Our stall at the Indus Festival of Charities, 2011

This is the third year we've participated at this event, and this time we finally had lantana products for sale in addition to the bags.

All 51 hangers got sold, and some hairsticks as well. The craftsman Shatrughan (of Sawra, Pench) made far too many hairsticks, though I'd warned him not to. Mumbai women don't necessarily have long hair or wear this kind of hair ornament. Anyway, we have over 50 hairsticks still with us, and eventually we're hoping to find buyers for most of them.

Here's an earlier post about these products. You can see photos of the hangers and hairsticks, very pretty and well-crafted by Shatrughan, who is an excellent carpenter.

The shopping bags got a good response too. Several people remembered our bags from last year. This time we had bags made by four girls from Moharli (Tadoba) in addition to those made by the people from Pench. There were a few patchwork bags too, here's a picture:



The fabric pieces were donated to us by the NGO Womenweave.
I had actually gone to them to buy fabric, but they suggested we could use the cut pieces for patchwork instead.

The slogan is our attempt to dumb down the message of why conservation is critical. Many thanks to chlorophyll brand consultancy for the design and printing.

We had two very interesting visitors at the stall, both awardees at this year's Sanctuary Awards: Daulat Singh Shaktawat of Ranthambhor, and Rajendra Kerkar of Goa. They were staying at the YMCA, where the Indus festival was being held.

Here's last year's stall at Indus. And the stall of 2009.

Thanks Parth Badheka for volunteering at the stall all day, and Kirti Chavan too.

Villagers move out of tiger zone, and are the richer for it

Indian Express
Vivek Deshpande
Posted: Mon Oct 17 2011, 00:03 hrs
Link

At a time when the rehabilitation of villages out of tiger landscapes has become more difficult than ever, with the Forest Rights Act having made it subject to vilagers’ consent, here is one tiger territory that stands out in contrast.

Tucked in the Melghat hills, Wan has become the first tiger area to have successfully relocated three villages at one go. And the villagers have not only consented but are so happy that many other villages have petitioned the Forest Department to rehabilitate them too.

For the 350 families of Amona, Nagartas and Bharukheda, relocation earlier this year has brought Rs 10 lakh per adult, free land for a house, and better access to markets, education, health facilities, the court, the police and tahsil headquarters. They now use buses that rarely reached them earlier.

Amona, which has shifted 10 km to a new location in Kasod, is now 15 km from its new tahsil headquarters of Akot in Akola district; its previous headquarters of Chikhaldara in Amravati was over 100 km away. Shivpuri, just 2 km away, has a primary health centre as well as job opportunities. Mahadeo Tote says: “I suffered a sloth bear attack a few months ago. It took me six hours to reach the hospital; now, anyone can reach a hospital in less than 30 minutes.”

Akot itself has all educational facilities. Earlier, the villagers had to walk 3 km for water when their borewell went dry in the summer; now, they have water right in the village round the year.

Bharukheda and Nagartas, earlier 10 km apart, have been resettled at the same place. Bharukheda was 120 km from Chikhaldara and villagers travelled on foot or by bullock cart, then change buses thrice. Neither Bharukheda nor Nagartas had electricity; now all three villages have free connections and new ration cards, besides an assured government job to a member of each family.

“We thought of a novel idea of offering them the vacated irrigation colony of the Wan project. They were so happy to see the pucca quarters that they shifted to the place without waiting for the formalities to be completed,” says Srinivas Reddy, deputy conservator of forests, Akot.

“We are closer to many essential facilities. We now also have electricity,” says Sheikh Nizam Sheikh Munir, a ration shop owner in Bharukheda.

The shift has fetched villagers mobile phones, two-wheelers and even four-wheelers, apart from financial stability — a Rs 5-lakh, six-year fixed deposit that fetches the beneficiary around Rs 4,500 per month; Rs 2 lakh in a savings account and Rs 3 lakh in a nine-month fixed deposit.

“Some families with four adult members have received up to Rs 40 lakh. This they would probably never have been able to save... inside the forests,” says Reddy.

The forest department offered only the plots; many villagers built their own houses. “We didn’t want to leave anything for them to complain about. Normally, there are lot of complaints about the quality of construction,” Reddy says.

