Whose forests is it anyways……

Whose forests is it anyways……

Is it the Forest department, The state government, The Centre or Villagers, The EDCs (eco development comittees) or You and Me ?
Not long ago Tumkur university wanted a new campus,Authorities set their eye on Devarayanadurga reserve forest, What ensued later I presume you are aware of it. And when state government wanted to build a complex to hold its assembly sessions in Belgaum no wonder target again was piece of land which was rich in Birdlife, the list goes on,
This has been happening since ages to name a few the IIsc campus and forest department offices in Bangalore was once a reserve forest,HMT, BEL and Airforce campus ( east and west) bangalore university etc were all well forested areas which gave way to development.Did anyone remember the big brother of these KIOCL

Whenever land is required for a new project, invariably all roads leads to such forested areas.Though there are other alternatives which are never explored,
This is open case of step motherly treatment meted out to our dear forests,The forest department and all other aspects of a forest.The Government employs and pays its staff to guard, protect, manage and increase its forested area, And then parts of these or whole are generously transferred for such projects, I fail to understand the logic of the decision makers behind these.
The philosophy of the government that the forest only means timber and a sort inexhaustible resource which can be exploited in all possible ways still persists.
And then comes the state of affairs in the forest department whenever the forest department is news for wrong reasons we are used to reading the same explaination "we are under staffed ill-equipped etc". understaffed as a reason is acceptable as working for the forest department is less attractive to the current youth compared to lucrative private sector and those of other Govt posts, Those who do join, put in a few years of service and by various means get transferred to office work away from challenging field duties.
Some brave and committed officers do serve have to, should I say a balancing role to effectively work, they have to be in cordial terms with the local politician, villagers, the press and his higher ups, Lost in all these is effective protection and management.This apart you have administrative tasks and inhospitable terrain. No wonder the real job of protecting forest is lost. Contrarary to other govt depts The forest department is understaffed at the bottom surplus in managerial roles.
One officer said the local politician orally calls him up and ask him to allow grazing, and then forest fires in my range that happens is inevitable as the movement of people and cattle cannot be controlled, I cannot blatantly refuse as the hatred that develops will instigate people , and the press who instead of highlighting the conditions we work, glorify small ground fires mentioning thousands of hectares of forest wealth has been lost, people might have forgotten the price RFO of Antharasanthe (A range in NaagarahoLe) had to pay for being committed, In spite of having worked for their welfare by providing LPG cylinders to majority of the villages on the periphery of Bandipur and NagarahoLe national parks. And then another forester said cultivation is being openly done on forest land though the forest dept had taken up the case to the court and was instructed to recover the land but due ground realities such as retaliation from villagers, support of local politicians and noncommittal staff they are not able to do so more importantly the failure of the police in providing appropriate security. So on paper its a forest on the ground its under cultivation.
The people around the forests are a mixed bag; Some are ignorant about the importance of the forests and its inhabitants,Few are aware but have who cares attitude,A small fraction actively indulge in illegal activities,The lure of wild meat is evident,They set up small traps and snares along the fence that border forests,Stray wildlife like Wild boar, Chittal, Porcupine,Mangoose, Jungle fowl is caught and consumed without a trace,often bigger wildlife either get stuck or the snares remain on their body leaving the animals die a slow agonising death, I have seen elephants limping with such snares holding on to their trunks and legs.These develop into wounds and invariably infections spreads and the animal dies somewhere far from the scene of the fence. Tigers and leapords have been caught accidentally and died.
I remember a villager telling me (mistaking me to be forest staff) that your animals come into our fields, you people take on us left and right If you see us inside, and many other such you statements, I was lost in thoughts thinking is the forest department sole owner of the forests. Or is it fair to hold them responsible for everything that goes awry in and around the forests.
Do these villager have any sense of belongingness or is it just hard realities they face, And we the city dwellers whose fathers or forefathers once migrated from such places have any role to play, In all these happenings solely driven personal interests, the forest department ends being the scapegoat,

All is not lost, there are committed people in our state be it NGOs namely Wildlife first, WANC, Mysore Amateur Naturalists, former and current Forest Officers like Chinnappa, Sreenivas, Venkatesh, and then, scientists like Ullas Karanth, M.D. Madhusudhan have effectively worked together.
Today compared to declining numbers across the country In Karnataka their numbers here have been stagnant, One gets a feeling that Our PA might have reached its saturation, and spill over animals need new areas.our forest cover as per the forest departments press releases say that forest cover has increased in the state A bulk of which is dry forest bereft of any wildlife of little value in terms of Bio diversity..
All that I have realized is that protecting our sacred forests and their inhabitants is not responsibility of the forest department or the government alone. Just as there is corruption , mismanagement etc exist in all other administrative set up Forest dept is no exeption. Same with governance as well. It’s a collective responsibility of the entire community, each one of us should contribute whatever and however feasible.