Sitabani Wildlife Reserve, Haldwani

History

The hill at Sitabani was subjected to years of slash and burn agriculture by the villagers. As a result, the land got degraded and the moisture profile of the soil dropped majorly. Originally this land was a natural man-animal conflict zone. The surrounding forests had so much of deer, nilgai and wild-boar presence that the crops would regularly be destroyed by the ungulates. Also a lot of domestic animals like cows, buffaloes, goats and dogs would be often picked up by tigers and leopards. Also, since a natural stream was flowing on one side of the hill, wildlife had no choice but to cross the hill to drink water, thereby coming in direct confrontation with farmers and cattle-grazers. This agricultural hill was gradually bought over from the villagers who owned it and then methodically converted it into prime habitat over the next few years . The first step was rain-water harvesting to improve the moisture content of the soil followed by the intricate process of removing weeds like lantana, spraying the soil with 7 species of indigenous grass seeds and planting lots of indigenous bamboo. Some higher barren parts of the estate were gradually made green by planting lots of fruiting trees like many species of Indian figs, Jamun, Wild Mango, Bhimal, Rohini, Jackfruit etc. These started attracting birds and wild herbivores. Waterbodies were dug out to store excess rainwater and with time these became like natural ponds in the forest harbouring fish, amphibians, insects and turtles.There was very little natural water left in the surrounding hills and most water sources were monopolised by humans.So in drier months, all the wild animals from the neighbouring hills started coming to these perennial waterbodies to quench their thirst and soon Sitabani became a magnet for free-ranging wildlife. A lot of endemic bamboo species were planted after eradicating weeds which became a favourite amongst deer and passing elephants. Soon tigers and leopards started frequenting the reserve following the wild ungulates and automatically the man-animal conflict in the surrounding forest villages diminished. Also a lot of local villagers were inducted and employed at the reserve by the founder Abhishek Ray thereby generating revenue through eco-tourism and creating a sustainable economic model thriving essentially on conservation.