Recommendation

• Forests towards carbon mitigation: Carbon sequestration in any given forest is related to forest biomass. Basal area/ha is an index of the forest biomass. Higher carbon sequestration in stream course/swamp forests was a significant find of this study.In Kathalekan forests 9 forest samples along the water course-swamp parts had average carbon storage of 211.87 t/ha. In the nine samples from forest away from water course areas, carbon sequestration was lesse at 165.54 t/ha. On a hilltop savannized part, obviously due to shifting cultivation practice in the past, the carbon sequestration was very poor at 5.03 t/ha only. Numerous hill tops and wind exposed slopes of the district are in savannized state with poor biomass, demonstrating the fact clear felling of a rain forest can bring in desertified conditions.  Nevertheless, these grassy patches  Considering forest as a place of tree growth, often also with undergrowth, the savannised forests and several secondary forest samples subjected to ongoing human impacts, or sytems recovering from past human impacts,  had some of the least basal areas, irrespective of whether they fall in high, moderate or low rainfall areas. All the taluks have such forests, which are low in biomass. Altogether 3 out of 116 samples, as studied by transect cum quadrat method, had basal areas of < 10 sq.m, 10 transects had basal areas between 10-20 sq.m/ha and 17 had between 20-30 sq.m. To such degraded forest areas also belongs bulk of the Soppinbetta or leaf manure forests allotted to arecanut garden owners of mainly the malnadu areas, for exercising the traditional privileges, importantly leaf manure collection. Thus a betta inTalekere of Siddapur had only 10.12 sq.m basal area ha and Hartebailu betta in same taluk had only 17.80 sq.m/ha basal area.  Gondsur-Sampekattu betta in Sirsi taluk had just 3.74 sq.m as the basal area.  Hiresara bettaland in Yellapur was exceptional in having 41.73 sw.m basal area.
• Riparian forest protection: River and stream bank forests, including inland swamp area forests are to be considered as endangered ecosystems for various reasons, including for their high accumulation of biomass and higher levels of carbon sequestration. Forest rangewise river-stream-swamp protection action plans, incorporating adequate amount of inviolate vegetation growth for protection of ecology of these vital water courses along with their rare and endemic species is critical. The maps and action plans prepared for special protection of such areas should be included in the forest working plans of every forest division. If such working plans are already prepared these should be still prepared as supplements. Timber extraction, conversion into monoculture plantations, or encroachments or any developmental activities should not be allowed affecting these inviolate forests.
• Protection of Myristica swamps: These are remnants of the original primeval forests of the Western Ghats. The lineage of such forests could be traced to the supercontinent of Gondwanaland. The swamps, repositories of ancient and highly threatened rare biodiversity, are under various kinds of threats. They would have perished in large scale in early agricultural  history of Western Ghats, being reclaimed for rice fields and betelnut gardens. Many of the last remaining fragments of swamps are also under threat from agricultural expansion. The swmaps should be demarcated in the forest working plans for the relevant areas and recommended for protection through preferably co-mamagement with the VFCs. The catchment areas for the swamps are to be protected from any kind of human disturbances being very important sources of hydrology. Kathalekan swamps in Siddapur taluk, being the most precious genepool of threatened plants and amphibains, among others,  beng situated alongside the Honavar-Bangalore highway might get wiped out in case of road widening. The widening should not be permitted through any of the Myristica swamps or primary forest remnants.
• Conservation of unique forest related cultural identities: The district abounds in forest related unique cultural identities like sacred groves and sacred trees. Sacred groves are known by various names like kans or devarabanas (often the presiding deities’ names are added to respective banas-kans- such as Jatakabana, Choudibana, Kari-kanamman-bana, Hulidevarukan, Naagarabana etc.). Numerous ancient trees, especially of genus Ficus, or several others like Mimusops elengi, Mesua ferrea, Mangifera indica, Mammea suriga, Aegle marmelos etc. are present dotting the landscapes of villages and towns signifying sacred locations of cultural value. Whereas the kans were traditionally large groves, of several hectares or even few sq.km in area (Kathalekanfor eg.), the banas are smaller ones, mostly within an acre in area. While the former is associated often with other forests or wilderness the latter is often found closer to or within human settlements. The kans were places where tree cutting was not permitted under traditional management, but NTFPs could be taken care of and harvested (eg. Wild pepper, cinnamon, toddy and starch from Caryota urens etc.). The kans  while protecting wild genepool amidst secondary, human impacted landscapes, also acted as safety  forests, being fireproof systems due to their evergreenness and high humidity, as sources of perennial streams and springs and as sources of NTFP. The smaller groves the banas, were not traditionally violated for any form of bioresources. In short both kans and banas were unique cultural identitites of the region while they preserved the region’s climax vegetation. With the process of forest settlement during the British period, most of the kans lost their original identity as village sacred groves from safety forests, and were treated not much different from other forests. The smaller sacred groves are under shrinkage too due to erosion of conservation ethics due to changing cultural worldviews of the local communities (Chandran, 1998; Chandran and Gadgil, 1993).  A detailed survey of 86 villages gave details about the presence of 241 sacred groves. We strongly recommend that the Government through the Forest Department take immediate steps to revive the system of preservation of these ancient sacred groves however small they are.
