Palni Hills Conservation Council 17th Annual Report 2001-2002 The Executive Committee which met 10 times last year to oversee the activities of the council hereby presents its report to the members: Executive Committee: 1. Mr.J.Nath President 2. Fr.Rev.K.M.Matthew Vice President 3. Mr.Navroz Mody Vice President 4. Mr.Nevil Moncher Secretary 5. Mrs.Girija Viraraghavan Joint Secreatry 6. Mr.R.Kannan Treasurer 7. Mr.M.S. Viraraghavan Executive Committee Member 8. Mr.Israel Bhooshi Exectuive Committee Member 9. Mr.George Roshan Exectuive Committee Member 10. Mr.V. Sampath Exectuive Committee Member 11. Mr.Vijay Kumar Exectuive Committee Member 12. Mrs.Rebecca Chacko Exectuive Committee Member 13. Mr.Rajagopal Dorai Raja Exectuive Committee Member Membership: The total number of members of the council as on 31st March 2001 is as follows: Life Members 163 Annual Members 32 Institutional Members 2 -------- Total 197 -------- 1.Introduction: The tree growing efforts of the PHCC have been progressing for the past 15 years and the results are now becoming visible in the form of timber coming out from the trees that have been grown by farmers in their lands. The moto of the council " Health of the hills is the wealth of the plains" was based on the premise, that if enough biomass needs of the people are grown in farming lands, then there will be no urge to climb up the forests and destroy watersheds for fuel wood and timber. As part of the strategy the council's tree nurseries have been growing fast growing timber species that perform well in certain soil and moisture regimes. This was attempted some 8 years agao as a strategy to counter the slow growth and biomass output from wastelands and lands with marginal soil. There was a craze, fed by luring advertisements and group investment schemes promoted by unscrupulous companies entering in to the plantation sector promoting "Own your timber yard in 10 years time "some ten years ago and the specie promoted was only teak. Whereas the council promoted selected species that will grow well in good conditions and provide timber within a decade. The thrust of this segment is based on Gmelina arborea which is a broad leaved native tree of very good timber value. The gmelina prefers a well drained and deep red soil with moistue. When these conditions and abundant sunshine are available the tree grows very well and produces timber in about 10 - 15 years times. This was evident from many of our previous plantation efforts. For the past 8 years farmer's from the district of Pudukkottai have been taking out seedlings from our nurseries at Oddukkam, Genguvarpatti, Virvuveedu and Athoor tree nurseries. These trees planted with crops like groundnut, pulses and oil seeds plus on farm boundaries at this area has given phenomenal growth. The growth of some of the trees in the order of 60 inches of girth at breast height in seven years. The farmers are now selling the trees and gaining reasonable returns. There are also similar growth and returns as timber from Athoor and Kudhirayar watersheds. But the farmers in Pudukkottai have lifted more seedlings in the past years and the growth has been faster than at other places. Some of the farmers in that area initially were ingnorant of the value of these as timber trees and had sold the wood at low prices. After learning about this a PHCC teams visited the area and appraised the farmers about the value of the wood. Presently the farmers are demanding and getting better prices for the wood. This has also increased the demand for Gmelina arborea seedlings from our nurseries. The need of the hour is to train farmers to tree cropping and marketing of the produce from trees at higher value. This, the council plans to achieve through organising farmer's cooprative that will help form woodlot owners associations which will realise value adding to tree products. The council has now entered in to an agreement with a Danish NGO, Danish Forestry Extension to embark on such an extension service to improve the marketing techniques of tree growers. 2. Landuse change at the hills : The objective of the programmes at the hills is to change the landuse pattern from anuual or seasonal temperate vegetables that require the dipping up of the soil and lead to severe erosion where there are no Soil and Water Conservation Structures. We have obtained a preliminary sanction for a watershed Conservation project at the Mannavanur, Poondi area to be implemented in cooperation with farmers and village folks through formation of watershed Committees. The Upper Hill tree nurseries spread over the different watersheds are trying to propagate temperate horticultural crops like peach; plum and pears. The nurseries located at Shenbaganur; Poomparai; Pallangi and Vilpatti have all been growing peach as root stock for planting in farmers fields. When these plants are ready for grafting they are grafted in situ with plum or