Wildfire destroys Marayur sandalwood

 IDUKKI,
The Hindu, February 27, 2016

Wildfire destroyed forest wealth across 50 hectares of land in the Pothadimala area in the Marayur sandalwood division on Friday.

The fire, which broke out at 11 a.m. in the lower area of Pothadimala, consumed the dried-out vegetation and spread to a large area.

A 50-member team, including forest officials, watchers, and the local people, reached the spot and brought the fire under control by 5 p.m. Estimates of the loss caused to the forest, including sandalwood trees, would be available by Saturday, said a senior official of the sandalwood division.

With the mercury soaring, wildfires in the grasslands soon spread to the sandalwood grown areas. In the 64 sq km area of sandalwood forest, 14 sq km has natural sandalwood. However, sandalwood is grown in other areas too.

Though fire lines have been cleared and more watchers have been appointed during the summer season to prevent wildfires, the large area of forest makes it difficult to control the fire. There are also increased chances of wildfires as the forest is in the rain shadow area. Forest watchers are camping in the area.

Read more »

KAU bid to get GI tag for Marayoor sandal

K. Santhosh 
THRISSUR,  
The Hindu, March 8, 2015

The Department of Wood Science of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has taken the initiative for securing forest certification and registration of Geographical Indication for Marayoor sandal.

Forest certification is a mechanism for monitoring, tracing, and labelling timber, wood, and pulp products and non-timber forest products whereby the quality of management from environmental, social, and economic perspectives is judged against a series of agreed standards.

Geographical Indications (GIs) identify products as agricultural goods, natural goods, or manufactured goods as originating or manufactured in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory where a given quality, reputation, or other characteristics of such goods is essentially attributable to itsgeographical origin.

“The Marayoor sandal division in Idukki district is the only compact tract of sandal forests in the country or, perhaps, the whole world having mature trees,” says E.V. Anoop, Head of the Department of WoodScience.

To combat illicit felling and smuggling of sandal wood trees, the government decided to upgrade the Marayoor range of the Munnar division into a new division named Marayoor sandal division in 2005(G.O. (MS) No: 67/2005/Forest dated 08/06/2005).About 150 daily-wage guards are engaged in protection of sandal 24x7. Most of them are members of the Vana Samrakshana Samithies that provide employment to tribal groups, mainly the Muthuvans and the HillPulayas.The Marayoor government sandalwood depot is the only one of its kind in the State, where dead, wind-fallen, and stolen trees are auctioned.The latest auction (e-lelam), held on February 5 and 6, earned the Forest Department a record revenue of Rs.46 crore.“The sandal from Marayoor is far superior in quality to that from Karnataka and Sathyamangala forests,” added Dr. Anoop.Wayanad Jeerakasala rice, Wayanad Gandhakasala rice, Central Travancore jaggery, Pokkali rice, and Vazhakkulam pineapple have been registered with the GI registry at KAU’s initiative.

Read more »

Smugglers may target sandalwood in private land

Giji K. Raman
KATTAPPANA, 
The Hindu, July 21, 2014 

Sandalwood trees grown in private land are now more prone to be stolen after the Forest Department stepped up protection of the trees in the Marayur Forest Division by devising various plans such as annual census, intensified monitoring, and heavy fencing around the sanctuary.

As per the last tree census, there were 60,160 sandalwood trees in the Marayur division; nearly 6,000 in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary; and 5,000 in Periyar Tiger Reserve, in addition to those grown in private land, especially in Marayur.

Marayur sandal is best suited for extracting oil and it is in high demand from cosmetic and perfume industries. However, there is no official data on the trees grown in private land, making them an easy target for smugglers.

An official of the Marayur Forest Division told The Hindu that sandalwood smuggling had considerably dropped in the protected areas following strong steps adopted by the government, including closing down of private factories and amending of the Kerala Forest Act.

However, the trees in private land are cut down by the farmers themselves at a tender age as there is an impression that it is their responsibility to keep the tree safe. Moreover, at the annual auctions, the Forest Department takes fully grown sandalwood only when it is naturally dead, or fallen.

In some cases, smugglers cut down the trees with the connivance of the owner as growing them were not considered commercially viable. In wildlife sanctuaries, dead trees could not be sold or removed as they were considered part of the ecosystem. Smugglers used this provision to steal such wood from the forests, an official said.

Seized sandalwood timber could easily be recognised whether they were from private land or not by assessing the maturity of the trees.

 

Read more »