A few families, less than 50, legally owned farmland at the pervious locations. “We compensated them,” Reddy says. The landowners, however, say they have faced difficulty buying suitable land for farming since local farm-owners have jacked up prices. “They feel we have a lot of money now,” one says. Reddy says, “That would be a temporary phenomenon. We hope the prices will come down in the near future.”

The new residential properties offer a major consolation. The 2,000 sq feet each villager owns is worth Rs 3 lakh.

For the forest department, the advantages have been many. “With the three villages gone from the prime tiger land, a large tract has been freed for freer movement of wildlife. It has also taken the grazing pressure off the area with more than 3,000 heads of cattle now out of it. The villagers ignited forest fires for better tendu harvest. We will now have drastically fewer fires to tackle,” says principal secretary (forest) Pravin Pardeshi, who was divisional commissioner of Amravati till a few months ago, and who personally interacted with and convinced the villagers to go for rehabilitation.

"We need national watershed management - which can be done only by wildlife"

An article about our founder and president Kishor Rithe. This is the link to the story.

Winning videos from the Mofilm video contest 2010

These were the five winners from Mofilm's video contest for the International Film Festival of India, Goa, 2010. We were one of the participating brands.

I've posted the first place winner Tiger Water Tree earlier (click here for the post).

Our brief for the contest was to show the connection between tigers and our water supply. "Save tigers = save forests = save water" is our theme in all our communication. Have a look at how each contestant interpreted the message.

We can't thank Mofilm enough for featuring us in their "Causes" category. We could never had had such a platform without their support. And of course a big thank you to the talented contestants!

Below: Tiger Water Tree
Created by Lindsay McFarlane




Below: Tiger Dance
Created by: White Balance Films




Below: Let it roar. Let it rain.
Created by: Mauricio Thomsen




Below: Save Tigers
Created by: Raja Naveen Srungavarapu




Below: The Jungle Guardian
Created by: Ligia Cortes




Mofilm: http://www.mofilm.com

Virginia McKenna and Born Free Foundation

In the picture above: Will Travers, Virginia McKenna, SF founder/President Kishor Rithe, Dr Claudio Sillero and Chris Wright, after a lecture Kishor gave at the Born Free Foundation in Horsham, UK.

The Foundation was started by Ms McKenna and her husband Bill Travers, famous as the actor- couple who played Joy and George Adamson in the classic movie Born Free. This is the Foundation website.

Kishor writes from the UK:

"Today I was invited to give a lecture at Born Free Foundation at Horsham (UK). I was specially thrilled to see and meet a famous actress Virginia McKenna among the audience. She attended my lecture and applauded the work of Satpuda Foundation! While speaking to her after the lecture, I found her a great person...

"For her services to wildlife and to the arts, in 2004 Virginia was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire...I am proud that Satpuda Foundation is associated with Born Free Foundation, the organization that Virginia founded.

"She promised to extend every support for our conservation battle in the Satpuda! She was highly impressed by our work and has asked me to convey her best wishes to all our field staff, office bearers and trustees of Satpuda Foundation."

Unified control of core, buffer for TATR FD

Link to the story in Times of India (Nagpur)

Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Sep 15, 2011

NAGPUR: In a move that could go a long way in ensure buffer area management gives priority to tiger conservation, the state government is finally considering giving unified control of the core and buffer areas to the field director of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR).

The issue will come up for discussion with forest minister Patangrao Kadam during his visit to Nagpur on September 16. Some MLAs from Chandrapur district, who are opposing the move, allegedly to favour timber and mining lobby, have also been invited to the meeting to clear confusion.

Praveen Pardeshi, principal secretary (forests), confirmed the development. "Unified control of core and buffer areas with the field director of tiger reserve has been recommended by NTCA and practised in other tiger reserves. The same approach seems suitable for orienting buffer area management. Rights of people in buffer will not be harmed," Pardeshi said.

A committee appointed by PCCF (wildlife) in October 2010 headed by additional PCCF AK Saxena, APCCF Shree Bhagwan, CCF VK Sinha, CF GRK Rao and Satpuda Foundation chief Kishor Rithe had also recommended reorganization of Chandrapur division in the buffer area and give unified control to TATR field director.

