. C. Jeyakaran Treasurer 4. Fr. K.M. Matthew Vice-President 5. Mr. Navroz Mody Vice-President 6. Mrs. Girija Viraraghavan Joint Secretary 7. Mr. J. Nath Executive Committee Member 8. Mr. M.S. Viraraghavan " 9. Mr. Israel Bhooshi " 10. Mr. Jean Pouyet " 11. Mrs. Tara Murali " This year the Executive Committee met 11 times since the last Annual General Body Meeting which was held on 30th June 95. Membership: The total membership of the Council as on 31st March 1996 is as follows: 1. Life Members - 130 2. Annual Members - 52 3. Institutional Members - 2 ------- Total 184 ------- Here we present the activities of the Council during the year 1995-96 and the Statement of Audited Accounts. The Council initiates eco-restoration activities through Field Centres in different Watersheds in the Palni Hills. Following is the description of various Field Centres and their activities. 1. UPPER PALNIS FIELD CENTRES Kodaikanal: The tree nursery has been functioning in our registered office premises since 1989. This centre is doing pioneering work in collecting seeds of highland montane shola species and propagating them. At any time this nursery stocks over 30 species of native shola trees. Grafted varieties of fruit trees, and tree species from similar biotopes from the Himalayas are also available. This nursery mainly caters to the public with a view to increase diversity of tree species and strives to keep urban Kodaikanal evergreen. Kodaikanal Lake: The Council has been trying to save the lake from eutrophication for the last decade. Despite various legal and other initiatives by the council the condition of the lake is deteriorating fast. Fish kills are becoming common due to oxygen depletion and water plants are booming due to nutrient enrichment, pollution and heavy sedimentation. The Council has been conducting an awareness programme among the Kodai School students to enlighten them on the fast decline in lake water quality. A volunteer student water quality monitoring programme has been initiated. Students from Nine Schools have participated in this programme. The Council acknowledges the co-operation extended by the Boat Club Kodaikanal. Beekeeping: There are two Apiaries at our tree nursery in Kodaikanal and Vattakanal. GUNDUPATTI CENTRE The centre is located in the kudhirayar watershed and has been functioning since 1993. Three High Altitude tree nurseries are catering to the needs of small farmers who have been recently assigned lands for agriculture. Bench terracing the land to prevent soil erosion has been initiated. 2. MIDDLE PALNIS SIRUVATTUKKADU KOMBAI This enclave is located on the North Eastern slopes in the Parappalar watershed above Oddanchatram. This centre has been working since 1991 to protect the habitat of the endangered Grizzled Giant Squirrel. Ecodevelopment work among the indigenous tribals bas been an equally important activity at this centre. Adult literacy classes intiated by the council in two hamlets are in progress. The council has helped dig two protected drinking water wells for the tribals resident in these hamlets. A tree nursery supplies farmers with multipurpose tree species to stock their lands with perennial tree crops. An Experimental Apiary is functioning to select bee colonies of the genus Apis cerana indica that are resistant to the Thai Sac Brood Virus. KOLLANGARAYAR CENTRE This is located in the Amburuvi block on the Kollangarayar above Periyakulam. This is a Paliyar tribal settlement where each family has been assigned 1 ha. of land. The Council conducted a Participatory Rural Appraisal exercise in this settlement. Based on the findings a tree nursery to improve the lands of the Paliyars has been started. The council is providing inputs with suitable seedlings to bring the land of the tribals under permanent tree cover. PATLANKADU CENTRE Located in the Maruthanadhi watershed this is one of the older hill settlements inhabited by Mannadiars. It has a nursery which stocks coffee seedlings, rooted pepper cuttings and shade trees seedlings for supply to small farmers in that area. This centre has an Experimental Apiary and maintains about 30 colonies of Apis cerana indica. From these selection for resistance against Thai Sac brood virus is in progress. SEMMADIOOTHU CENTRE This is a tribal village located by the Kallar Reserve Forest on the banks of the river Kodaganar. The Pulayar are the main beneficiaries of this centre. The council maintains a nursery to provide the tribals with coffee seedlings, rooted pepper cuttings and multipurpose shade trees for planting lands assigned to them. The council also maintains a Shola Conservation Apiary at this centre which is to promote swarms of Apis cerana indica in the forests thus increasing the number of feral colonies. 