pears as the farmers' choice dictates, after one year of growth in the field. Last year the offtake from these five Upper hill nurseries have been below average indicating the depressed agricultural and horticultural market prices. Further the poor and unpredictable rains played havoc with the cropping and farming economy, which again adversely affected the distribution from our nurseries. The respective figures for distribution of plants from the hill nurseries is as follows i)Kodaikanal: The tree nursery which specialises on shola species distributed 3,400 plants to customers. Though the collection is about 8,500 shola trees comprising 30 species much needs to be done in the form of marketing the shola species as most of the distribution is now for those who approach the office. ii)Vilpatti: The demand for grafted peach seedlings has been poor and the offtake from this nursey was only 2,700 plants last year. Diversification and improved marketing are the need of the hour. The current stock there is 5,700 plants waiting for the rains. iii)Pallangi: Though the nursery has good water source the farmers are reluctant to change over to the vegetable horticulture mixed cropping and depend purely on temeperate vegetables. The offtake of seelings from this nursery is 3,700 plants only. Introduction of alternate crops like Niger seed is planned for the future land use change at this watershed We have at present 9,350 seedlings in beds as stock for this season. iv)Shenbaganur: The nursery stocks peach rootstock; shola species and ornamentals. Last year it managed to distribute 8,000 plants to farmers and customers. The present stock is 7,500. v)Poomparai: The nursery is located favorably for the farmers to lift the seedlings but there is not much interest among the farmers at the site. Thus we have to transport seedlings to Mannavanur and Poondi for distribution. So we plan to shift all the seedlings there to the new project site at Mannavanur for distribution and close down the nursery. Last year the nursery distributed 5,000 plants to the customers. The present stock is 9,500 plants. 3.Mercury Pollution: In the case pertaining to the mercury pollution from the thermometer factory at Kodaikanal, the company has stopped production at the factory permanently. But the recommendations of the expert committee constituted by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to clean the factory premises of toxic waste and contaminated mud is yet to be carried out. Thus there is still the danger lurking at that site which has the poterntial to discharge contaminated wastes downstream. The Council has started to document the entire case in Tamil to publish a case history which will serve as a handbook for anyone concerned with industrial production facilities that are using toxic materials. The case study will form part of an Environment Encyclopaedia that will be put on the Internet. 4.Greenbelt around the Palni Hills through tree nurseries at six watersheds: i)Manjalar Watershed: This area has been supplied with tree seedlings from the nursery at Amsapuram as it is close to the buffer zone where farmers are not going in for water intensive crops like coconut palms. The tree nursery has been running for a period of 11 years and has supplied 200 farmers with tree seedlings of 40 species of drought tolerant varieties. A survey was undertaken to ascertain the present status of the seedlings supplied through the past seasons. It was found that there were very good shelterbelts and good sized individual tree speciments at various stages of growth in farmers fields. During the previous year the rainfall was a mere 450 mm during the North East Monsoon season thus contributing to very poor undergound water storage. This led to poor uptake of tree seedlings from the nursery at the environment centre. Despite the drought the farmers in the area were supplied with 26,000 tree seedlings of 20 species in 2001-02. The nursery has a stock of 53,000 seedlings for providing planting material for the coming season. Currently the nursery has been attracting visitors as far as from Kumuli in Kerala and also cardamom growers in the state, who have been lifting species like Dalbergia and Acrocoarpus for shade in the cardamom farms. The nursery is building up a germplasm of trees with ornamental foliage and flowers. Thus far it has been able to collect seeds and grow trees of some 40 species. The centre has been collecting seeds from the Talayar watershed for distribution to the various nurseries and for its own use. A notable experiment is underway to grow wild mango from stones and plant the seedlings as avenue trees in the coming season. A Practice that has been discontinued for many years as commerce demands only grafts with sweet pulp with good looks, which leads to poor drought tolerance and to timber value as the stem form is short and much branched. The arboretum has not grown