"This is a usual reorganization for forest and wildlife management purpose. Britishers have gone from the country in 1947. We've shifted from timber extraction era to conservation field. Indian Wildlife And Forest Acts have been changed and given complete focus on conservation especially from 2002," Rithe said.

Rithe further said where tiger reserves have been created, their buffer and core areas have been given to wildlife department to manage. "The Centre is planning to have a separate wildlife department to manage protected areas (PAs) properly," he added.

"Now, Maharashtra cannot lag behind. A few politicians who are against this idea will have to think about future of Chandrapur district," Rithe, member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL), added.

Currently, three administrative units viz. Chandrapur, Brahmapuri and West Chanda FDCM divisions have overlapping administrative jurisdiction. Large areas of Chandrapur division fall in the buffer area and only a few compartments of Brahmapuri and West Chanda fall in the buffer.

It has been recommended that these compartments may be attached with Chandrapur division and entire buffer of Chandrapur may be constituted into a buffer division attached to the tiger reserve.

Farmers helping forest dept protect GIB eggs in fields

The link.
TNN | Sep 6, 2011, 03.19AM IST

CHANDARPUR: Enthused by the survival of a small number of hatchlings of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) in the habitats of Warora and Bhadrawati forest ranges, the forest department has roped in farmers to help protect and conserve the endangered birds in the breeding period. Extensive awareness cum protection drive has been initiated in the over 1,000 hectare area in two tehsils, which now hosts eight GIBs, including a young bird.

Locally known as Maldhok or Hom, this endangered bird is tracked in Warora-Bhadrawati area every year in August to ascertain their numbers. Census of GIB, a Schedule-I avian, over the last few years revealed the presence of seven birds of the species. The efforts by the forest department and local farmers helped the survival of a hatchling last year, raising the population in the habitat to eight.

Apart from Solapur, Warora-Bhadrawati is only other rich habitat in the state where GIB is found in good numbers. "Last year, we traced three GIB eggs in the fields with help from farmers. However, only one of the three eggs survived the hatching period of 40 days. All around protection to the hatchling, with help from farmers helped its survival," said DCF, Chandrapur forest division, P Kalyankumar.

He said that hundreds of farmers were felicitated by the guardian minister last year for this. Farmer Waman Kite from village Wanoja, on whose farm the egg had successfully hatched, was given a special prize for his efforts.

According to the census, there were two males and two females of the species in the fields in Warora-Ashti-Tulana block, while a female and two males are seen in Nandori-Bhatali and Pawnal block. "Thanks to the successful hatching last year, one more bird has been added. The young one was seen with its parents in the fields this year. Our men are keeping a close watch on all these birds for protection," he said.

He said birdwatcher Gopal Thosar pointed out the GIB to forest officials in 2004. Since then regular census is being carried out every year. Since last year, foresters also carry out extensive awareness campaigns in villages near GIBs habitats. "People are educated about the importance of survival of the endangered species and GIB safety committees are being formed. Farmers have been asked to report the presence of GIBs and its eggs in their fields on phone numbers of forest officials. We have declared protection allowance of Rs 200 per day for any farmer protecting the GIB eggs in their fields. Any farmer protecting an egg through its incubation period (till hatching) could earn Rs 8,000," Kalyankumar said.

He said the exercise started in July and would continue till December. The birds usually lay their eggs in September-October. Foresters are trying to track every egg laid by GIBs this year. Once tracked, all eggs would be extensively protected till hatching. "Nanaj GIB sanctuary has 15 GIBs. If we could help a few more eggs survive, soon this area could overtake Nanaj sanctuary in the GIB count," Kalyankumar said.

Tigers stage comeback in Jalgaon after a long gap

Link to this story.

Vijay PinjarkarVijay Pinjarkar, TNN | Sep 8, 2011, 08.10AM IST

NAGPUR: It should sound a good news for wildlife lovers. Tigers have staged a comeback in Jalgaon district in Dhule territorial circle after a long gap.

However, Khandesh Nature Conservation Society (KNCS), working for tiger conservation in Jalgaon forest division, claims tigers were very much there but there was no serious monitoring by the department.

Wadoda range forest officer (RFO) DR Patil has been monitoring a tigress with a cub for the past three months. Patil also claims presence of a male tiger in his range. The tigers have made densely forested Purna backwaters their home.