3. FOOTHILL CENTRES ATHOOR CENTRE Located at the Kamaraj Sagar Dam across the Kodaganar river, as it enters the plains, this centre is about 3 km from Athoor town and has been functioning since 1989. It caters to the needs of the farmers in the area for multipurpose tree seedlings. During the past year it has distributed about 25,000 tree seedlings to farmers who own lands at the foothills bordering the reserve forests. The nursery is located on land provided by the Dindigul Municipality for the purpose. This centre has an Experimental Apiary and apart from selection of virus resistant colonies, it has also supplied healthy colonies to farmers in the area, who are interested in beekeeping. At present this apiary maintains about 25 colonies in farmers fields to popularise beekeeping among them. VIRUVEEDU - SHANTHIPURAM CENTRE Situated close to the Vaigai river about 1 km from the bridge across the river at Kannapatti, this centre operates from 10 acres of land owned by the council. The centre has taken up tree planting in wastelands belonging to small farmers in 30 acres of land. It has also supplied 30,000 seedlings of multipurpose trees to farmers for planting as shelterbelts in marginal lands. Further the centre has given grafted fruit trees as subsidised cost to farmers with irrigation facilities. The centre grows fodder using sewage water from the Viruveedu village in 2 acres of the 10 acres owned by the council. The fodder is supplied to farmers at cost to encourage stall feeding milch animals. The tree nursery at present stocks about 40,000 tree seedling for supply to farmers in the coming season. The centre also has a good water supply through a borewell and grows bamboo in four acres of land with irrigation. An experimental Apiary has been set up in the Vaigai river basin where coconut and banana are the dominant crops, to familiarise farmers with the potential for beekeeping in this area. At present the centre maintains 10 colonies of Apis cerana indica. KUDHIRAYAR CENTRE The Kudhirayar tree growing centre is situated 23km away from the temple town of Palani, on the banks of the Kudhirayar at the recently built dam across the river. The centre is located on the land leased from the Public Works Department for the purpose since 1989. It maintains a tree nursery to benefit the small farmers of the area. During the past year the centre also operated two sub-nurseries at Kallapuram and Andipatti to cater to the needs of farmers in those areas. From these three nurseries about 40,000 multipurpose tree seedlings and 1200 grafted fruit trees were distributed to farmers at subsidised cost. At Andipatti the wastelands belonging to resource poor farmers were planted with multipurpose tree seedlings during the monsoon season of 1995. But the severe drought that affected this region has limited the extent of afforestation efforts. This centre also maintains an Experimental Apiary for selecting resistant strains of Apis cerana indica. The apiary is looked after by a member of the Paliyar tribe resident in this area. The centre also runs an adult literacy class for the Paliyar settlement. GENGUVARPATTI ENVIRONMENT CENTRE The P H C C environment centre is located on the Batlagundu Kodaikanal ghat road as one climbs up the ghat section. The council purchased lands measuring 20 acres in 1992, with the idea of developing an Environmental Centre. An extent of five acres has been developed as an arboretum and it has been named as THE REUBEN ARBORETUM in memory of the donor. Around 4000 tree seedlings of 106 varieties have been planted here. A tree nursery has been functioning since 1992, around 30,000 seedlings have been raised and distributed to interested farmers near the reserve forest. Fruit trees have been planted in about 4 acres of land with the idea of raising grafted trees for the future. The centre hopes to demonstrate proper landuse models for the foothills, and environment friendly architechture, alternative energy options and serve as a debating centre for raising various issues of ecological importance facing the Palni Hills. KADAVAKURICHI JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT PROJECT This project was started in 1988 around the Kadavakurichi reserve forest adjoining Batlagundu. The project area covers 45 sq.kms around this reserve forest. The council runs five Community Centres in the five villages most dependent on the hillock, namely Veelinayakkanpatti, Kombaipatti, Pudur, Milagaipatti and Mallanampatti. Evening study centres are organised for school children and dropouts and around 300 children are benefitted. Besides five womens sanghams with 120 members have been formed. Village planning committees have been organised with the idea of development of watersheds by these committees. The council also runs four nurseries in respective number of watersheds. These cater to the needs of farmers who are keen to afforest their wastelands at the foothills of Kadavakurichi. Negotiations are going on with the Forest Department to form a Kadavakurichi Joint Forest Management Board. The government in principle has accepted this concept and we are awaiting the new government's policy decision in this matter. The council hopes that this will be a test case for implementing similar joint forest management programmes in other areas of the Palni Hills. ODDUKKAM TREE SEED CENTRE This is the place of the councils' field activity started in 1987. The Tree Seed Centre is 5 km from Dindigul town at the foothills of Sirumalai Hills. The Seed Centre started functioning in 1990 and has since been collecting, processing and distributing seeds for over a hundered variety of trees. The Tree Seed Centre is almost self sufficient in its efforts to make it a viable self sustaining activity. The tree nursery there suppliers over 75 species of seedlings to all interested in tree planting. The council is trying to find funds to upgrade the activities of the Tree Seed Centre. 