Living it up 2009
2009 has seen its first couple of days. it is irony that
Hope is wright all around us in spite of the global turmoils,
Hope makes us dream realize and thus exist,
To live and tell the tales of another day....
One such tale about a small Dream in the Quest of Mukurthi.
The Mukurthi Nilgiri Thar Sanctuary will always have its charm; nonetheless I can vouch for word Mukurthi in itself singlehandedly allured me in to conservation. It carried a mystic wonderland tag to it from all that I heard since my teens, thou I did personally set my foot on top of the peak in the year 2004 but it was in my dream list for more then a decade. In those days – that is around 10 years ago it was open to all those who had a streak for adventure to venture on to scale the peak even camp near the stream all that is restricted now, this zealously guarded patch of haven is a proper typified (few) remains of natural Shola grassland vegetation of Nilgiri Highlands. A verdant stretch of rolling mounds carpeted of a unique grass strains which retains moisture all thru the year hence called the catchment areas and natural over head tank of low altitude flood plains of River Bhavani one of the main intent to be notified as protected area apart from being a habitat for the endangered Nilgiri Thar.
All these years the Forest Department has done a commendable work in conserving this region however the plight of this unique grassland vegetation is under tremendous threat from wattle a commercial timber that was introduced by the English mainly for viscose fibre and for firewood needs – the wattle spreads very fast and is destroying the prime Shola grassland which the Forest Department is finding it difficult to eradicate, the only means to eradicate the wattle is by physically uprooting the wattle which is a herculean task and subsequently the windswept seedlings keeps pollinating to the adjoining peripherals. Hope that we are able to restrict the wattle and conserve this haven
Wishes for the Year 2009.
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