Protected areas (PAs) are established for protecting a particular area with clear management objectives ( Bolton , 1997). The most common size for a protected area on a worldwide basis is only 10-30 sq.km ( Johnston , 1992). Scientifically planned protected areas should include endemic centers, however small they are, as this would ensure saving species of restricted distribution (Nayar, 1996). Wildlife conservation is not always in conflict with the aims of protected area management. Although several studies have focused on the problem of loss of undisturbed forests and its threats to the survival of rain forest species, very little research has been done in this context in India , where habitat loss is considerable. According to a survey carried out in the mid-1980s, over 65 percent of the PAs were characterised by human settlements and resource use (Kothari et al., 1989). Factors such as encroachment of habitats, poaching and grazing are responsible for the depletion and extinction of wildlife resources. The cases of encroachment of habitats and activities like poaching and grazing are threatening a majority of the wildlife habitats around the world (Panwar, 1991). With the passage of time, human influences on habitats had an alarming impact.

SVWS harbours endemics and threatened species of flora and fauna, and hence requires immediate protection and conservation measures. Already large areas of pristine forests have been cleared for hydroelectric-projects, Acacia auruculiformis plantations, and for agricultural operations, etc. The failure in the conservation of reserve forests is visible in many places with the continued process of habitat destruction. The forests need to be protected from human interference that is detrimental to the growth and regeneration of the forest. This requires improved forest security, transparency in forest product utilisation, and a stronger political will.

7.1 Human and livestock inside the sanctuary

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

There are 121 villages inside the sanctuary, having higher human and cattle population (Table 27), and 59 of them are in protected area (enclosures). Increased human habitats with forest encroachments have seriously affected the wildlife population. The cultivation of Vetiveria sp . (lemon grass) extensively inside the sanctuary areas such as Meghane (located in Buffer zone of the sanctuary) poses serious threat to the wildlife population.

People depend on forests for livestock grazing, which results in soil compaction and affects natural regeneration. Apart from domestic livestock, a large population of wild cattle is trapped inside the sanctuary (due to the submersion) contributing to grazing pressure throughout the year.

Agricultural practices in the region are traditional and dependent on forests. The forests provide leaf litter, green leaves and fencing material to the farmers. The dense forest patches are the sources of water to the crops. Present study found that the forest encroachments have resulted in increased agricultural lands. It has been found that the land submergence is one of the major reasons for increased land encroachment in the forests. Migrating and migrated population, marginal farmers and economically sensitive households were major contributors of land encroachments. The widespread occurrence of encroachment is observed in the Kanur, Hebbankeri, Meghane and Nagavalli area, where slash and burn practice is prevalent for growing cash crops especially cotton, pepper, lemon grass, ginger, paddy and areca.

NTFP collection: Resource use has been restricted to the buffer zones, where it has been regulated, while core areas are completely closed. An amendment in 1991 to the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 specifies that, in wildlife sanctuaries, the chief wildlife warden must certify that any manipulation does not harm wildlife, and that the state government approves the manipulation. The major NTFP of the area is leaves of Diospyros melanoxylon and Cinnamomum zeylanicum . Apart from these, on a minor scale, Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, and various medicinal plants, cane, Bambusa sp . , and honey are also collected. Destructive methods of collection of NTFP by lopping the branches of trees like, Myristica malabarica , Garcinia gummigutta, Cinnamomum zeylanicum etc. will affect the endemic tree species.

The industrial extraction of timber from the primary evergreen forests in the past has led to the depletion of valuable endemic species and loss of many special habitats such as Myristica swamps.

NTFP collection is totally banned in the core zone of the sanctuary area since it may pose a threat to the endemic tree species and their regeneration. But, in some areas, the community-based approach can be carried out instead of collections done by tenders given to non-locals by the forest department. This approach will be more appealing since each villager will become more responsible for conserving the forests, as removal of a tree would curtail the financial gains through NTFP. Destructive methods of collection of NTFP by lopping the branches of trees have to be stopped.

Timber smuggling is reported to be a major problem in the sanctuary area. It is reportedly smuggled even out of the Linganmakki islands, indicating the involvement of some organised groups. The timber smugglers take advantage of the remoteness of the islands from the human settlements for their illegal activities. We have observed timber harvesting at many places like, Karani, Banukuli, Kanur etc., within the sanctuary, calling for greater and effective vigilance from the authorities and the village forest committees (VFCs).