"This is after 2001 that tigers have staged a comeback in Jalgaon division. In 2001, there was tigress with three cubs," Patil said. It seems tigers move from Melghat-Ambabarwa-Yawal-Western Ghats.

However, Abhay Ujagare and Vinod Patil of KNCS say presence of tigers is there in Jalgaon district since 1993 but due to lack of serious monitoring their existence could not be ascertained.

However, if official tiger figures are to be considered, there were 7 tigers in Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary in Jalgaon, followed by 3 in 1993, 4 in 1997 and 1 in 2001. Since then no tigers were recorded in the protected area (PA). Besides, the last official record of tigers in Jalgaon division was in 2005 when three tigers were recorded.

"In past few years the newly added Wan and Ambabarwa to Melghat tiger reserve has improved protection and management. Several evidences of breeding tigresses have been recorded in camera traps from this cluster," said Kishor Rithe, member of National Board for Wild Life (NBWL).

Rithe said there were unconfirmed tiger sighting reports in the past two years by villagers and local nature lovers in Jalgaon district. Presence of tigers shows that they are dispersing towards west in Jalgaon district.

The forest range Kurha (Wadoda) includes Kurha, Charthana and Dolarkheda rounds. The area of three beats North Dolarkheda (2,100 ha), South Dolarkheda (1,500 ha) and Sukali (1,450 ha) of Dolarkheda round in Kurha range is the most potential area for tigers having 10 perennial waterholes. Rithe's Satpuda Foundation has urged the state government to provide necessary wildlife management inputs to this area.

If you peep into history, tigers and lions used to live together in Gujarat. Tigers disappeared from Gujarat in the 1980s whereas lions could manage to survive. The last tiger seen in Gujarat is reported from Dang district bordering Maharashtra. Satpuda mountain is spread up to Dang district where it meets Western Ghats and Aravali mountain.

The tiger habitat continuity link is considered from Kanha-Pench (Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh)-Satpuda-Melghat and Yawal. Local bird watcher Anil Mahajan from Varangaon (Jalgaon) had recorded a dead cub last year. This is a proof that tigers are breeding in Jalgaon district and earlier claims made by KNCS were also true.

Conservationists were dreaming in last 20 years that tigers would again disperse towards west to Melghat. The state expert committee to declare critical tiger habitats (CTH) ex-PCCF B Majumdar, ex-APCCF Nandkishore and Kishor Rithe had recommended a compact cluster of Wan, Ambabarwa and Narnala sanctuaries adjoining Melghat to be included in MTR, which was accepted by the state and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).

Now it is high time this corridor is restored degraded forest towards west of Melghat to bring back tigers in Jalgaon and Dhule districts.

Tiger presence recorded in western Satpuda

Good news in the bad news. The dead cub is a tragic sight, but it is also proof that conditions in Western Satpuda were suitable for its mother to breed.



Tigers and lions used to live together in the state of Gujarat, India. However tigers disappeared from this state in 1980s whereas lions could manage to survive. The last tiger seen in Gujarat is reported from Dang district bordering Maharashtra!

The Satpuda mountain range is spread up to Dang district of Gujarat where it meets Western Ghats and Arawali mountain! The tiger habitat continuity link is considered from Kanha-Pench (Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh)- Satpuda- Melghat and Yawal. Yawal was the western most protected area in Satpuda mountain where tigers were reported till 2002. However in the last few years, there were some claims made by Khandesh Nature Conservation Society of Jalagaon about tiger sightings in and around Yawal and towards west of Jalagaon district in Muktainagar. The Forest department was investigating these claims.

However a local birdwatcher Mr. Anil Mahajan (Varangaon, Dist: Jalgaon) has sent a picture of a dead tiger cub (above0 to Satpuda Foundation which is a substantial proof that tigers are breeding in Jalagaon district and earlier claims made by Khandesh Nature Conservation Society of Jalagaon were also valid! If it is so, it's a remarkable piece of news for the tigers in central India.

