1 ( G )
2 Tn the Lakawala Forest in Dera Din, where sawing opcrations have been
3 going on during this last winter, 7? square miles of forest have been quite
4 cleared of creepers, at a cost of a little under Rs. 22 pe square mile. The
5 Deputy Conservator is going to cnrrefully note how long those cut this year
6 take to regain such a size as to require cutting again: this will be a useful and
7 valuable record.
8 13. In Gorakhpur a system of clearing the sil forests of
9 all inferior kinds of trees has bcen commenced. Leases have
10 been given to remove all trees except sAl (Shorea robusta), Kyma
11 (Nauctlea cordifolia), tendu (Diospyros), bija sAl (pterocarpus),
12 mowa (Bassia latifolia), toon (Cedrela toona), and sisi (Dalbergia
13 sissoo). ‘The lessees fell and remove the timber at their own
14 expense, paying from Rs. 3 to 5 a month, according to tho
15 distance from a market, for each cart cmployed. As far as it
16 has gone, this plan has turned out a success; it has increased
17 the revenuc, and at the same time improved the forcsts, for
18 the saplings of the valuable kinds will now find room to grow,
19 and in time the forests will contain none but good timber trees.
20 Some of the Gorakhpur forests, especially Nagwa and Sonari,
21 are terribly choked with creepers of an enormous size. Little
22 has as yet been done towards getting rid of tlicse on account of
23 such continued changes amongst the officers in charge of the
24 division. It must be a work of time, but will not be lost sight of.
25 14. In the Punjab, the Hazara Forests in the Jhilam
26 Division have been surveyed and demarcated. Fires have beon:>
27 kept out of the forests, and they have been cleared of the logs
28 left there by contractors. Upwards of 6,000 young deodars
29 have been planted out. In Rawal Pindi, attempts were made,
30 with some degree of success, to control the system of felling by
31 permit. The local Forest Officer has also visited the rakhs of the
32 upper portion of the district with a view of compiling a register
33 and proper list of all the rakhs, a work which is now bcing
34 prepared. Arrangements have also been made for supplying the
35 large city and cantonment of Rawal Pindi with fuel cut by the
36 direct agency of the Forest Department. This arrangement will
37 ensure the felling being rightly done, the stumps being preserved
38 for coppicing within detined areas, which, when once sufficiently
39 cleared, will be strictly closed and preserved from trespass. In
40 the division of the Upper Chindb, operations were delayed by a
41 change of officers, but some progress was made in the deodar
42 lantations; and in the Upper Ravi (though little can be done
43 the way of regular work till the forest demarcations are com-
44 pleted), felling, barking, and lopping of trees has been prevented,
45 ground has been cleared of stumps, trees of creepers, and a num-
46 ber of logs removed from the forest. Several small deodar plan-
47 tations have also been commenced. In the lower Ravi Division,
48 the Kalatop Forest has been surveyed, and a working plan for it,
49 drawn up. In the Bias Division, upwards of 35,000 deodar
50 seedlings have bcen planted out, and six maunds of deodar secd
51 and 30 scers of pinus longifolia seed have been sown. In the’,
52 Satlaj Division, some small deodar plantations have becn made.
53 in the fuel Reserve Division, this being the first year since the
54 transfer, anything like improvement on a large scale cannot be
55 “looked for, but the work is beginning; portions of the rakhs have
56 been closed to encourage reproduction, and planting operations
57 have becn started.
58 » 15. A working plan, sanctioned by Government, has been
59 prepared for the Changa-Manga Semen ge oa which plan all
60 erations, connected with this plantation,: will in future be
61 based, and which will be sufficient authorit¥ for their being
62 earried out. ‘This may be recognised as g distinct mark of pro-
63 ‘gress in the way of Forest Conservancy.