4. FIELD STUDIES MACROINVERTEBRATES - As water quality indicators The council has been studying water quality using analytical methods in different watersheds of the Palni Hills. Further we have in the past year are working to identify BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS, these are macroinvertebrates which tolerate different levels of pollution, and oxygen levels in water. With excellent assistance from Aquatic Entomology Department of Madura College Madurai we have identified specimens of Stoneflies, Caddisflies and Damsellflies in three watersheds of Palni Hills. At present two researchers are working in the field to formulate a key for the macroinvertebrates' identification. The key will help in preparing River Purity Index for various streams that flow out of the Palni Hills. We will use the key to teach concepts in water quality to students in the coming months. FUELWOOD STUDY The use of wood by industries was to identify large consumers of firewood who definitely have a very negative impact on tree cover on the land. Brick klins situated around the foothills are the largest consumers of fuelwood. The process seems to be on the increase as more and more people opt for burnt bricks to build their houses. The data gathered is being stored for reference and analysis. This will be updated and the changes towards use of wood in brick kilns will be studied in detail. Next to brick kilns TYRE RETREADING UNITS appear to be voracious consumers of firewood to produce process steam. Our studies indicate that to retread a tyre more than 25 kgs of firewood are used up! Hence motoring on retreaded tyres surely must have a negative impact on tree cover over land surface. URBAN INDICATORS - Kodaikanal Data was collected in colloboration with Madras Institute of Development Studies with respect to the urban settlement of Kodaikanal. All the data was collected from secondary sources and the same indicate the gross inadequacy of the basic amenities that are available for the rapidly booming tourist population. The study was undertaken as per the recommendations of the Government of India for selected class II towns category into which Kodaikanal is classified. WILDLIFE SURVEY The council has a long term objective to establish the elephant corridor linking the Palnis and the Periyar National Park in the Cardammom Hills in Kerala. In co-operation with the Kerala Forest Department, the council has participated in a Tiger Census at the Periyar National Park, and a Nilgiri Tahr Census at the Eravikulam National Park. We plan to conduct a similar Nilgiri Tahr Census in the Palni Hills later this year. 5. LEGAL MATTERS With respect to legal matters pursued by the P H C C since April 1995 considerable progress has been made on the Pleasant Stay hotel case. In April last year a two judge bench in Madras High Court ordered that the 5 additional floors of the hotel raised in excess of the sanctioned plan be demolished. It was also directed that a list of violators of the Master Plan be drawn up by the Township authorities pending further action. This action has not been taken and violators continue to build unauthorised structures unabated. The hoteliers appeal was quashed at the Apex Court and the Madras High Court was asked to clarify which of the 5 floors of the hotel should be demolished. In September the court ordered the top 5 floors to be demolished. Todate only one floor has been removed. 6. BEE CONFERENCE In our effort to revive the Asian Hive bee, Apis cerana indica, we are organising an international workshop to save the native bee. Expert beekeepers are being invited to participate in the event to give a boost to beekeeping at our hills, by offering their experience in tackling the Thai Sac Brood Virus that is affecting our bees. The workshop is made possible by support from Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm. This will be held at Kodaikanal from June 15th to 19th 1996. 7. NETWORKING As part of its strategy of linking up with national and international NGOs working with similar policies the council has become a member of the FUTURE EARTH INTERNATIONAL NETWORK. At Kodaikanal it also hosted the first South East Asian network members meeting in February 1996. Further through numerous contacts and visits of students and environmentalists, a friends group named Friends of Palni Hills has been formed in Sweden. 8. CONCLUSION The council during the past year has operated 18 nurseries strategically located in the various watersheds of the Palni Hills. A total of 7 lakhs seedlings of over 100 species have been raised, by the 60 nursery workers employed in our nurseries. Due to the failure of the Northeast Monsoon during 1995 only 3 lakhs tree seedlings have been planted benefiting 750 farmers. Despite vagaries of nature, the council is moving forward to increase the tree cover in the Palni Hills. We are sure that the members will appreciate the councils efforts at preserving the flora and fauna of the Palni Hills during the past year. This has been possible through the efforts of the dedicated staff of 30 people who share the councils Philosophy of nature conservation. Our sincere thanks to all of them. The council is greatful for the excellent cooperation provided by the Forest Departments of Madurai and Dindigul Anna Districts in its activities aimed at preserving existing forests and improving tree cover. We also thank our auditors M/s. Madhavan & Elango for their prompt and efficient service. These activities were made feasible by funding agencies, who supported the following projects: 1. CAPART - DANIDA Palni Hills watershed development Project. 2. SWEDISH SOCIETY FOR NATURE CONSERVATION - Sustainable Development Project. 3. NATIONAL AFFORESTATION AND ECO-RESTORATION BOARD - Wastelands development Project. 4. SIDA - Kadavakurichi Joint Forest Management Project. We thank them fo their generous help and committment to the cause of conservation. Kodaikanal R. KANNAN 8-05-1996 PRESIDENT.