History of Wildlife wing: A separate Wildlife wing of the Kerala Forest Department was formed with effect from 01-03-1985 as per G.O MS No.319/84/AD dated 02-11-1984 for the effective implementation of wildlife conservation schemes and for more intensive and scientific management of Protected Areas. Since the formation, following officers have led the Wildlife Wing: At the time of formation, the Wing was headed by Chief Conservator of Forests. Now the Wing is headed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (WL) and Chief Wildlife Warden and he is assisted in the field by three Chief Conservators of Forests, who head the 3 Wildlife Circles of the State and an Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests who heads the Biodiversity Cell at the Forest Headquarters The duties and functions of the PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden are as follows: 1. The PCCF (WL) will function as the Chief Wildlife Warden of the State and will perform all duties and functions of stipulated for the Chief Wildlife Warden as per the provision of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Amendments made there to 2. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to prepare and implement PA Management Plan, obtain and issue necessary sanctions. 3. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to create data bank for Wildlife. 4. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to conduct the Wildlife census. 5. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to create necessary data bank of Bio-diversity, Eco-development schemes in the PAs. 6. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to monitor, review and implement progress of the PA Management Plan. 7. The PCCF (WL) is the authority for implementing National Conservation Projects such as Biosphere Reserve, Project Tiger and Project Elephant. 8. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to coordinate the research on Wildlife Institutions. 9. The PCCF (WL) is the authority to liaise with the Govt. of India and R&D Institutions. 10. The PCCF (WL) will review the progress of implementation of Wildlife Management scheme, monitor and submit report to Govt. and Govt. of India periodically. 11. The PCCF (WL) will deal with all matters relating to payment of compensation for the victims attacked by wildlife and for destruction of properties. 12. The PCCF (WL) will also do all functions relating to wildlife under the Bio-diversity Act. 13. The PCCF (WL) will carry out all functions which are assigned to him by the Govt. / PCCF / APCCF. 14. The PCCF (WL) will carry out functions under RTI Act with respect to his wing. 15. Taking timely action as required in correspondences and submitting of compliance reports, those are necessary with respect to the implementation of the scheme as required under various Acts & Rules will be done by the PCCF (WL) with respect to Wildlife wing. Major activities of the Wildlife Wing The Wildlife wing takes up following activities as per the existing Acts, Rules, Orders and guidelines: 1. Management of Protected Areas 2. Preparation and implementation of the management plans in managing the PAs-All Protected Areas of the State are managed as per the prescriptions in the approved management plan for a period of ten years. The management plan is prepared by a team specially constituted for the purpose and is approved by a team headed by the Chief Wildlife Warden 3. Conduct of Wildlife Census- Wildlife Census is conducted in the forest areas of Kerala including the Protected Areas. Past wildlife census were conducted in 1993, 2002 and 2011. In addition to the general wildlife census, where population estimation of major mammals are attempted to, separate population estimation is conducted for species like tiger and elephant. 4. Implementation of National conservation projects like Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve, Project Tiger and Project Elephant 5. Grant of permission for research activities and film shooting in protected areas: Research on wildlife/biodiversity is being carried out by different scientific institutions in the forest areas including the PAs and some of them involve collection of biological specimens too. Permissions for conducting research work in the PAs are granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the State. Facilitation and co-ordination of the research activities are done by the Wildlife Wing of the Department. The Wing also collects research reports of the completed studies, though not always received. 6. Permission for shooting of films in PAs is granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden on payment of the required fees which varies in case of educational and commercial films. 7. Mitigating man-animal conflict including payment of compensation to the victims of wildlife attack: The wing initiates and implements creative action in mitigating the increasing problem of man-animal conflict along the forest fringes through preventive measures like erecting solar fencing, trenches and walls, imparting awareness programmes to forest fringe dwellers and payment of compensation to the victims of wildlife attack and also for crop damage by wildlife. 8. Conduct and co-ordination of nature education and awareness programmes: Regular nature camps are conducted at selected locations in most of the PAs of Kerala. 9. Co-ordination of eco-development activities in PAs 10. Co-ordination of eco-tourism activities in PAs 11. Veterinary care and rehabilitation of rescued wild animals 12. Implementation of Captive elephants (Maintenance and Management) Rules,2003. In this, the Biodiversity Cell at Forest Headquarters headed by the Additional PCCF (BDC) assists the Chief Wildlife Warden. 13. Implementation of the schemes for protection of biodiversity rich areas outside the PAs through the Biodiversity Cell. Ongoing Schemes Centrally Sponsored Schemes State sponsored schemes Organizational set up Office of the PCCF & CWW The organizational set up of the Office of the PCCF (WL) and CWW at Forest Headquarters, Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvanthapuram-14, and contact details are as follows: 0471 2529301 (PA to PCCF) Email:
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Circle Offices At present there are 11 Wildlife Divisions under 3 Wildlife Circles under the Wildlife Wing. The Wing manages 3213.24 km2 of forests under its PA network which includes 5 National Parks, 2 Tiger Reserves, 12 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 2 Bird Sanctuaries, 1 Peafowl Sanctuary (Choolannur) and 1 Community Reserve. In addition, an extent of 31 km2managed as ABP range under Trivandrum Wildlife Division is also under the jurisdiction of wildlife wing. The Wildlife circles are : Project Tiger The biggest carnivore, the Tiger, being at the apex of the biotope in most of Indian forests, its viable population is the symbol of the health of the total forest ecosystem. Therefore to save the total forest environment, tiger is considered to be protected and saved through a project, called Project Tiger where the Tiger is projected as a protagonist species. The project was launched in 1973 as a cooperative venture of the Government of India, State Governments and agencies like WWF etc. The Project Tiger aims at a progressively healthier over all habitats of the Tiger and its prey species, without resorting to any drastic artificial manipulation of it. The Project Tiger was begun in two sanctuaries of the State and each became in the status of Tiger Reserves. The Tiger Reserves of the State are: Project Elephant The Project Elephant scheme was launched by the Government of India in 1991 for better conservation of elephant through protection and management of their habitat. Under Project Elephant, Government of Kerala (GoK) notified 4 elephant Reserves namely Wayanad(1200 km 2),Nilambur (1419 km2), Anamudi(3728 km2) and Periyar (3742 km2) Elephant Reserves, vide Order No. G.O (P) No. 19/2002/F&WLD dated 02-04-2002. The Project Elephant programme envisages ecological restoration of the existing natural habitats and migratory routes of elephants, scientific and planned management of elephant habitats and viable population, mitigation of human-elephant conflicts in prone areas and promoting research on elephants, their habitats and management. Periodic population estimation of elephants are conducted on Elephant Reserve basis. Figures of elephant population as per the estimation conducted in 2005,2007 and 2010 jointly by Forest and Wildlife Department, KFRI and Periyar Foundation are as follows: Application for Information under Right to Information Act: Deputy Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) is the State Public Information Officer in the Office of the PCCF(Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden. PCCF(WL) and Chief Wildlife Warden is the Appellate Authority Shri. G. Harikumar, IFS PCCF & Chief Wildlife WardenSl No Name of the Officer Tenure 1 Shri. G. Mukundan 01-05-1984 to 05-02-1987 2 Shri. N. MadhavanPillai 05-07-1987 to 03-11-1987 3 Shri. C.K. Karunakaran 03-11-1987 to 22-08-1988 4 Shri.P.N.Surendran 22-08-1988 to 31-08-1989 5 Shri.C.KKarunakaran 01-09-1989 to 31-12-1992 6 Shri.P.KSurendranathanAsari 01-01-1993 to 04-07-1995 7 Shri.T.MManoharan 05-07-1995 to 29-07-1996 8 Shri.V.KSinha 29-07-1996 to 10-10-2001 9 Shri.V.Gopinathan 10-10-2001 to 18-08-2003 10 Shri.P. K SurendranathanAsari 18-08-2003 to 30-09-2004 11 Shri. BransdonS.Corrie 01-10-2004 to 14-03-2005 12 Shri.V.Gopinathan 14-03-2005 to 10-01-2007 13 Shri.V.S Varughese 10-01-2007 to 07-08-2008 14 Shri.J.K. Tewari 07-08-2008 to 22-11-2008 15 Shri.K.P.Ouseph 22-11-2008 to 07-01-2010 16 Shri.K.KSrivastava 07-01-2010 to 31-08-2010 17 Shri.N.VTrivediBabu 31-08-2010 to 11-11-2010 18 Shri.K. BalachandranThampi 22-10-2010 to 31-10-2010 19 Shri.Raja Raja Varma 16-06-2011 to 13-12-2011 20 Shri.V.Gopinathan 14-12-2011 to 21-04-2014 21 Shri. G Harikumar 21-04-2014 - continuing PCCF(WL) & CWW DCF(WL) 0471 2529312 ACF(Project Elephant) 0471 2529319 Senior Administrative Assistant 0471 2529315 Senior Superintendent 0471 2529316 Head Accountant 0471 2529316 Sections Major subjects being dealt with in: WL1 Wildlife Offences, LA interpellation, Man-animal conflict etc. WL2 Establishment, Training, Workshops, Disciplinary action etc. WL3 Court cases, Zoos, Snake parks, CZA etc. WL4 Board for wildlife, LARs of all WL Divisions, Store purchase inspection files, Room booking etc WL5 Sabarimala Master plan, Ownership Certificates of elephants, Transfer/shifting of elephants/snakes etc. WL6 Meetings, Matters related with purchase/stationery, vehicles, PFM-VSS/EDCs, management plans etc. WL7 APOs, allotment of funds, ABR, NBR, PE etc. WL8 LAR files of O/o PCCF(WL), Permission for nature camps WL9 Annual administration report, progress reports, distribution & dispatch WL10 RTI Act, PACs, Research Permissions, , Trekking permissions, film shooting WL12 Eco-tourism, Wildlife Census, Wildlife Week Celebrations Name of the Circle Contact Website Agasthyavanam Biological Park Circle, Thiruvananthapuram Forest Headquarters, Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram Click here to visit website Field Director(Project Tiger), Kottayam Aranyabhavan Complex, Parampuzha, S.H Mount P.O, Kottayam-06Ph: 0481 2311740 Click here to visit website Wildlife Circle, Palakkad Aranyabhavan Complex, Olavakkode POPalakkadPh: 0491 2556393 Click here to visit website Sl. No. Name of Tiger Reserve Year of Formation Total Area (Sq. km) 1 Periyar Tiger Reserve 1978 925 2 Parambikulam Tiger Reserve 2006 643.66 Name of the ER Effective elephant habitat Elephant Density(No/km2)(in 2011) Block Count Dung Count 2005 2007 2010 2005 2007 2010 Wayanad 934.16 0.2697 636 490 542 882 1240 1483 Nilambur 1142.3 0.1745 281 87 205 334 663 647 Anamudi 2817.45 0.2985 1547 1289 1494 2299 2505 2086 Periyar 3026.41 0.2199 1100 1136 1279 1620 1660 1810 Total 7920.32 3564 3002 3520 5135 6068 6026 Address Phone
Forest Headquarters, Vazhuthacuad,
Thiruvananthapuram –695014.0471- 2321610 , 2529300
Mob : 9447979015