7.2 Monoculture Plantation

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

Large areas of the sanctuary (15.27%) have been planted with monoculture plantations depriving the wildlife of their habitats. Preference of single species in forest plantations is another reason responsible for depletion of fodder for animals. This could become a major drawback to any kind of habitat restoration programmes as well as energy improvement technologies. The practice of planting of Acacia and Casuarina is still in progress in open areas of Muppane, Aralagodu, Karani, etc. These monoculture plantations have no other advantages to the wildlife, other than aiding as hiding places for some of the small mammals and agricultural pests. Changes in microclimate and huge litter cover in plantations adjacent to the evergreen and semi evergreen forests would inhibit the growth of younger tree species of natural forests.

Grasslands have been converted to monoculture plantations in the forest enclosures like, Madenur, Muppane, and Shashichowka denying the fodder to herbivores like gaur, sambar, spotted deer, etc. The monoculture of any exotic should be strictly discouraged in the areas of high animal population and movement. Any such reforestation activity should be in accordance with the local need and with indigenous species. Gradual shifting of natural plant species in the monoculture plantation areas is to be done. Habitat improvements with fodder plants species preferred by wild animals are to be planted instead of monocultures of Acacia , Pinus or Casuarina .

7.3 Forest Fire

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

Usually in this sanctuary forest fires are associated with highly fragmented areas. This plays an important role in the distribution of ungulates and bovines. The main reasons for the fire are the dryness of the forest and the deciduous vegetation. Humans on a yearly basis to enhance the growth of grasses burn much of the forest ground vegetation. While fire generally does not kill adult trees, it will effectively destroy the seedlings and young trees, thus preventing tree regeneration, creating senescent forests and eventually leading to the disappearance of forests (Kessler, 2001). Almost every year forest department burnt the grassy blanks in some places to improve the quality of fodder for wild animals; this phenomenon also affects the habitat of burrowing small mammals. The fire has become a major factor in the degradation of forests. In order to restore the vegetation, these forests must be protected from fire, by preventing it by undertaking measures such as creation of awareness on the implication of fire among the local communities and proper maintenance of fire line.

7.4 Forest fragmentation

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

The humid forests, repository of diverse flora and fauna have been subjected to severe habitat fragmentation. Increase in forest fragmentation also gives rise to edge effect with respect to micro climatic changes, species invasion from surrounding vegetation, and the impact of surrounding anthropogenic activity (Menon and Bawa, 1997). Forest fragmentation is a major problem in this sanctuary. Several roads that pass through the sanctuary and Linganmakki reservoir have dissected and cleaved the habitats. Other than these, heavy biotic pressures in terms of encroachments for human settlements, agricultural fields, etc. have contributed significantly to the fragmentation of habitats.

Past land-use practices such as shifting cultivation and selective felling have influenced the present-day forest quality and biodiversity patterns, which are evident from the presence of patch and perforated forest in primary forested areas. Wide scale selective felling of tree like Poeciloneuron indicum , Callophylum tomentosum and Lopopetalum wightianum and Artocarpus hirsutus had been carried out since 1921 to 1971 for railway sleepers, match wood and plywood in places like Karani, Govardhangiri and Kanur, which comes in the core and buffer zone of the sanctuary. The study shows that the regeneration of these species especially Poeciloneuron indicum and Palaquium ellipticum in Karani and Kanur is excellent. Selection felling of industrial timbers continued almost to the mid 1980's, causing considerable impoverishment of forests.

7.4.1 Human-animal conflicts

Due to fragmentation and reduction of natural habitats with the uncontrolled growth of agricultural practices in the sanctuary area over several years has resulted in repeated stress over the forest areas and acted negatively on the wildlife. Conflicts between wildlife and human have emerged as a problem in the arena of wildlife management. The conflicts, which result from the destruction of crops and damage to property, have raised both social as well as conservation issues, both in and outside the sancturary. Efforts to keep animals out of crop fields by wildlife officials have been futile and sometimes result in people perceiving the animals as being malevolent. Thus, human-animal conflict is a common scene over the entire area. Herbivore and omnivore animals like Indian gaur, Indian porcupine, sambar, wild boar, rodents, etc., inflict considerable damage to agricultural crops. Several incidences of sloth bear attack have been reported in the core and buffer zones of the wildlife sanctuary (villages like, Kattinkaru, Karani, Kanur and Kogar). To tackle this problem, fencing the crops is a common procedure, which is detrimental to both wildlife and forests. The fencing material is usually the locally available wooden log, brought from nearby forests. For supplementing the wooden logs, large number of regenerating forest trees were cut down thereby jeopardising the forest growth itself. These fences act as enclosures for wildlife movement from one place to another.

