Environment and Ecology | Uttarakhand State PSC (UKPSC): Preparation - UKPSC (Uttarakhand) PDF Download

 Page 1


Environment and Ecology
Forest Cover and Tree cover
Forest Cover refers to all lands more than one hectare in area, with a tree
canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and
legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It
also includes orchards, bamboo and palm. Tree cover comprises of tree
patches outside the recorded forest area exclusive of forest cover and less
than the minimum mappabe area (1 ha).
Clearing the confusion
There is lot of confusion regarding forest cover of Uttarakhand. According
to Forest Survey of India Report If we take forest cover within designated
forest area it is 45.43% of total geographical area of the state. But FSI
definition also includes areas outside forest according to which 71.05% of
total geographical area of State is under forest cover. This percentage was
66.2% in 2015 survey.
Classification of Forsets
The forest cover is broadly classified in 4 classes, namely very dense
forest, moderately dense forest, open forest and mangrove. The
classification of the cover into dense and open forests is based on
internationally adopted norms of classification. It has not been possible to
further segregate the dense forest into more classes owing to enormity of
work of ground validation and limitations of methodology. Mangroves
have been separately classified because of their characteristic tone and
texture and unique ecological functions. The other classes include scrub
and non-forest. These classes are defined is below.
 
Classification Scheme
Very
dense
Forest
All Lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of
canopy density of 70% and above
 
Page 2


Environment and Ecology
Forest Cover and Tree cover
Forest Cover refers to all lands more than one hectare in area, with a tree
canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and
legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It
also includes orchards, bamboo and palm. Tree cover comprises of tree
patches outside the recorded forest area exclusive of forest cover and less
than the minimum mappabe area (1 ha).
Clearing the confusion
There is lot of confusion regarding forest cover of Uttarakhand. According
to Forest Survey of India Report If we take forest cover within designated
forest area it is 45.43% of total geographical area of the state. But FSI
definition also includes areas outside forest according to which 71.05% of
total geographical area of State is under forest cover. This percentage was
66.2% in 2015 survey.
Classification of Forsets
The forest cover is broadly classified in 4 classes, namely very dense
forest, moderately dense forest, open forest and mangrove. The
classification of the cover into dense and open forests is based on
internationally adopted norms of classification. It has not been possible to
further segregate the dense forest into more classes owing to enormity of
work of ground validation and limitations of methodology. Mangroves
have been separately classified because of their characteristic tone and
texture and unique ecological functions. The other classes include scrub
and non-forest. These classes are defined is below.
 
Classification Scheme
Very
dense
Forest
All Lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of
canopy density of 70% and above
 
Mod
Dense
forest
All lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of
canopy density between 40% and 70% above
 
Open
forest
All lands with tree cover (Including mangrove cover) of
canopy density between 10% and 40%
 
Scurb
All forest lands with poor tree growth mainly of small or
stunted trees having canopy density less than 10 percent
 
Non
Forest
Any area not included in the above classes