Object-oriented forest Management

Forest conservation and management in J&K has suffered for lack of application of existing scientific and operational knowledge. Forestry confined itself to administration and protection and these two activities became synonymous with management. The unfortunate results of this institutional history are obvious to everyone. The alternatives suggested from time to time have been equally ineffective, as they have addressed the symptoms and not the underlying causes of the problem. The debate for some time has been dominated by access, control, tenure, and institutional issues. These are important in their own regard but more important are the operational and technological issues. The present paper discusses the problems faced with forest management in the State and proposes measures for improvement.