much since the drip system could not operated for want of water. The water pumping rate from our borewell has dropped from 100 lpm to about 30 lpm, the lowest in the last 10 years. a) Butterfly garden: The paucity of water has meant that only a few of the food web species for butterflies could grow in the arboretum area but we were able to increase the collection a the Environment Centre by 4 new species that were not visiting the arboretum previously. b) ECO PARK plan and Dormitory for visitors The ECOPARK plan has been finalised and we are in the process of approaching various donors in supporting the different components for implementing the plan of development. It is expected to take about four years for the ecopark to develop and become fully operational. When developed fully it will be unique in its kind in India, in that, it will demonstrate all aspects of alternative housing; energy; health; forestry and nature conservancy. The ECOPARK will be a demonstration centre for soft energy paths and decentralised technologies that are viable for the common man to follow and live without damaging the life supporting biological systems of the planet. As part of the plan, this year a dormitory to accommodate eleven persons has been completed, with financial assistance from FUTURE EARTH, CHILE. The dormitory is hexagonal in shape and is built using stone masonry. The charnockite stones were obtained from open well digging near the ecopark. The binding material is LIME mortar with 5% cement and the roof is traditional tiles that are supported by rafters obtained from coconut trees that are dying for want of water. Thus the entire building is eco-friendly. We propose to use non edible oil fueled lamps to illuminate the same. A few trials with Physic Nut oil have been conducted and the results are encouraging. At the recreation part of the ecopark, facilities have been provided for rest; bathing and refreshing for travellers. A shop constructed with bamboo and thatched roof provides natural products like honey, herbal shampoo, organic hand pounded rice, bees wax ointments; vegetarian soap etc which have been produced by the Council's staff in Co-operation with village folk. ii) Vaigai Watershed Viruveedu Tree nursery: The Vaigai basin has its tributaries in the Bodi and Palani hills. The river runs through one of the most dry areas in Dindigul District. Farmers were growing Moringa prterigosperma under vast areas in this watershed. But recently have abandoned the drumstick cultivation due to serious caterpillar that eats the leaves; flowers and young fruits. The rainfall has been very scanty and the centre has recorded 650 mm of rain but distributed over 30 rainy days. This has contributed to the recharge of the aquifers and borehole there supplying the tree nursery is pumping water at the rate of 35 lpm. The nursery has a good reputation among farmers and has supplied 26,400 seedling to farmers in the five target villages of Kannapatti; Viruveedu; Valayapatti; Thatha patti and West Valayapatti. The nursery has also supplied farmers at distant Pudukkottai with 15,000 seedlings of Gmelina arborea. The total offtake of seedlings from the nursery last year was 41,000 at cost to various customers. iii) Kodaganar Watershed a) Athoor Tree Growing Centre: This nursery is located on the banks of river Kodaganar at the Kamarj sagar dam site has received only 650mm of rainfall against the average of 1,200 mm. The has meant that the farmers of J.Pudukkottai village who participated in the tree growing effort have lost most of the seedlings planted in their fields due to the severe drought prevailing there. The programme also supplied some 1,200 mango and sapota grafts to the farmers in the area. This was subsidised through a grant from the Joe Homan Charitable trust UK. Unfortunately the drought prevailing there has affected the people of the J.Pudukkottai village, who have no water to drink and keeping the grafts alive was beyond their means. We plan to supply the casualities and provide some more useful but hardy fruit bearing tree seedlings to the farmers in the coming monsoon season. The water position at the dam is very critical and the DMC has not been able to supply water to the nursery and we have had to look for a an alternate source of water for the growing seedlings. Fortunatey a farmer with a bore well close to the nursery has been helping our centre with water. b) New nursery site at Kannivadi; Keeping in view of the sustainability component and more visible presence in the area a new nursery has been started at the bee Keeping training centre that was situated on the Sempatti- Oddanchatram main road. This nursery hopes to supply farmers in the area with seedlings up to Palani as the approach is easier with the nursery located on the arterial road connecting the two towns. This new nursery will be able to supply seedlings to farmers up to the of Reddiar