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About Chail Wildlife Sanctuary
Ch ail
is a hill station visited by many tourists.The Deodar and Oak forests
with grasslands around the township are the abode of wildlife. One can
see Sambar, Goral and Cheer Pheasants at Blossom and Jhaja.Visitors
are welcome to the Cheer pheasant breeding centre at both these
places. Barking deer and Kalijin in the forests are sure to meet and
greet the visitors at dusk and dawn. Trekking from Chail to Gaura and
Chail to Jhaja is common and rewarding as one is sure to see wildlife
and beautiful snowy peaks. Range Officer Wildlife Chail and his staff
welcome the visitors and assists the wildlife lovers to see wildlife
in the sanctuary area.
Vegetation:
In general, northern slopes are forested while southern slopes support
grasslands, usually with patches of forest or scrub in gullies and
depressions. Grasslands are probably maintained by regular burning and
cutting. The dominant forest tree is ban oak Quercus incana,
mixed at lower altitudes with chir pine Pinus roxburghii.
Rhododendron Rhododendron arboreum forms pure stands in places
and cedar Cedrus deodar and blue pine Pinus wallichiana
have been sown in some areas. There is little mature forest and much
secondary growth due to disturbance (Gaston and Joginder Singh, 1980).
Reference to the habitat map in Garson (1983) shows that forest is
largely confined to the northern half of the sanctuary. Some 418ha had
been planted with pine, oak, cedar and Robinia sp. up to 1984
(Singh et al., 1990).
Fauna:
Large mammals include
rhesus macaque Macaca mulatta, leopard Panthera
pardus (T), Indian muntjac Muntiacus muntjak, goral
Naemorhaedus goral (numerous) and crested porcupine Hystrix
indica (Gaston et al., 1981, 1983). Other species listed by
Singh et al. (1990) include Himalayan black bear Selenarctos
thibetanus (V), wild boar Sus scrofa, common langur
Presbytis entellus, sambar Cervus unicolor (its
northernmost distribution) and black-naped hare Lepus nigricollis.
European red deer Cervus elaphus was introduced half a century
ago by the former Maharaja of Patiala (Singh et al., 1990), but
none was sighted during a census in 1988 (S. Pandey, pers. comm.).
Singh et al. (1990)
provide a list of birds. Cheer pheasant Catreus wallichii (E)
and kalij pheasant Lophura leucomelana populations may have
declined in the period 1979-1983. The cheer population in March 1983
is estimated to have numbered at least 32 pairs, at a density of about
7 pairs per sq. km (Garson, 1983). A cheer pheasant breeding and
rehabilitation programmed was initiated in 1988 (Singh et al.,
1990).
Cultural Heritage:
Of historic interest are the former palace of the Maharaja of Patiala
(now a hotel) and Siddh Baba temple.
Local Human Population:
There are 121 villages (including Chail township) inside the
sanctuary, with a total population of 8,627 people. There are also 18
private industries, including sawmills, inside th e
sanctuary. The surrounding area is also densely populated (Singh et
al., 1990).
Visitors Facilities:
Accommodation is available at Chail (Hotel Palace, and forest and PWD
rest houses) and Gaura (forest rest house).
Scientific Research and
Facilities:
The cheer pheasant population was censused in April 1979 (Gaston and
Joginder Singh, 1980) and March 1983 (Garson, 1983). There are no
scientific facilities, but a small laboratory is located nearby at
Kufri.
Conservation Value:
Formerly a private hunting reserve of the Maharaja of Patiala, Chail
is now severely degraded (Singh et al., 1990). Nevertheless, it
holds an internationally important population of cheer pheasant
(Gaston and Joginder Singh, 1980; Garson, 1983).
Conservation Management:
Local people have rights to graze livestock, collect timber, firewood
and other forest produce, quarry, cultivate and perform religious
rites, including burial of the dead. There is no management plan. It
has been recommended that extraction of timber should be stopped
altogether, or at least during the breeding season for the benefit of
the cheer pheasant population (Garson, 1983). Electric fencing has
been installed to keep out livestock.
Management Constraints:
Much of the area is heavily degraded and local activities are largely
uncontrolled. Forest fires affected 1,364ha in 1984-1985. Colonization
by the weed Lantana camera
is becoming a problem (Singh et al., 1990 |
