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Palamau Tiger Reserve
Palamau Tiger Reserve
IUCN category II (national park)
	Location in Jharkhand Palamau Tiger Reserve (India)
Location	Palamu, Latehar, Garhwa district, Jharkhand, India
Nearest city	Medininagar, Latehar
Coordinates	23°42′N 84°11′E / 23.70°N 84.19°E
Area	1,129.93 km2 (436.27 sq mi)
Established	1960 (as Wildlife Sanctuary); 1973-74 (as Tiger Reserve);
Governing body	Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Jharkhand Forest Department
	palamautigerreserve.in

The Palamau Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in India and the only one in the state of Jharkhand. It covers a total area of 1,129.93 km² (436.27 sq mi) in the Palamu, Latehar and Garhwa districts. It comprises the Betla National Park. It is one of the first nine tiger reserves in India declared in 1974.^[1]^[2]

History

Palamu Tiger Reserve was one of the first nine Tiger Reserve of India in 1973-74. The first tiger census carried out in the reserve based on pugmark in 1932 under supervision of Palamu divisional forest officer JW Nicholson. The area in the Palamu district was set aside as a protected area in 1947 under the Indian Forests Act. It was declared as a wildlife sanctuary in 1960. In 1973, the area was set up as the Palamu Tiger Reserve.^[3] Before the formation of the reserve, the area was used for cattle grazing and camping; it was acutely prone to forest fire.^[4]

In 2022, the reserve was reported to be largely under Naxal control.^[5]^[6] The area of Budha Pahad in the reserve was freed from maoists in September 2022 after the special operation.^[7]

Geography

Palamau Tiger Reserve has a total area of 1,129.93 km² (436.27 sq mi) with a core area of 414.08 km² (159.88 sq mi) and a buffer area of 715.85 km² (276.39 sq mi) spread across the Palamu, Latehar and Garhwa district.^[8]^[9] It is connected to Guru Ghasidas - Tamor Pingla Tiger Reserve to the west and Lawalong Wildlife Sanctuary to the east.^[10]^[11] Ramandag, Latoo and Kujurum are forest villages in the core area. Most of the villages are small; one village, Meral, consisted in 1993 of just 99 acres (400,000 m²) of land, 9 families and 78 people.^[4] In 1993, there were 45 villages in the buffer area which had grown to 136 in 2012.^[9] Only seven of the villages were in existence in 1923.^[4] The villagers have no legal claim to lands that were settled after 1973 when the buffer area for the reserve was created.^[9]

Flora

Palamu Tiger Reserve consists of deciduous forests of sal and bamboo tree. It has 970 species of plants, 17 species of grass and 56 species of medicinal plants. The reserve is a watershed area for North Koel, Burha and Auranga rivers.^[8]^[12]

Fauna

There are 47 species of mammals and 174 species of birds in the reserve.^[8] The reserve is home to many wild animals including chital, sambar, gaur, elephant, nilgai, muntjac, mouse deer, four-horned antelope, wild boar, jackal, Indian wolf, leopard, tiger, sloth bear, striped hyena, rhesus macaque, langurs, small Indian civet, Indian pangolin, Indian porcupine, mongoose, jungle cat and smooth-coated otter.^[8]^[3]^[2]

There are over 174 species of birds in the reserve including peafowl, red jungle fowl, Oriental pied hornbill, crested serpent-eagle, pied kingfisher, white-throated kingfisher, forest owlet, black partridge, white-necked stork, black ibis, grey-headed swamphen, quail, wagtail, dove, drongo, Asian openbill, red-wattled lapwing, Eurasian moorhen, gadwall, northern pintail, little cormorant, grey wagtail, pond heron and little ringed plover.^[13]^[14]

In 1973, 50 tigers were thought to be living in Palamau Tiger Reserve.^[6] By 2005, the number of tigers was down to 38.^[15] The 2009 tiger census based on DNA analysis indicated that there were just six tigers in the reserve. The forest department claimed that, since the core area was almost inaccessible due to difficult terrain and the Naxalite presence, the census may not have found all the tigers.^[6] The decreased game and hunting opportunities suggest that there are only six tigers in 2012.^[15] In 2017, a tiger was spotted by tourist.^[16] In 2018, All India Tiger count recorded no tiger in the reserve.^[17] In November 2023, there were five tigers in the reserve.^[18] As per 2022 census, there were 51 leopards in the reserve.^[19]

As of 1989, 65 Asian elephants were thought to reside in the reserve.^[20] In 2017 census, 182 elephants were in the reserve.^[21] In 2023, an estimated 200 elephants were in the reserve.^[22]

Issues

Increased pressure from human activities, including illegal settlement and poaching, has reduced the number of tigers and the ability of the reserve to support more tigers^[23]
Funding has been a continuing problem.^[9] Since there is not an adequate management plan for the reserve, it continues to be so.^[15]
Staff shortage is big problem. Monitoring, protection and conservation work is not applied in all region of this reserve.
Naxalites existence along with difficult terrain makes proper surveillance and implementation of conservation measures tough.^[5]