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How green was my forest

By Siddhartha Handique |

There was a time when Nambor Reserve Forest along the Golaghat-Karbi Anglong border was known for natural beauty and bounty. It was in 1872, the famed 875.50 square km area was declared as reserved forest by the British calling it an abode of many unique spices of plants. 

But now it is facing an extinction threat. One after another projects in the name of infrastructure development have resulted in the shrinkage of the entire reserve forest. 

For the last few decades, the entire area has been a staple source of wealth for many botanists to do research works. But gradual shrinkage in the area and the various industrial activities in the adjacent places threaten to uproot many unique spices of plants. 

In 1952, around 6 sq. km. of forest land was cut off from Nambor to be included in the Garampani reserve forest. But it turned into a den of anti social activities. Renowned botanist Dr. Padmeswar Gogoi along with social activist Arup Ballav Goswami have been demanding proper steps to conserve the forest resources of Nambor and Garampani. Acting on their mounting pressure, on 27 July in 2000, the Assam government declared 37 square km area of the Nambor reserve forest in Karbi Anglong district as ‘Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary. The remaining portion of forest area under Golaghat district was named as the Nambor-Doigrung Sanctuary in 2003.

Led by botanist Gogoi, a team of botanists in 1993 discovered several species of mushroom now facing extinction. Then these were sent these to the Royal Botanic Garden in London. 

The garden curator Dr. D.A. Peyter in his letter called three species Lentinus Velutinous, Clitocybe Geotropa and Lentinustuberegium. 

Another striking feature of Nambor is the presence of rare fern known as Nephrolapis Namborosis. It is found only in Nambor to be named after Nambor. 

Due to lack of conservation and deforestation some rare species of plant that are soon going to be extinct. These include Jewel Orchid, Vanilla Periphera, Bon Aom, Thapi Lata etc. 

Thus, lack of care and conservation measures, a natural laboratory of systematic botany is on the verge of extinction. 

 

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