Forestry

                                                                                                                     Forest in Sirsa District

Sirsa District, bounded by Punjab in North and East and by Rajasthan in South and West lies between 29° 13′ to 30° North latitude and between 74° 15′ to 75°30′ East longitude.

The natural forests of Sirsa District is classified as Northern Tropical Thorn Forest”. The natural trees species available in this area are Shisham (Tali) (Dalbergiasisoo), Jand (Prosopis cineraria), Beri (Zizyphus mauritiana), Jaal (Salvadora oleoides), Reru (Acacia lucophloea), Kair (Capparis decidua), Neem (Azadirachta indica), Kikar (Babool) (Acacia nilotica), Lasura (Cordia dichotoma), Pipal (Ficus religiora) etc.

The old natural forest areas has almost vanished from this district. Now forest areas are situated mainly along railway lines canals roads drains and bunds in the shape of linear strips. The main species planted and raised by forest Deptt. are Shisham, Kikar, Eucalyptus hybrid, Neem, Bakain, Acacia tortilis (Israeli Kikar), Prosopis juliflora (Vilayati Kikar), Siris etc. Most of the Eucalyptus and Shisham is planted along the canals where moisture level in soil is fairly high and Kikar is planted along roads where moisture level is low and biotic pressure (grazing and browsing by cattle) is very high. In the active sand dune areas along the Rajasthan border mainly Acacia tortilis is planted as it is one of the rarest tree species which can grow in the desert soil where moisture content in the upper layer of soil has some moisture and where rainfall is very low, generally below 30 cm. in a year.

Rising water table in some parts of the district like Rori, Phaggu, Surtia, Nathusari Chopta is rendering the fertile soil of these areas as uncultivable because with the rising water table underground salts are coming up in the upper layer of soil and making it totally saline which does not tolerate any agricultural crop. Eucalyptus also known as “Biodrain” is very suitable for such areas. It has the capacity to transpire eight times more water from soil to air through its leaves than its own requirement. Besides acting as Biodrain, it is also very remunerative and it can tolerate moderate salinity.

Shisham is one of the most valuable timber species of Haryana and Sirsa has the rare distinction to claim that it has the maximum number of Shisham trees in Haryana. In the sixties and seventies, when canals were being laid, Shisham, plants were planted and now these plants have grown as big beautiful trees. The primary alluvial soil of this area alongwith long summer growth season is very suitable for Shisham. Increased use of nitrogenous fertilizers like Urea, DAP etc. in agriculture has caused untimely death of many young and old Shisham trees by increased incidence of tree fungi like Genoderma Lucidum (root rot), Fuserium etc.

Sirsa district has most of the forest areas along the strips of railway lines, roads, canals, drains and flood protection bunds. Area under each category is as follows:-

All these Strip Forests have been declared as protected forests under India forest act, 1927 there is only one reserve forest of 3.74 ha of PACCA in Sirsa. In National Forest Policy, it is desired that 20% of area in plains should be under forests but it is very disappointing to learn that only 1.18% of area in Sirsa is under forests. Every effort should be made to increase this dismal picture of forestry in Sirsa. For the whole of Haryana, only 3.70 per cent area is under forests, but even in comparison to this poor record of Haryana, Sirsa has one third of forest area to our state average. Sirsa has got the tremendous scope to increase this forest area.

The total no of trees growing in Sirsa Forest Division is given below. In this table, main species of Shisham, Kikar and Eucalyptus are enumerated separately and the rest of species are clubbed together under the head as Misc. Trees are enumerated by the girth they have at breast height (1.37 m) from ground level.

By perusal of this table, it is clear that maximum number of trees growing in Sirsa District is that of Kikar (43%). This enumeration of trees was done in the year 1993-94 but nothing substantially has changed since then as older trees are dying and younger trees are taking their place.

Forests of Sirsa forest division are managed under various working circles like Shisham W.C., Kikar W.C., Euc. W.C. etc. The present working plan has been approved by Govt. of India and will be effective up to March 2009.

WILD LIFE:

Govt of Haryana has declared a Sanctuary of 28,492 acre land of 11 villages of Dabwali Tehsil in 1987. The villages which falls under this sanctuary are Chautala, Teja Khera, Assa Khera, Bharu Khera, Jandwala Bishnoian, Ganga, Gidar Khera, Aboobshehar, Lakhuana, Sakta Khera. Govt. has declared this sanctuary for the purpose of protecting, propagating and developing wild life and its environment. There is also a Mini Zoo in Aboobshehar, near “Kala Teetar” Tourism Complex. Following wild animals are kept in this zoo for creating awareness among people and educating them about wild animals.

In the Sanctuary and other areas of Sirsa District, estimated number of Main Wild Animals are as follows :