Flora
and Fauna
Past: Vivid evocations of the forest in
the Chitrakoot region in Ramayan, even allowing for poetic exaggeration,
indicate a dense forest inhibited by several wild animals. From medieval times,
we get references to hunting for elephants in the forests of Panna. Gazetteers
of Bundelkhand districts from British times also refer to a range of wild
animals, including tigers, panthers, leopards, hyena, antelopes and deer of
several kinds and marine wild life like crocodiles, alligators porpoises and
tortoises.
Present:
However
very little dense forest remains in Bundelkhand today. All wild animals have
become a rare sight in Bundelkhand, even in designated sanctuaries. Extensive
forests are now found only in the hilly areas of southern Bundelkhand. In
Bundelkhand Plain sub-region,
there is practically no forestland in many tehsils.
Uttar
Pradesh:
In UP Bundelkhand as a whole, less than 8% of the land is notified as forest
land; significant forest patches are found only in parts of Lalitpur and
Chitrakoot districts. UP Bundelkhand accounts for around a sixth of the forest
cover of entire UP, which has a forest cover of less than 6% overall.
Madhya Pradesh: In MP
Bundelkhand, the notified forest area is high in Panna and Damoh districts, and
quite high in Sagar and Chhatarpur. However, a notified forest is quite
different from an actual forest. Much of 'notified' forest land has ceased to
be a forest due to overexploitation, mining and quarrying, encroachment and
other reasons.
According
to FSI’s State of Forest Report 2005, around 21% of
the geographical area of India has a forest cover; 2% of the area is under
'very dense forest', 10% of the area is under 'moderately dense forest' and 9%
of the area is under 'open forests'. Madhya Pradesh accounted for over half the
total forest cover of the country, but whereas the notified or recorded forest
area constituted around 31% of the geographical area of the state, the actual
forest cover was over 25% of the area. Likewise, as the table below shows, actual
forest cover in many MP Bundelkhand districts is much lower than notified
forest areas.
Forest cover as percentage
of total geographical area (2005)
|
|
Very
dense forest
|
Moderately
dense forest
|
Open
forest
|
Total
forest cover
|
|
Jhansi
|
0
|
0.7
|
3.3
|
4
|
|
Lalitpur
|
0
|
2.9
|
8.4
|
11.3
|
|
Jalaun
|
0
|
1.5
|
4
|
5.5
|
|
Hamirpur
|
0
|
1.6
|
2.6
|
4.2
|
|
Mahoba
|
0
|
0.7
|
2.6
|
3.3
|
|
Banda
|
0
|
0.6
|
1.7
|
2.2
|
|
Chitrakoot
|
0
|
11.2
|
6.7
|
17.9
|
|
Datia
|
0
|
3
|
2.9
|
5.9
|
|
Chhatarpur
|
0
|
11.9
|
11.3
|
24.6
|
|
Tikamgarh
|
0
|
1.9
|
4.1
|
6
|
|
Panna
|
0.4
|
22.2
|
15.7
|
38.3
|
|
Damoh
|
0
|
11.9
|
24.7
|
36.6
|
|
Sagar
|
0
|
16.6
|
11.8
|
28.4
|
|
UP
|
0.5
|
1.9
|
3.4
|
5.9
|
|
MP
|
1.4
|
11.9
|
11.3
|
24.6
|
Source: State of Forest Report 2005, Forest
Survey of India,
and Union Ministry of Environment & Forests. Percentages derived
from absolute figures.
| 