Hunting is practised as a sport, for subsistence, for crop protection and as a part of religious tradition by many village communities. During night-times, people form groups and go for hunting. A number of communities (Nayaks, Edegaru and Namadari gowdru) in the sanctuary carry out poaching activity. They target on wild animals like mouse deer, rabbit, wild boar, etc., due to which, the wild animal population is decreasing at a rapid rate. People support hunting as it reduces the probable damage to crops. Even some of the birds like spotted dove, cattle egret, pond heron, jungle fowl, peacock, etc., are being hunted for meat by the local tribes. Poaching for money is seldom indulged in and gaurs constitute the main victim. Outside people are believed to be coming to the area to carry out this kind of poaching. At least one or two episodes do occur every year. The remoteness of the area and sparsely distributed human settlements are again advantageous to these poachers. In aquatic environment high fishing activity of the local people, licensed fishermen and migratory fishermen has threatened the indigenous fish population along with the endangered tortoise population of the region.

7.5 Proposed habitat corridors

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

Wildlife present in the region are seasonal migrants from adjacent sanctuaries and hence, the corridors used by these animals should be given more attention. Three micro-habitat corridors have been proposed for linking fragmented habitats, so as to have continued link of populations to maintain sufficient viable reproductive groups to permit breeding. Corridors are to be developed with the native species of plants, which meet the food and fodder requirement of fauna during all seasons. Table 28 lists the present land-use in the proposed corridors; similarly Figure 11 illustrates the regions proposed for corridors.

Carridor 1 is in Channagonda and Kattinkar region. It is proposed in the western side of the sanctuary with evergreen and semi evergreen forests. This region comes under four state forests namely Muppane, Channagonda, Karani and part of Govardhanagiri.

Figure 11. Proposed wildlife corridors in the SVWS.

Corridors 1 is proposed for free movement of sloth bear, sambar and gaur. It has grasslands and barren lands surrounded by a good semi evergreen and evergreen forest. It encompasses the areas like Channagonda, Kanapagaru, Muppane, Aralagodu and Bedrur. This corridor comes in Muppane state forest and Govardhanagiri state forest and has sparsely distributed semi evergreen and moist deciduous forest. This helps animals to migrate to adjoining forests of Talakalale balancing reservoir, Henni and Gerusoppa area.

Corridor 2 is proposed in Banukuli village and has grassland surrounded by semi evergreen and moist deciduous forests (Kanapagaru and Channagonda villages). Corridor 3 comes under Mandavalli village mainly for the movement of tiger, gaur and sambar. This corridor is nearer to Vatemadike village with grasslands interspersed with moist deciduous forest.

7.6 Restoration of forest

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In order to restore the forest depending on the state of degradation the following list of plants has been recommended. The list of plants recommended for deciduous, semi-evergreen and evergreen degraded patches area given in Table 29, 30 and 31 respectively.

7.7 Policies

7.1 | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.7

In SVWS, forest enclosures play an important role in order to maintain viable wildlife population. Madenur, Muppane, Hallibyle and Shashichowka are a few forest enclosures with high density of gaur, sambar, and mouse deer. The intention of these enclosures is to provide protection to both flora and fauna of the region. These forest enclosures serve a better protection to some of the vulnerable species from the poachers. Most of these enclosures are planted with monoculture species like, Acacia , Casuarina , etc., which in turn not a suitable habitat for the above mentioned wildlife. In order to maintain the high density of these species, gradual conversion of monoculture into native species As the territories of wild animals extend beyond these enclosures, flocking of wild animals and futile attempts to cross these barriers have been noticed. This suggests the expansion of existing enclosures and creation of new enclosures, which has to be undertaken based on rigorous monitoring of wildlife movement.

Effective vigilance has to be exercised by the forest department in order to stop the further encroachments and poaching of wild animals inside the sanctuary. To avoid water scarcity, large number of water holes/percolation ponds should be constructed inside the sanctuary. The existing awareness programmes such as wildlife weeks, wildlife census, etc., have to be expanded and strengthened in the sanctuary and surrounding areas in order to educate and create awareness among local people. Interaction of forest officials with local people helps to arrive at solutions based on clear understanding of situation in the sanctuary.

In the adjoining areas like, Gerusoppa, Uttarakoppa, Aruvakki, etc., Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD) is more prevalent due to high degree of forest degradation, that has led to the extensive growth of weeds, where in ticks, the main disease vector inhabit. Therefore restoration of full-canopied natural forest in the sanctuary area is of paramount importance.

The Sharavathi valley wildlife sanctuary has to be extended further so as to link to the Mookambika wildlife sanctuary to facilitate the better movement of wild animals and also conservation of endangered and endemic fauna (like Lion-tailed Macaque) and pristine forest areas (like, Kodachadri, Gurta, Malemane and Kathalekan).