Chatram where there are a lots of wastelands. iv) Sirumalai Watershed Oddukkam Tree Nursery and Tree Seed Centre: It is fifteen years since the tree nursery started functioning and many a seedling supplied from the nursery have become good fruit and shade bearing trees. Notables have been trees supplied to educational and industrial establishments who have preserved the trees. These are now serving the TREE SEED CENTRE as provenances for seed collection. Those farmers who have planted trees at Pudukkottai took their first Gmelina seedlings from Oddukkam tree nursery in 1994. These are now providing the farmers with cash income as timber with each tree when harvbested producing about 2-5 cft of timber. Last season the tree nursery rasied and distributed 62,000 tree seedlings comprising of 67 species. The seed centre has been catering to the needs of nurserymen and foresters who raise nurseries and plantations. The TSC collected seeds from 86 species of native trees and supplied over 1300kg of seeds to buyers. The DMC have expresed their inability to supply water to the tree nursery due to acute water scarcity in the Dindigul township. The nursery recorded a rainfall of 650 mm only during the 2001 02 season. We have now contracted with a nearby temple borewell which has enough water for the existing stock of 57,000 seedlings at the nursery. But to raise more seedlings for the coming season the Tree Nursery has a opened a new branch nursery at a site some two km from the old centre. This is situated on the Natham Dindigul Road and current stock there is 15,000 seedlings. This new site has much more exposure to the public as all travelling on the tunk road will get a glimpse of the nursery. As the new site is very visible comaparted to the seclusion of our previous centre we hope to cater to the needs of more farmers; public and any one interested in trees in the coming season from the Tree Seed centre and rejuvenate the spirit of greening of the parched lands. v) Amaravathi Watershed Kudhirayar Tree Growing Centre: The nursery situated close to the Indira Gandhi National park is the only nursery that received 800 mm of rain last year. It has supplied 15,000 seedlings to farmers for planting in the last season. The nursery has good potential for developing as a eco tourism centre. The nursery has been operational since 1988 and some of the trees planted at farmers trees are now ready for the market as small timber. The coorperation between Danish Forestry Extension, and PHCC is based on the tree planting work that has been progressing at the Andipatti - Kallapuram area since 1988 where there are good standing trees in farmers fields. The faremers are now to form a cooperative to market the tree based products like fodder; firewood and timber to earn better incomes and realise higher value for tree products. The centre is an important provenance for seed collection and last year has collected two tonnes of Embelica officinalis fruits for seed distribution to all the tree nurseries. vi) Parappalar Watershed Middle Palnis Landuse Change programme: This has been effected through smaller tree and fruit nurseries at Palkadai; SVK Kombai; Semmadioothu and Melpallam. The nurseries here have been catering to the shade tree needs of coffee and pepper growers in the past. But due to the extreme water scarcity prevailing in the coffee growing areas of Palni Hills and low prices for coffee. The growers are reluctant to take seedlings from these nurseries. The Palkadai nursery attached to the beekeeping training programme managed to distribute only 4,000 plants last season. The SVK Kombai nursery distributed 2,000 rooted pepper cuttings and 1,000 areca nut seedlings to tribal farmers in the area free of cost. The Semmadioothu nursery supplied 2,000 plants of orange and 1,000 rooted pepper cuttings to the tribal farmers in the region. Trials with Niger seed have been conducted at all the middle elevation centres with a view to introduce the crop as a bee forage plant and income generating alternative to the present crops like coffee and pepper. Despite the poor rainfall the results have been encouraging and we have harvested seeds of Niger within a span of 100 days at SVK Kombai and hope to distribute more seed of Guizotia abyssinica to farmers in the coming season. The crop has about 30% edible oil and is known to be resistant to insects and pests. 