Mulaqat with Frontline staff was also held. Greening Kandi Project was also inspected.
Dr. Mohit Gera IFS Pr. Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force accompanied by T. Rabi Kumar IFS Add. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Kashmir and Irfan Rasool IFS Conservator of Forests North Circle conducted one day extensive field tour to North Kashmir and inaugurated multiple new projects. A long interactive session was also held with frontline staff at Watlab Sopore in which various issues concerning the protection and conservation of forests were discussed and deliberated upon.
Ecopark developed by J&K Forest Department in Rampur-Rajpore forest was first inaugurated by PCCF. The Ecopark is located in natural and verdant environment with dense forest cover. The theme of the park is nature education, wildlife awareness and community conservation. In the park, various wooden artifacts of Bear, Leopard, Deer, Hangul, Birds etc have been installed along with information boards for nature education and interpretation purpose. Besides, tree signages have also been placed to create awareness about common flora.
The park has been thrown open to public and it will be managed by local Biodiversity Management Committee. J&K Forest Dept. will organize outreach programmes in this park for school children in association with Ecoclubs to provide nature education and create awareness.
A Butterfly Trail consisting of two trekking routes Rampur-Rajpur to Divar Lolab and Rampur-Rajpur to Harwan Sopore was also inaugurated by PCCF. The opening of Trekking routes is one of the ongoing departmental programmes of forest department as per the initiative of the Government wherein it has been decided to open 75 trekking routes to public for trekking purpose. This is expected to create awareness on forests and wildlife conservation and will create a mass support for conservation in the long run.
Range office Kandi established under CAMPA scheme for an estimated cost of Rs 25.50 lakh at Bomai Sopore was also inaugurated by PCCF along with member DDC of the District. This Range office will provide office cum residential accommodation to Range officer to operate in the field and provide services to people.
PCCF & HoFF also inspected Co.30/K of Kandi Range to assess success of plantation works undertaken on the said site under Greening Kandi Project which has been sanctioned under CAMPA scheme. The project has been launched two years back to rehabilitate the degraded forests of Kandi Range. PCCF was apprised about measures undertaken so for in the said area and future operations that are required to be undertaken to completly restore the site. PCCF directed for adopting low cost greening interventions along with other models of plantation in order to quickly restore the area and also informed on the LIDAR based DPR being developed by MoEFCC for restoration of the area.
An interactive session under banner Mulaqat with Frontline Staff was held at Watlab Sopore in which members of frontline staff shared their experiences on various topics such as Nursery, Plantation, Forest Protection, implementation of Forest Rights Act, Encroachment Eviction, Ecotourism, Pasture land management and trainings etc. PCCF responded to observations and assured necessary action on valuable inputs highlighted during the interaction.
Other officers who were present with the PCCF & HoFF during the tour were Zahid Moghul DFO Kamraj, Pervaiz Wani DFO Baramulla, Ayoub Pandith DFO Kehmil, Hamid Malla DFO Langate, Sajad Bhat Project Officer Uri CAT, Mohammad Sarwar DyDirector Forest Protection Force, Arshad Lala DFO Social Forestry and Altaf Dar Range officer Kandi.
