COIMBATORE: Manombolly Forest Range officials have initiated a study on a three-hectare land area in Valparai plateau, where tea was cultivated, to assess the growth of vegetation. The study aims to improve fodder availability for wild animals, especially elephants, thus minimising instances of wild animals entering human habitations.
The study was initiated in the said area as elephants face limited fodder availability in the region compared to the plains in Coimbatore and the Thondamuthur surroundings. According to a forest official, the total land area under study has been divided into three one-hectare plots.
In the first plot of land, tea plants were completely uprooted, while alternate rows of plants were removed in the second plot. In the third plot, power saws were used to cut the plants above the ground level, leaving the roots intact.
Typically, growing grass in former tea plantations is challenging as tea plants cause the soil to become more acidic. However, in this case, officials said they are witnessing progress. Chief Wildlife Warden Rakesh Kumar Dogra, who had approved the project, recently visited the site and lauded Manombolly Forest Range Officer K Giritharan for the study, which is the first of its kind in the hilly region.
Giritharan said that although they are only a few months into the project, fresh grass has started growing in areas where tea plants were completely removed, and herbivores such as sambar deer and spotted deer are already grazing there.
However, he added that it would take a year to determine whether tea plants regrow and whether more wild animals benefit from the improved fodder availability. "If the project is successful, we will implement it across the region as tea plants were cultivated in over 2,500 hectares," he added.
