HCS study notes: Haryana's

Environment
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Updated : Oct 12, 2018, 16:15

By : Arpit Kumar Jain

HCS study notes: Haryana's Environment

Biodiversity

 State Bird – Black Francolin

 State Tree – Peepal
 State Flower – Lotus
 State Animal - BlackBuck
 Vegetation: Deciduous forest and Thorny bushes are most prevalent
vegetation.
 Important trees: Mulberry, Eucalyptus, Pine, Shisham, Babul, etc.
 Fauna: Nilgai, Black Buck, Panther, Fox, etc.

National Parks

 Kalesar National park – Yamunanagar District

  Sultanpur National park – Gurgaon District

Wildlife Sanctuary

 Abubshehar WS – Sirsa district

 Bhindawas WS – Jhajjar district
 Bir Shikargarh WS – Panchkula district
 Chhilchhila WS – Kurukshetra district
 Kalesar WS – Yamunanagar district
 Khaparwas WS – Jhajjar district
 Nahar WS – Rewari district
 Saraswati WS – Kaithal district

Zoological Parks

 Mini Zoo – Kurukshetra district

 Rohtak Zoo – Rohtak district

Deer Parks

 Deer Park – Hisar

Afforestation

 With 80% of its land is under cultivation the state of Haryana is

predominantly an agricultural state. Thus the scope to notify forest
areas is very less. The notified forest area is only 3.9 %.
 The forest department has taken various initiatives to increase the
forest cover and tree cover by plantation programmes under
Social Forestry Initiatives on government lands, common lands,
panchayat lands, and other wastelands.
 Also, the forest department distributes the seeds free of cost to
farmers, government departments, and institutions, village people,
etc.
 Forest Department undertakes plantations on an average 20,000 ha
area annual basis.
 Approximately 60% of the plantation is done outside the
notified forests.
 Due to large-scale plantation initiated by forest department on non-
forest lands as well as the adoption of tree farming by farmers, the
forest & tree cover of the state has increased to 6.80% as per the
State of Forests Report published by Forest Survey of India
Dehradun in 2011.
 Forest Department has set a goal to achieve 20% of forest and tree
cover in a phased manner in the state. This goal can be achieved
only when major thrust is given to agroforestry and plantations on
lands outside the notified forest areas.
Conservation of Wildlife

 Though the forest cover is less in this state the bio-diversity is

abundant especially bird species are prominent here, mostly
migratory birds.
 Out of nearly 1250 bird species recorded in the Indian subcontinent;
approximately 500 species of birds are found in Haryana State.
 Two-pronged strategies by the forest department for best
preserving the wildlife in their natural habitat was adopted. One
is Protection and the other is Awareness generation
 The department is giving emphasis on habitat protection as well as
protection against poaching.
 The aim of wildlife conservation is being achieved through in-situ
and ex-situ conservation strategies.
 For in-situ conservation of wildlife inside their natural habitat, 2
National Parks, 8 Wildlife Sanctuaries and 2 Conservation Reserves
have been established in the state.
 As part of ex-situ conservation efforts breeding of Red Jungle
Fowlis being done near Pinjore. Red Jungle Fowl in Shiwaliks of
Haryana is considered to be of pure breed, which is also verified by
Centre for DNA/Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad.
 With the Gyps Vulture species on the brink of extinction, the
department has established Vulture Conservation and
BreedingCentre near Pinjore in collaboration with Royal Society for
Protection of Birds (RSPB), Zoological Society of London (ZSL) the
United Kingdom and Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
 The department has established deer park at Hisar and mini zoos at
Bhiwani, Rohtak, and Pipli to create awareness about wildlife
conservation.
 A Peacock & Chinkara Conservation and Breeding Centre has been
established at Jhabua Reserve Forest in Rewari district.

Soil and Water Conservation

 Lack of dense vegetation in this state leads to more soil erosion,

run-off, siltation, etc.. the Shiwalik hills which act as a watershed of
the state are prone to more soil problems due to lack of dense
vegetation, and during monsoon seasons heavy soil erosion takes
place.
 The government has taken various measures to conserve the topsoil
and run-off water.
 Soil and water conservation structures have been built. Structural
Interventions for catchment area treatment along with
biological remedial measures and social fencing is developed
to reduce the soil erosion and to prevent scouring and undercutting
of hill surfaces, channel banks and for stabilized channel bed
slopes.  
 The structural measures include staggered contour trenches,
peripheral trenches, gully plugs, spurs, studs, check dams, silt
retention dams, relevant crate wire structures, and drop structures. 
 The bio-remedial measures include vegetative/brushwood check
dams across channels, vegetative spurs in single or double
lines, vegetative filters and grass barriers, vegetative gully
plugs and stabilization of poundage area by planting trees and
mulching with locally available biomass. 
 In addition to structural and bio-remedial measures, the effective
closure to animal grazing and illicit felling of vegetation with
peoples active participation can be the most effective social fencing
measure in the rehabilitation of degraded catchments.
 Awareness and motivation are needed both among the local
people, NGOs, and public functionaries.