5. Condensed Environment Education Course: This year we have started a new environment education programme titled CEC. The objective of the programme is to expose schools students from rural areas of Palni Hills to the threats facing fauna and flora of the hills over a period of one year. The programme operates by dividing the hills and foothill areas in to three zones and has selected six schools in each zone. The selected schools will send three students and one teacher each for a two day course. The course will provide the participants with theory classes and field study. The subjects included are biodiversity conservation; status of wild life; degradation of forests; pollution of water sources and agro ecosystem analysis. The first programme is to give an introduction to the participants; the second will be for theory classes and field studies. The third will be for trekking into the forests for data collection from streams and vegetation. The CEC after completetion of the course will assess the understanding of each student of the subjects and field studies taught. The best students; teacher and school will be awarded prizes for the participation at the CEC. There will be a Tamil Booklet published at the end of the programme. 6) Water Quality Monitoring Projects: The water quality of the Kodaikanal lake has been used as a training tool for school students to learn concepts in ecology; eutrophication due to anthropocentric activites and watershed preservation. But due to indifferent attitude of the public and authorities the discharge from 800 odd toilets and several houses with no toilet facilities have severly polluted the lake. Though there is lot of talk in the media and concerned circles no one is willing to take the real issue of preventing discharge of nutrients in to the lake. The programme covered some 662 students and 23 teachers from 20 schools in the Kodaikanal area. It is hoped that in future there will be respite for the lake with prevention of nutrient discharge at source and clean up of the abundant algae and cyclops, a zooplankton that is growing in numbers over the years. The present status of the lake is as follows: Station point depth 2001 2002 Middle 7.5 metres 6.5 Bryant park 3.5 2.5 Carlton hotel 6.5 5.4 Sterling 3 2 Visibility 0.8 mts 0.7 mts Dissolved oxygen 8.2 mg/l 5.6 mg/l The tests were performed just after the tourist season ended in June each year to asses the quality parameters. About 70% of the surface area of the water has been covered by Hydrilla and Lilly plants. The dumping of the horse manure in the form of fresh dung is still continuing. The water has become dark green in colour and there is more submerged vegetation than ever before. The removal of the shops at the periphery is a good step in stopping nutrient enrichment of the lake waters. The Kodiakanal Municipality is to be congratulated for this timely action. 7) Water crisis at the Palni Hills: Collapse of the coconut plantations due to water table dropping below 600 ft is a common phenomenon at the foothills. The failure of the North East monsoon and the summer showers subsequently has exposed the vulnerability of the coconut plantations at the foothill. The falling water table has indicated the seriousness of the situation vis a vis mining water for agriculture be it coconut or vegetables or bananas. There is an urgent need to educate farmers on the water depeletion situation of aquifers and effects of various crops on water table. The Council plans to do a survey of the Nilakkottai and Athoor blocks of the district and present a report at a one day workshop for the farmers in the region. This will raise questions and raise awareness among the farmers about the falacies of market vis a vis WTO and free import of agro produce plus the failing of agriculture. GVP environment centre will be the place for such a debate and workshop. 8. Apiculture and Beekeeping training programmes: The bees of the hills are dependent on the crops and as the crops have withered due to failure of the monsoon the prodcutivity of the bees have been severly curtailed. The stress in the form of less forage has also meant more absconding colonies and spread of the Thai Sac Brood Virus which after seven years is showing its virulence again. Despite this the council has managed to maintain some 250 colonies in farmers fields and apiaries. The bees are currently maintained in favorably located farms with sugar syrup and pollen substitute feeding. Apart from working with Indian hive bee Apis cerana indica the projects" beekeepers have also started work on Stingless Bees for pollen and pollination. These bees are kept in clay pots that are opened twice a year to produce some pollen and honey which is highly valued in traditional medicine systems. a) New Training centres The training of farmers and rural folks in to apiculture has been the main thrust of this programme apart from Honey production and pollination of crops. The project has started training centres in two new sites, one at the Genguvarpatti environment centre and the other at Kannivadi which is at the main road connecting Oddanchatram and Sempatti. The objective being to introduce colonies in to hithertofore unexplored areas and train rural youth in to apiculture. b) Trainees All the six centres have conducted one course for training new aspirants in to beekeeping with Apis cerana indica. Each batch consists of 20 trainees out of which 10 