Tiger conservationists were dreaming for the last 20 years that tigers would again disperse towards the west to Melghat. The state expert committee for declaring Critical Tiger Habitats (CTH) Mr. B. Majumdar, Dr. Nandkishore and Kishor Rithe had recommended a compact cluster of Wan, Ambabarawa and Narnala sanctuaries adjoining Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) should be included in to MTR- CTH which was accepted by the state and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The committee had discussed the future possibility of restoration of degraded corridors towards the west of Melghat to bring back the tiger population in Jalagaon and Dhule district (further west to Yawal).

"In past few years the newly added Wan, Ambabarawa and Wan cluster (to MTR-CTH) has improved a lot in protection and management. Several evidences of breeding tigresses have been recorded in camera traps from this cluster of protected areas," said Kishor Rithe, member of the National Board for Wildlife.

The unconfirmed tiger sighting reports in the past two years by villagers and local nature lovers in Jalgaon district shows that the tigers are dispersing towards the west in Jalagaon district. The forest range Kurha (Vadoda) includes Kurha, Charthana and Dolarkheda rounds. The area of three beats North Dolarkheda (2100ha), South Dolarkheda (1500ha) and Sukali beat (1450 ha) of Dolarkheda round in Kurha range is a good potential area for tigers having 10 perennial waterholes.

Satpuda Foundation has requested the Government of Maharashtra to provide necessary management to this area urgently.

Kishor Rithe
President,
Satpuda Foundation

Dr Ganesh Wankhede, scholar and conservationist extraordinaire

Dr Wankhede is a truly inspiring person for all wildlife lovers, specially for his path-breaking work on spiders. Click in the image to enlarge, or read the story through this link.

2012 Course announcement: Education and Communication Strategies for Species Conservation

Environmental Education and Conservation Global (USA), Satpuda Foundation (India), SGB Amravati University, Amravati and the Nature Conservation Society, Amravati will hold a three-week international course in Amravati, India.

When: January 9-29, 2012.

Topics: The course will show how social marketing techniques can be integrated with education and communication strategies to produce focused campaigns that are effective tools for solving environmental problems.

Where: Amravati University will host the course with field trips to two Project Tiger reserves.

Contact: For more information, email emccrea@eecg.org ,satpuda@gmail.com or satpuda@gmail.com.

Apply by: The last date for submitting complete application is 30^st September 2011.

Kishor Rithe

Course Co-ordinator,

President, Satpuda Foundation

Meeting of State Wildlife Board, June 28, 2011 - TOI Pune

Green pigeon stays as state bird

TNN | Jun 29, 2011, 12.38am IST

PUNE: The Forest Owlet, a critically endangered species, will not be the state bird. Instead, the green pigeon will continue to hold the pride of place.

A proposal tabled by the Bombay Natural History Society to give the honour to the Forest Owlet was unanimously rejected by the State Wildlife Board on Tuesday.

The meeting, chaired by chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, resolved that there was no need for the change, but agreed to initiate steps to conserve the Forest Owlet.

Several NGOs felt the bird would be better protected if it was given the status.

Chavan said he would soon forward the state government's proposal to declare five new sanctuaries to the union government. These are Rajmachi in Thane-Alibaug, Sudhagarh-Tamni in the Western Ghats, Tipagarh in Gadchiroli, Kopela-Kolamarka in Gadchiroli and Isapur bird sanctuary in Yavatmal.

The meeting cleared the proposal to recruit forest guards, provide vehicles to range forest officers and granted them permission to use ammunition after sunset.

The State Board for Wildlife, Maharashtra government comprises prominent conservation NGOs like Satpuda Foundation, Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra of Chiplun and the BNHS.

"The decision to recruit more forest guards and provide vehicles to forest range officers is welcome. The chief minister also talked about purchasing 100 vehicles for the forest range officers," Nishant Kale, member of Satpuda Foundation, told TOI.

It was also decided to allow forest guards and forest officers to fully focus on wild life conservation and forest safety and not manage eco-tourism.

Kale said that the proposal for a nature interpretation centre, a leopard rescue centre and laying of electric lines in Ahmednagar district inside the bustard sanctuary will be taken up after the denotification process. The area is proposed to be reduced from about 8, 500 square km to around 1,222 square km.

The proposal to laying a transmission line through Sanjay Gandhi National Park was rejected and the members said renewable energy sources should be explored. The proposal to lay a 400 KV transmission line in Matheran was not decided upon.

