Activity Update January 2019: Satpura

Highlights:

Binora - Students learn about nature and wildlife at our nature camp 

Binora - Students learn to identify pug marks during our nature camp 

Jhirpa - Dr. Manohar Khode treats villager at our free medical camp 

Jhirpa - Our colleague Aabid conducts an environment education
programme in the village school

Jhirpa - Students collect plastic litter from the jungle

Jhirpa - Students with plastic littter collected during the drive

Jhirpa - Village women learn sewing and tailoring at our training program

Mehandikheda - Students clean water body in the jungle

Nandiya - Participants at our nature camp 

Nandiya - Students at our nature camp

Tekapar - Dr. Manohar Khode treats a patient at our free medical camp

Jhirpa - Check dam built on a stream in the jungle

Jhirpa - Volunteers building the check dam in the jungle 

THE FULL REPORT

Team:  Ashfaq Aarbi – Conservation Officer

            Hameed Khan – Field assistant

            Aabid Khan     - Field assistant

Highlights

·      8 water conservation voluntary work projects during the month – built 4 check dams and cleaned 4 water bodies

·      Arranged anti-plastic program

·      Joined Forest Department staff on 7 patrols

·      Organised nature camp at Nandiya

·      Participated in Forest Department’s Anubhuti nature camp program 2019

·      Classroom visits to 25 schools as part of our environment education program – attended by 1,175  students

·      Organised livelihood training at Jhirpa

·      Medical camps in 6 villages -  121 patients treated

·      Organised livestock and fodder management meetings in villages

·      Organised meeting on Ujjwala scheme for LPG connections in villages

·      Visit to check on status of  6 villages which have already been relocated

Conservation

During January, we organised 8 programs related to water conservation.

On January 8, we organised a program to build a check dam on a stream near Jhirpa village. A team comprising of 11 students from Government Middle School Jhirpa and our field assistant Aabid built the dam. The resultant water body will benefit wildlife at night. Spotted deer, monkeys and leopards are regularly spotted in the area.

Three similar programs were organised at Maili, Matkuli and Pisuwa on January 19, 21 and 24.

On January 13, we organised a program to clean a water body in the jungle near Pisuwa village. The water body was covered with leaves and organic litter and clogged with scum and animals were finding it difficult to drink. Our team, consisting of field assistant Hameed Khan and 14 children from Government Middle School, Pisuwa cleared the litter and made the water body accessible to the animals again. Spotted deer are regularly spotted around this water body while there are occasional sightings of sloth bears, wild dogs, wild pigs and leopards.

Three similar programs were organised at Maili, Matkuli and Mehandikheda on January 19, 21 and 25.

Anti-Plastic campaign

During the month, we organised anti-plastic campaigns and solid waste management programs at Pisuwa, Matkuli, Tekapar and Jhirpa with the support of Local Gram Panchayats and schools on Jan 13, 27 and 28.

Forest patrolling

During the month we participated in forest patrols with Forest Department staff at Jhela, Pipaljhela, Jhirpa, Aaditoriya, Duddi, Bandhan and Almod. Participants included Mr. Shivnarayan Devda (Forest Guard), Pawan Thakur and Santosh Kumar, both Forest choukidars and Eco-Development Committee members.

Nature Orientation camp

On February 7- 9, we organised a Nature Orientation camp at Nandiya for school children of East Pachmarhi and Denwa buffer zone to promote awareness about wild life, nature and environment. We also organised visits to Chouragad, Nandigarh and the relocated village of Binora. This program was attended by Mr. S.K. Singh (Chief Conservator of Forests & Field Director, Satpura Tiger Reserve), Mr. Sanjeev Sharma (Asst. Director) Mr. M.P. Tiwari (Range Officer- East Pachmarhi), Mr. Abhijeet Dutta (Asst. Director SF) and 45 school children. The entire cost of the program was borne by the Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board, Bhopal.

Anubhuti Program 2019

On January 6, we supported the Anubhuti nature camp program at Parraspani for school children, focusing on wildlife, nature and environment development. The program, organised by the Forest Department, included a visit to the relocated village of Parraspani. This program was attended by Mr. Vishal Dongre (Range Officer), Mr. Khare (Rtd. SDO), all forest guards of Matkuli circle and 120 school children from Amadesh, Raiyatwadi, Madho and Jhiriya villages.

Education 

During the month, our team organised 25 lectures to educate students about nature and wildlife conservation.

Employment Cell - Training Program

Satpuda Foundation and Nehru Yuva Kendra, Chhindwara, jointly organised a self- employment training program to train unemployed women in making products from cloth, such as dresses, baby dresses, ladies’ garments and fancy items.

Nehru Yuva Kendra had invited us to send 30 candidates from Jhirpa, Khanchari, Karer and Aaditoriya. We identified 30 unemployed women from the villages in our area of operations and sent them for the 3-month program, which started on December 15.

The entire cost of the program is being borne by Nehru Yuva Kendra, Chhindwara (Ministry of Youth affairs & Sports, Govt. of India).

During the month, we also organised meetings of Self-Help Groups with Block Coordinator (NRLM) at Tekapar, Pisuwa, Matkuli and Mohgaon on January 30 and 31. The Block coordinator explained about available micro-finance schemes, small savings, record management and the SHG grading process.

Mobile Health Service (MHS)

Satpuda Foundation organises medical camps at which villagers get free treatment and medicines. These camps, whose schedule is set in conjunction with the management of the Satpuda Tiger Reserve, are run by the Mobile Health Service (MHS) of Satpuda Foundation.

There were health camps in 6 villages in January.

Livestock and fodder management

During the month, we organised 5 awareness meetings on livestock and fodder management jointly with Forest Department and Animal Husbandry Department. The topics discussed at the meetings included use of cattle sheds, stall feeding, improved fodder techniques, reduction of grazing pressure on forests and cattle castration.

These meetings were attended by Mr. Sharif Khan (Deputy Ranger), Mr. Shivnarayan Devda, Vimlesh Byalsa, Dilip Tyagi, (Forest Guards), Smt. Sharda Kumre (Sarpanch – Jhirpa) and villagers.

We also organised meetings with Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Animal Husbandry Department on stall feeding and livestock management on January 29 and 30.

LPG Ujjwala Scheme

During the month, we organised meetings with Assistant Food Inspector on LPG distribution through the Ujjwala Scheme to make villagers aware about the scheme and to help them in filling up forms and submitting documents to the office of the Food Department. The Assistant Food Inspector explained the benefits of LPG connections to the women and exhorted them not to sell their connections. The details of the meetings are given in the table below.