are women. Thus at the six centres we have this year trained 120 persons in to apiculture. The traines have been provided with a stipend and also a hive each with colonies wherever possible. It is now proposed to form trainees clubs that will become active at each centre and work towards forming Self help groups who will work for quality in honey for the rural poor and pollination services for the farmers in each area. c)Trainers workshop The project has six men and six women trainers who are responsible for the teaching of practical and theory of beekeeping with the Indian hive bee. The project arranged for the trainers to meet two times during the year and discuss the problems at each centre and the solutions they have attempted for the situation. Thus the sharing of knowledge from different areas and watersheds has been made possible. The project sent the trainers to the Asian Apicultural Association Workshop at Bangalore for five days from February 26th to March 2nd 2002 to learn about the work of scientists and other beekeepers from all over Asia. This was a very useful exposure to the trainers as they were able to understand that the bees they work with also has international significance. There was also a workshop designed to sharpen the skills of queen rearing; hive making and select colonies for disease resistance. These were with expert help from Denmark Beekeeping Ferderation. Dr.Lise Hansted and Mr.Mogens Jensen spent three weeks during March and April to help the trainers design the experiments at each centre. Simultaneously they also evaluated the performance of the project and the achievements of objectives for the entire project. d)Handbook in Tamil: We have released the first edition of the beekeeping handbook in Tamil for the trainees. This is practical guide with useful tips for any one interested in apiculture with our native bees. This book has been produced by sharing all the experience of the beekeepers from the six different centres. There will be a second revised edition of the handbook in the year 2003. 9) Minor Field Studies: Though we could not organise a complete census of the wildlife forms at Palni Hills we were able to help two conservation volunteers from UK to participate in a survey and collection of butterflies at Kudhirayar. Mr.Malcom Grant and Miss.Hannah managed to get 37 speceis of butterflies during February 02 and have also preserved the specimens as an exhibit at the centre. 10. Workshop on sanctuary to protect tribal rights As part of the proposal to declare a protected area network and sanctuary for the Palni Hill the council has taken various studies. But it decided to get the views of the village folks; tribals and farmers about the proposed sanctuary. This was a two day event organised at the Boat club, Kodaikanal on 16th and 17th of August 2001. The forest department with the Assistant Conservator of Forests and the staff were present to give their the views of the implications of the declaration of the sanctuary. There was lively debate for the two days with all the participants given due considerations to present their views. The tribals expressed their concern that the assurance of the authorities about the traditional rights were not resepected when it comes to issues at the field of collection of forest produce. The Forest Department cleared all the doubts about the settlements and asured that there will be no evictions from any settlement. The papers read and presented are now being published in to a booklet in Tamil. 11. Conclusion: The Council's efforts have borne fruits in producing timber as a crop from farm lands. The task before the council is now to spread the work to other areas of Tamil Nadu by organising training programmes and educating other NGOs in to taking up similar development work in the sphere of Natural Resource Management. We hope to take up the challenge in the coming years. Our sincere thanks for the following donors who have helped the efforts in implementing the various projects. 1. Danish Beekeepers Federation, Denmark 2. Danish Forestry Extension, Denmark 3. Joe Hoeman Trust, UK 4. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm 5. Forgoten Children, USA 6. IUCN, Netherlands 7. Both Ends, Netherlands 8. CAPART, New Delhi 9. Inter Cooperation, SDC, Bangalore 10. St.Olaf college, Minnesota, USA 11. Centre for Ervironment Education, Bangalore We express our thanks for the Dindigul Municipal Corporation and the Public Works Department. Palani for providing the place for maintaining the tree nurseries and centres at Athoor, Oddukkam and Kudhirayar. The works have been possible with the cooperation and sincere efforts of the staff who have achieved the targets and implemeted the projects. The EC expresses its sincere thanks to our Auditors M/s. Elango and Madhavan who have efficiently audited the accounts of the council's projects. Sd 2-8-02 Mr.J.Nath Kodaikanal President