"This is an eco-sensitive zone and it is not under any sanctuary. The Wildlife Board of India will take a decision," he said.

A proposal from a private company seeking forest land near Phansad wildlife sanctuary was also rejected.

The meeting granted permission for repairing the electric lines passing through the Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary. The proposal will now go to the Central Wildlife Board and has to get an approval from the Central Empowered Committee. All development projects in the 10 km radius of wildlife sanctuaries have to get a nod from this committee constituted by the Supreme Court, said Kale.

Bhau Katdare, founder of Sahyadri Nisarga Mitra of Chiplun, said the board will meet twice in a year. Tuesday's meeting was held after 28 months.

Link to the article.

Experts oppose proposal to declare Forest Owlet as state bird

TOI Pune, June 26, 2011 - click here to read the article.

Click in the image below to enlarge and read.

Note of caution on Forest Owlet as state bird

From the TOI Nagpur, June 27, 2011 - click here for the article.

Click in the image below to enlarge and read.

IT education programme: Assessment and appeal

A review and request by Kirti Chavan, our volunteer in charge of the IT education programme. Please share!

The summer holidays are over and children are back to school hungry for more!

After a year long involvement with the school in Sawra, we and the children have come a long way in our IT education program. I would say the children have taught us more than we have taught them. Of course we knew the software and how technology makes life easy for people and all that jazz. But the children taught us many deeper things like: dedication is not just a word in dictionary, it's a habit. Challenge is not for others but for yourself. And last but not least, will power, it's in their will to change the future.

Now I have not written all this to make my article a nice read. I really mean it. I have seen dedication in some of the children here which is beyond praise. The children run this school, it doesn't matter if the government funds come in time or not. The school garden, equipment, books and even building paint are well looked after by these dedicated children. Every where children love holidays or a day off from school; but at Sawra students are always in campus either doing extra reading, drawing something on the computer or just watering the plants.

I am really glad we started the IT literacy program from Sawra. Because this made us realize that if you give people what they really need, they will take the lead and out-perform your expectations.

Review and plans:

After working on various levels for one year and introducing computer education at Sawra school we have realized the children are quick to finish off what's on their plate and are always looking for more. They have been grabbing every possible opportunity to get extra time on the computer to do what they like to do or help their classmates by sharing what they know. But now we have reached a level where we need to raise the bar and go next level of training and make children more competitive and skilled, so they will not hesitate to brush shoulders with children from city schools.

We have started work on building a custom assignment book which will ensure children use computers to do school projects, assignments and other learning modules. This will help us measure success and the extent of IT literacy in their mind.

Results begin to show:

One of the indications that we are on the right track is Sachin, a school dropout who had to spend all his time on farming. He has now decided to attended a training course on Desktop Publishing and in less than 6 months he has got a full time job as a DTP operator in a nearby town. Rest assured Sachin and his family will now be less dependent on the forest, hence reducing the pressure on the little remaining tiger forests of India.

The problem: downtime

Plans look good, feedback sounds encouraging but all is not well as every now and then the IT program goes in indefinite pause due to computer downtime. The major cause of this downtime is software crash and at times hardware malfunction, all because of frequent power failure. Once the computer is down, it takes about 2 to 3 weeks for it to be fixed as Sawra is a remote village close to tiger habitat and the nearest town where a computer can be fixed is a three hour drive away.

We require:

To solve this problem we have realized that a good UPS for each computer is needed, so when there is a power cut, the children have enough time to save their work and shut down the computer hence reducing the risk of any damage.

We would need 5 UPS systems to ensure the IT literacy program is running effectively and we are able to help these under-privileged children secure a better tomorrow.

We would like to send out this appeal to individuals and corporates. If you can sponsor new or donate used UPS for computers in Sawra school, it will make a world of difference to the children and the volunteers working for this cause.

While we were thinking that we were able to match the expectation and excitement of children in Sawra, the hunger for learning had already spread far and wide and neighbouring villages had started investigating what's turning Sawra into a talent mine. It did not take too long for the schools of Teliya and Zinzeriya to approach us and insist that we start the IT program in their schools too. So now the IT education program is being carried out in a total of three villages.

Read about the IT education programme in these earlier posts.