Habitat management can make or break flagship species in a critical wildlife landscape. Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Odisha’s prime protected areas, has presented a shining example of how scientific landscape-level experiment in grassland restoration can reshape habitat conditions for Indian Gaur, its flagship species.
Over the last five years, Debrigarh has systematically expanded, restored and managed its open habitats, developing around 2,500 hectares of meadow and grassland across the sanctuary. The intervention has focused on increasing native forage, removing invasive vegetation and reclaiming nearly 500 hectare of erstwhile village landscapes after relocation, effectively adding more productive feeding space to a sanctuary otherwise dominated by forests.
The numbers speak. Debrigarh’s gaur population has risen from 659 in 2024 to 778 in 2025 and 848 in 2026. Alongside habitat restoration, greater availability of inviolate wildlife space and efforts to reduce human disturbance have aided the impressive population growth, although such trends are influenced by multiple ecological and demographic factors. About 7-9 per cent per cent of the sanctuary comprises meadow and grassland habitats where an inventory has recorded 107 grass species. Heteropogon, Dichanthium, Chloris, Cynodon, Panicum and other native grasses form part of the forage base for herbivores.
The grassland management at Debrigarh is a sustained, year-round exercise aimed at ensuring adequate forage for herbivores. Every monsoon, more than 10,000 kg of grass seeds are broadcast across managed areas to strengthen native grass regeneration. Two two-hectare relief enclosures have also been established as part of the long-term grassland management programme.
At the same time, invasive and undesirable vegetation such as Hyptis, Ageratum, Eupatorium, Lantana, Sida and Urena is selectively removed to allow native grasses and herbs to regenerate. The approach follows species-specific habitat management, recognising that herbivores use the same landscape differently, says Anshu Pragyan Das, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Hirakud Wildlife Division. While spotted deer are predominantly grazers, gaur and sambar combine grazing and browsing depending on seasonal availability. Meadows and grasslands provide grazing grounds, while woodland edges and low-lying forests provide browse, shelter and refuge. This habitat mosaic has expanded significantly following the relocation of villages from inside the sanctuary. Around 400 families from four villages were resettled between 2022-23 and April 2026, leaving no human settlements within Debrigarh. Nearly 500 hectare of the former village landscapes are now being restored as grassland, reducing human disturbance and reconnecting the reclaimed areas with the wider wildlife habitat.
According to Dr Gajanan Muratkar, a grassland expert who has worked across diverse wildlife landscapes in India and guided the ecological reclamation of the relocated village patches inside Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary, the 500-hectare former village area has been transformed into productive and palatable grassland habitat for wild herbivores. The transformation, he said, was achieved through year-round, site-specific grassland management involving biomass regulation, removal of undesirable vegetation, identification and collection of locally adapted indigenous grass seeds and their systematic broadcasting using appropriate seed-establishment techniques by trained field staff. These interventions, Muratkar said, have facilitated the establishment and regeneration of native forage species and restored the ecological function of the former village landscapes as productive wildlife feeding habitats.
In the opinion of Dr K Sankar, retired senior professor at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and an expert member of the IUCN Wild Cattle Specialist Group, the latest estimation revealed an estimated density of 2.44 gaur per sq km, making it the largest gaur population reported in Odisha.
“This is particularly significant when compared with the relatively low gaur densities reported from other major wildlife landscapes in the state, including Similipal and Satkosia. The increase in Debrigarh can be attributed to a combination of complete village translocation from the sanctuary, good grassland management, improved water availability and enhanced forest protection. These measures have helped Debrigarh emerge as an important stronghold for the species,” Dr Sankar says.
The grassland restoration extends to Debrigarh’s interface with the Hirakud reservoir, where the sanctuary shares nearly 100 km of shoreline with the water body. The interface forms an ecotone where terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems meet and provides another important component of the herbivore habitat. Parts of the shoreline were previously taken over by dense growth of invasive Ipomoea, suppressing native vegetation and altering the grassland-wetland interface. The invasive growth is being systematically removed from identified stretches, including through soil solarisation, followed by the broadcasting of native grasses such as Heteropogon, Cynodon, Chloris and Panicum.
Das says the objective is to restore native vegetation, strengthen the continuity between terrestrial and wetland habitats and improve seasonal forage availability. For gaur, the significance lies not in isolated grassland patches but in the larger landscape of feeding areas, water sources and forest cover.
