CHENNAI: Within six months of the Tamil Nadu government notifying the Srivilliputhur–Megamalai Tiger Reserve (SMTR), the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has enlisted it for necessary funding. Currently, the newly formed reserve is home to an estimated 18-20 tigers and the numbers are likely to rise with spillover population from the adjacent Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala heading here.
The success of SMTR would depend on how the Tamil Nadu forest department protects the wildlife corridors and keeps them free of encroachments and other anthropogenic pressures. SMTR is the fifth and largest tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu with an area of over 1 lakh hectares making it a perfect site for dispersal of tigers.
Confirming the development, Chief Wildlife Warden Shekhar Kumar Niraj told The New Indian Express that he received an oral communication from NTCA a few days ago and wasting no time the department on Wednesday has submitted project proposals costing Rs 5.5 crore which are currently under active consideration.
"With the financial support of NTCA, we will be enhancing tiger monitoring using advanced systems like camera traps, drones and other AI-based equipment, appointing more anti-poaching watchers drawn from local communities, undertaking boundary demarcation and forest consolidation, initiating habitat development, studying prey predator relationship and habitat occupation pattern by different species etc," Niraj said.
Draft TCP rollout in 2 months
Meanwhile, an inter-agency group comprising Global Tiger Forum, Wildlife Trust of India and Tamil Nadu forest department is working on a model Tiger Conservation Plan (TCP) for SMTR and a draft plan with short-term objectives will be ready in the next 2-3 months.
Mohnish Kapoor, Head (Programme and Partnerships) of Global Tiger Forum, told The New Indian Express that SMTR is an important landscape because of its connectivity with Periyar Tiger Reserve, which is an old and well-known reserve with a healthy tiger population.
"This apart, the planning process will involve a lot of greening agenda. It's not only about tigers, we are looking at rejuvenation of the ancient Vaigai river watershed, which is a lifeline for millions of people in Tamil Nadu. Although the mandate of the TCP will remain with the field director, the planning process will actually involve district collectors, revenue, agriculture, irrigation units and other stakeholders. We will be conducting consultations beyond the forest department, which will be a good challenge for us and a model for the entire country," Kapoor said.
He said TCP is conceived in two parts. The interim draft plan will be ready in the next two months, which ensures basic management measures can be taken like providing extra protection in areas of concern. "The detailed plan which involves analysis of species and watershed area will take about a year. We have received management plans of Srivilliputhur and Megamalai sanctuaries and are currently reviewing them along with district level information. We will shortly be setting up a field team."
How SMTR will propel tiger population
Forest officials said tigers disperse in large areas and such dispersals are important for the exchange of genes. This process is essential for long term growth of a population. In Tamil Nadu, Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) provides one of the largest habitats for tigers and other co-predators.
"Tigers from the neighboring Periyar Tiger Reserve and nearby ATR regions can find significant habitats and breeding home ranges in the highly undulating terrains of Srivilliputhur and Megamalai hilly tracts. In fact, the forested habitats of the Srivilliputhur regions, which are largely uninhabited and undisturbed, could provide excellent buffering grounds to the tigers of Periyar Tiger Reserve as much as they can offer excellent genetic exchange grounds for the tigers of Anamalai regions. Tiger is an ecosystem umbrella species and survival and growth of several of the co-predators and other species could be directly correlated to the growth of tigers," said an official.
The population of tigers has witnessed a steep increase in Tamil Nadu, in fact, more than tripling since 2006. From 76 tigers in 2006, the number of big cats shot up to 264, as per the last national tiger status assessment done in 2018-19, thanks to strict vigil and conservation efforts taken by the forest department. Tamil Nadu’s Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) score was also second-best
in the country. Only Kerala scored higher ratings. The mean MEE score of the state was 82.03 per cent, an aggregate of the four existing tiger reserves, while Kerala scored 90.23%.
All four tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu were rated as ‘very good’ with ATR having the highest MEE score of 89.06%, while Kalakad-Mundanthurai scored 83.59%, Sathyamangalam 79.69% and Mudumalai 75.78%. Overall, the Western Ghats landscape comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Goa has 981 tigers out of a total of 2,967 in India.