Raipur:
Barnawapara, the most famous and attractive sanctuary filled with wildlife diversity
of Chhattisgarh, has been rejuvenated in recent times for the betterment
of wildlife flora and fauna. Barnwapara Sanctuary is home to wildlife species
like leopard, gaur, bear, sambar, spotted deer, nilgai, kotari, chausingha,
wild boar, wild dog, striped hyena, fox, and wolf and mouse antelope. The total
area of Barnawapara Sanctuary is 244.86 sq km, in which mainly mixed forest,
sal forest, and teak plantations exist.
Barnawapara also has unique trees from which woods like Sal and Teak is
extracted. Other trees like Karra, Bhirra, and Senha are found in mixed forests.
Teak is naturally grown in the teak plantation area and the Sal is grown in the
Sal forest which is comparatively less in area. In addition to the beehive
species, herbaceous species like Eupatorium, Lentana, Charotha are the main
weeds, due to which the herbivore wildlife found in the Barnavapara Sanctuary
area does not get grass to graze.
This rejuvenation of the sanctuary has been
done to eradicate unnecessary weed plantations in the area. The eradication has
been done with the amount approved in the annual action plan 2021-22 of CAMPA
(Chhattisgarh Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning
Authority) under wildlife habitat upgradation work.
Under
the weeds eradication program, intensive lantana eradication and eupatorium
eradication work has been done on 5 thousand 920 hectares of area. Out of which
eradication work of lantana in total 950 hectares of 19 organic corridors of
Baranwapara sanctuary has been done and the eradication work of eupatorium in a total area of 4 thousand 970 hectares in 32 corridors is included. As per the
instructions of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, under the guidance of Forest and
Climate Change Minister Mohammad Akbar, continuous work is being done to make
the sanctuary more attractive.
At
a distance of about 100 km from the capital Raipur, the grass species have
started growing rapidly due to the moisture content Barnawapara Sanctuary’s
soil located under Balodabazar Forest Division. Along with this, grasslands in
the forests are available for the Wildlife to graze from. Due to this, they
have started roaming freely after the eradication work of Lantana and
Eupatorium. With this initiative, tourists can now easily spot Wildlife in the
Sanctuary. Moreover, the wildlife of the forest has become healthier with the
availability of more grazing grasslands.
Principal
and Chief Conservator of Forests (Wild Animals) P.V. Narsingrao said that
keeping this in view, the work of eradication of intensive lantana and
eupatorium has been done under wildlife habitat upgradation work in the
sanctuary, so that now in Barnawapara sanctuary, green edible grass can be made
available to the wildlife throughout the year as their food and fodder.
