ISRO images, drone captures expose 1 lakh trees felled in Chhattisgarh tiger reserve's core area

RAIPUR: Nearly one lakh trees have been illegally felled and 106 hectares (265 acres) of core forest land encroached upon in the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh's Gariyaband district, with satellite imagery and drone surveys providing clinching evidence of large-scale damage inside the protected area. This forest belt notified in 1974 to protect giant sal trees has itself been stripped bare in parts over 15 years in the Tiger Reserve’s core wildlife habitat and Mahanadi catchment area.The scale of encroachment was established through ISRO’s CARTOSAT satellite imagery from 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2022, backed by drone surveys. Officials said the high-resolution images allowed them to identify individual encroachments, fields, felled trees and stumps with up to 10cm of clarity. Forest officials said 166 encroachers from Jaitpuri village allegedly occupied the land in the Sitanadi range despite owning plots in revenue areas. The department has registered preliminary offence reports and issued notices, with eviction and legal action to follow.The matter came to light after a team led by Udanti-Sitanadi sanctuary deputy director Varun Jain started preparing panchnamas and counting stumps in the affected area. Officials said several stumps had allegedly been burnt to destroy evidence, while fresh tree cutting and girdling — peeling bark to kill trees — were still being used to expand encroachment."We found that encroachment, which stood at 45 hectares in 2011, had grown to 106 hectares over the next decade. In many patches, tree density has crashed from nearly 1,000 trees per hectare to barely 25–50, indicating systematic clearing for cultivation.The ecological damage is considered serious as Sitanadi is not only part of the Mahanadi catchment but also a crucial habitat for elephants, leopards and tigers. Officials said large-scale encroachment in such a sensitive zone could have worsened habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict.The tiger reserve management said it has removed encroachment from 850 hectares in the past three years and arrested more than 600 poachers, smugglers and encroachers, helping bring human-wildlife conflict in the area close to zero. After eviction, the department plans groundwater conservation works and large-scale plantation to restore the damaged forest.Charges under the Wildlife Protection Act can attract imprisonment of up to seven years, while provisions relating to damage to public property can add up to three years. Properties allegedly bought from illegal earnings may also be attached, Jain said.According to local sources, some arrests in such cases were made in 2011 but in lack of proper investigation, those arrested were acquitted within a year. Then they resumed expanding encroachment and had felled trees on 106 hectares in core area of Tiger Reserve, notified in 2009.