• Identification and recouperation old kan forests: Kan forests were sacred forests of local rural communities of central Western Ghats. They are known as devarakadus in Coorg district. Devarakadus of Coorg have official recognition as sacred forests to this day. The kans of Shimoga district were demarcated in maps and their areas were already listed from early British period. But the British did not recognize the sacredness of the kans. In Uttara Kannada many kans of Sirsi and Siddapur were demarcated villagewise in forest settlement reports. At the same time many other kans got merged with rest of the reserved forests without any special status conferred on them and subsequently it became difficult even to locate their boundaries. Such is the case of Kathalekan in Siddapur, Karikan in Honavar and Halsollikan in Ankola which we studied in detail. All these three kans, despite being reserved forest areas, are associated with sacred locations within them or in their vicinity, where local people continued the worship of deities. Interestingly all these places continued to maintain their distinctness as relics of primary evergreen forests embedded in a vast matrix of secondary forests. All these forests have Dipterocarpus indicus, a primary evergreen forest tree of South Indian Western Ghats. This species, though commoner in more southern forests, have isolated occurrences in Uttara Kannada mostly associated with kan forests. The presence of this Endangered evergreen tree has enhanced the conservation value of all these forests.  Asollikan is a locality where we observed also the Critically Endangered tree Madhuca bourdillonnii.  The discovery of this rarest species in Ankola taluk, once thought to be extinct and rediscovered in southern Kerala Ghats in its original home range, is an instance of traditional, community based conservation practice. Presence of species like Myristica magnifica (Endangered), Syzygium travancoricum (Critically Endangered), Gymnacranthera canarica (Vulnerable) and Semecarpus kathalekanensis (newly described  tree species from the Myristica swamps of Karikan, underscores the importance of surveying, demarcating and protecting  the lost kans (sacred forests) of pre-colonial times, and demarcating them for more careful protection and restoration through natural regeneration. The kan forest areas, were considered during British period as hydrologically important areas, being associated with perennial streams and springs (Chandran and Gadgil, 1993). Even a small kan of just one ha, in the Mattigar village of Siddapur taluk has Syzygium travancoricum  (Critically Endangered)  and Vateria indica (Endangered).  The kans, many of them in ruins, due to various reasons, should be salvaged and brought under a system of co-management involving the local VFCs, if they are closer to villages.
• Conservation and promotion of forest endemism: High rainfall areas have high biodiversity values and higher conservation values. High rainfall areas of malnadu and coastal taluks are major seats of endmic biodiversity of both palnts and animals. Kathalekan studies in Siddapur taluk (by various investigators) reveal how the high endemism is associated with Myristica swamps, at least 35 species of amphibians, endemic hornbills and Imperial pigeon, Endangered primate Lion –tailed macaque etc. The very distribution of fresh water fishes is highly correlated to terrestrial landscape elements, of which quantity and quality of evergreen forests are more important. Of the 64 species of fresh water fishes reported from Sharavathi River, including in its catchment areas of Shimoga, 18 species were endemics to Western Ghats, including three new species Batasio sharavathiensis, Schistura nagodiensis and S. sharavathiensis  and 24 species confined to Peninsular India (Bhat and Jayaram, 2004; Sreekantha et al, 2007).
• Upgrading biomass in deciduous forests and secondary deciduous forests: The quality and quantity of a deciduous forest stand is very much reflected in its total biomass of which basal area is an index. Eleven forests surveyed in the deciduous forest zone of Haliyal and Mundgod taluks reveal unsatisfactory biomass, estimated basal areas/ha being in ranges of 10-20 sq.m for three samples, 20-30 sq.m for five samples, 30-40 sq.m for just two samples and only one falls in 40-50 sq.m category (43.09 sq.m at Godnol in Mundgod). Forest fragmentation of high order, shifting cultivation practices in the past, massive conversions into monoculture plantations, clear felling and selection felling rampantly practiced in the past are some of the major causes for low basal areas. Compact stretches of forests especially in areas thinly populated by humans may be prioritised for developing ideal forests of high stuature through special protection and periodical monitoring of the progress of natural succession and tree growth. The forest management should aim at developing in the deciduous forest zone of Mundgod, Haliyal, in the drier eastern parts  of especially Joida, Yellapur and Sirsi compact stands with basal areas exceeding 35 sq.m/ha.
• Increasing biomass and diversity in secondary deciduous forests of coastal taluks: The secondary moist deciduous forests along the coastal taluks have been in impoverished state due to high density human impacts. Bulk of such forests constituted the ‘minor forests’ meant for meeting the biomass needs of coastal people, including cattle grazing. Through special protection of promising forest patches using barbed wire fencing, and closing any kind of exploitation in such protected areas, natural regeneration can be promoted, for at least five year period. Thereafter these forests can be open for free movement of wildlife and more such selected blocks can be protected, using the mode of forest working plans.

     The bettaland farmers should be assisted in bee keeping activities aiming at a minimum of one bee box for every acre of betta. They are to be guided in enriching the bettalands with bee forage plants so that the vegetation of impoverished bettas are also improved. Improved vegetation and better ground cover can also improve local hydrological conditions.  A single bee colony (in a bee box) can earn for the farmer Rs.4000/- extra money, through better management and vegetational enrichment. The farmers also stand to gain from increased farm productivity due to the pollination services from bees, and NTFPs from bee forage plants.  The farmers need training in bee keeping related activities. Sirsi-Siddapur taluks, which have some of the highest forest fragmentation in the district, can also substantially improve the forest wealth through betta rehabilitation.

There are many more such plant sources of dyes. The important needs before implementation are: