INTRODUCTION

Western Ghats mountain ranges constitute the beautiful array of mountains along the west coast of India. It separates the Deccan Plateau from a narrow coastal strip along the Arabian Sea. The mountain range starts from the southern part of the Tapti River near the border area of the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Western Ghats mountain ranges cover a length of around 1600 km running through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala finally terminating at Kanyakumari district, in the southern-most tip of the Indian peninsula (Daniel, 1997). The Western Ghats is rich with different kind of vegetation and topographical features. This bioregion is highly rich with flora and fauna and is considered as one of the 34 biodiversity hot spots of the world. The forests of Western Ghats, in view of their floristic diversity and numerous multipurpose species, are considered a varietal storehouse of economically important plants.The tropical climate complimented by heavy precipitation from southwest monsoon and favorable edaphic factors create an ideal condition for the luxuriant growth of plant life, which can be seen only in few parts of the world (Gadgil, 1996). The stretch of Central Western Ghats ranges from 12° to 14° covering areas of Coorg district, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Shimogaupto south of Uttara Kannada.

Protection of forest patches as sacred has been reported from many parts of India in the recent decades. Trees were normally not cut in such forests as they were dedicated to gods (Gadgil and Vartak, 1976). These sacred forests are known by various names in peninsular India: such as devarakadu, devarbana or kan in Karnataka, kavu in Kerala, kovilkadu in Tamil Nadu and devrai in Maharashtra. The forested districts of Uttara Kannada andShimoga in the central Western Ghats of Karnataka are dotted with several groves with lofty lush-green forest cover known as ‘kaans’; literally meaning  “thick evergreen forests” (Joshi&Gadgil 1991). These forest patches are alsocalled ‘devarkaans’ (sacred forests), as the nativesof these regions preserve kaan forests traditionallyas the abodes of sylvan deities maintaining alasting relationship with nature (Gokhale 2004).These Sacred forests served many functions like conservation of biodiversity and watershed, moderation of climate, and enhancement of landscape heterogeneity which promoted varied wildlife. Studies highlight that, groves support a good number of rare and endemic species, which are extra-sensitive compared to common species, and persist only in favourable niches, and the sacred groves are ideal places for them (Jamir and Pandey 2003; Sukumaran and Raj 2007).The village sacred forests ranged in size from few hectares to few hundred hectares. The Kans of Sorabtaluk in Shimoga covered 13,000 ha or 10% of Sorab’s area.  (Chandran MDS, 1997).

However, social believes around these sacredkan forests have been decreased due to the influence of modern lifestyle and agriculture.Increasing human population and decliningfertility of agricultural land have increaseddependence on the forests as a source ofincome and hence resulted in non-sustainable harvesting of the resources. Encroachment, andillegal felling of the valuable timber trees, haveincreased and thereby eroded plant wealth. Apartfrom these effects, kaans are also exposed todifferent kinds of exploitation such as conversion of these landscapes into monoculture plantations, allotting them for rehabilitation purposes, etc. (Gokhale 2004). Thus there is a fear of losing richtreasures of traditional conservation culture as well as protected biodiversity in these landscapes.Since kaan forests are located in areas of high tomoderate rainfall, it is likely that speciescomposition is influenced by both rainfall and bythe level of disturbance;  forest disturbance wouldaffect local diversity and in turn the dependentfauna (Parthasarthy 2001).

Along with the number of kans, the extent and the size range are also important to understand the potential of these forest patches in present- day context. As discussed earlier kans were exposed to different kind of exploitation like selective felling, conversion to plantation, allotting the land for non-forest purposes like rehabilitation of people, etc.This study was done to analyze the situation of forest in Shimoga district, Karnataka.Kurnimakki-HalmahishiKan and Kullundekan in the Taluk of Thirthahalli in Shimoga district was studied, mainly from the vegetational angle and for cognizance of threats facing it.