|
Forest Types
The forests in the state are mainly
tropical evergreen, semi evergreen, and moist deciduous.
Sizeable area is covered with bamboo brakes which virtually
form a “Sub climax” resulting from shifting cultivation from
time immemorial. The details of forest resources are given
below.
(a) Forest Area: 6292.681Km2
(b) Percentage forest area to geographical area (10491 Km2)
59.98%
(c) Legal classification of forests
Status
|
Area
(Km2) |
% of
Geographical Area of State |
|
Reserve
Forests (RF) |
3588.183 |
34.20 |
|
Proposed
Reserve Forests (PRF) |
509.025 |
4.85 |
|
Unclassified Govt. Forests (UGF) (recorded as per rule
16 of TLR & LR rules) |
2195.473* |
20.93 |
|
Total |
6292.681 |
59.98 |
• 2070.650 Km2 inside ADC and 124.823 Km2 outside ADC
State of forest cover: (Forest Survey of India, MoEF)
As per FSI estimate, the forest cover in the State has
increased by 1413 km2 during assessment years from 2001-03.
However, there has been a loss of forest cover to the tune
of 385 km2 due to shifting cultivation and other reasons.
Therefore, there has been a Net gain of 1028 km2 forest
cover in the State during the assessment period of 2001-03
(SFR, 2003, FSI).
The forest cover includes 2446 km2 of Culturable Non-Forest
Area (CNFA) having 13.6 trees per ha (SFR, 2003). The State
also has 116 km2 are under Tree Cover, which is 1.11% and
4.74% of geographical and CNFA areas, respectively. Forest
cover together with Tree cover make up for 8209 km2 area in
the State, which is 78.3% of State’s geographical area. Per
capita Forest and Tree cover in the State stands at 0.26 ha
(SFR, 2003).
According to classification of
Champion and Seth, the forests of the state have been
classified in the following six types.
|
Types of
forests |
Area in
km2 |
|
East
Himalayan Lower Bhabar Sal |
I/I/3/3C/CIb |
87.77 |
|
Cachar
Tropical Evergreen Forests |
I/I/IB/C3 |
150.94 |
|
Moist Mixed
Deciduous Forests |
I/I/3/3C/C3 |
550.28 |
|
Low Alluvial
Savannah Woodland |
I/I/3/3C/ISI |
1316.82 |
|
Moist Mixed
Deciduous Forests, Dry Bamboo Brakes |
I/I/3C/2SI |
1230.04 |
|
Secondary
Moist Bamboo Brakes |
I/I/2/2B/2SI |
397.09 |
|
Total |
|
3732.94 |
Forest composition and growing
stock
Inventory survey carried out by the Forest Survey of India
in the year 1991 (Report on Forest Resources of Tripura)
gives average number of stems and volume per hectare (in all
strata i.e. miscellaneous, miscellaneous with bamboo,
plantation, and shifting cultivation). The situation has
slightly changed now due to increase in plantation area but
volume per ha in different strata remains more or less the
same. The growing stock is as follows :
|
Stratum |
Area (km2) |
Forest area(% of Geo. Area) |
Volume (m3)/ha (weighted
average) |
Total Volume (million m3) |
|
Hardwood (misc) forests |
1829 |
17.43 |
26.18 |
4.79 |
|
Hardwood (misc) mixed with bamboo |
484 |
4.61 |
29.84 |
1.44 |
|
Bamboo forests |
938 |
8.94 |
9.07 |
0.85 |
|
Plantations |
2221 |
21.17 |
20.69 |
4.28 |
|
Shifting cultivation |
840 |
7.81 |
5.34 |
0.52 |
|
Grand Total |
6292 |
59.98 |
85.12 |
11.88 |
|
