Depletion of Oak (Quercus spp.) Forests in the Western Himalaya: Grazing, Fuelwood and Fodder Collection

Abstract

The Himalaya, youngest mountain range of the world covers about 18% of total geographical area of India. Forests constitute (50% of India’s forest cover) an important natural resource base in the Himalaya, most important being the temperate broad leaf forests, which are largely dominated by different species of oak (Quercus species). In India Rodgers & Panwar (1988) divided the Indian Himalaya into six provinces viz., Ladakh mountain, Tibetan plateau, North-West Himalaya, Western Himalaya, Central Himalaya and the Eastern Himalaya. The Western Himalaya comprises of the eastern part of Himachal Pradesh and the state of Uttarakhand between the rivers Satluj and Sharada. Oaks (Quercus spp.) are the dominant, climax tree species of the moist temperate forests of the Indian Himalayan region (Troup, 1921) where about 35 species of Quercus are extensively distributed between 1000-3500 m elevations. Five species of evergreen oak namely Quercus glauca (phaliyant/harinj), Q. leucotrichophora (banj), Q. lanuginosa (rianj), Q. floribunda (tilonj/moru) and Q. semecarpifolia (brown/kharsu) grow naturally in the western Himalaya.