Productive Forestry and Nature Conservation in West Bengal

It is diverting to see the old relics,-the natural forests from which the modern forestry has been evolved and this paper is an attempt to bring out the essential creed or conservation and forestry as it is understood to-day in the Himalayan region of northern part of West Bengal. North Bengal has a rich forest of about 3,000 square kilometres distributed over the plains as well as the hills of the Himalayan range up to an elevation of about 4,000 m. The forest is mainly composed of broadleaved species; the conifers (Tsuga brunoniana and Abies densa) are dominant only over 70 square kilometres in between 2,700 m and 4,000 m. Due to extension of agriculture, often without any planning and control, the forest had been subjected to widespread trespass and disintegration, In order to save the natural forests from chaos and extinction, conservation measures were taken up and establishment of Reserve Forests (1864 and onwards) ushered in a period of safety for the floral communities and these reserves contain innumerable enclaves of unspoilt vegetation which has retained its original form and structure. Exposed to the rains brought about by the mansoon, this floristically rich area presents a number of problems, particularly regarding natural regeneration. Conservation of the forest, while being worthwhile in itself, means comparatively little value unless this is followed up with measures that can sustain and enrich it further. Natural regeneration systems failed to evoke and response and the crops all over were fast degenerating in value. Perplexed by such a situation, conversion of high forests by means of planting clearfelled areas was taken up as early as 1868. Sal (Shorea robusta) plantations in the plains and in the low land valleys, teak on the well drained slopes and flats. miscellaneous plantations along the foot-hills, in the Duars and Terai are results of many arduous trials and experiments. Similarly in the hills, the plantations of a broadleaved complex as well as those of Cryptomeria japonica are triumphs of human ingenuity. All these are now a part of a tradition that will continue to prevail in the forestry of the region. The paper briefly dwells on the early benefits of conservation and subsequent history of the development of forestry-the past when the forests remained isolated from any discipline of management and the present when it is linked up with the development in the countryside, It finally reaches an argument to reduce the impact of such conflicts as that originate form the fanatical belief that in the long run and often in the short, Nature usually knows best.