About Melagiri

The Melagiri Hills are nestled between the Cauvery and Chinar rivers, covering Hosur, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu. Melagiri stretches over 1300 sq. kms of dry deciduous and semi-evergreen forests. It is an elephant country and contains two traditional elephant corridors. With the Bannerghatta National Park in the North east and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in the south, the forest range stretches to sanctuaries of BR Hills and Sathyamangala and joins the Tiger reserves of Nilgiri Biosphere.

Forest covered hills and valleys are the predominant landscape, with the highest peak of Gutherayan rising up to 1,390 meters (4,560 ft) and lowest 635 meters (2,083 ft). The forests are largely dry deciduous with some stretches of shola forests on the slopes of Gutherayan peak.

Why conserve Melagiri?

Tiger Conservation Landscape

The Melagiri hills lying on the Eastern Ghats form a part of the Global Priority Tiger Conservation Landscape. The existence of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary along the right bank of the Cauvery in Karnataka adds considerable conservation value. The Melagiri hills stretches downwards towards Sathyamangala. It is also connected to Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary through a network of reserved forests. With recent findings of tigers in Sathyamangala, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, this landscape has good long term potential to support a demographically viable population of wild tigers.

Fauna & Flora

The Melagiri hills are a unique riparian zone which is particularly important for many endemic and endangered species. The density of the four-horned antelope is higher than many other sites in India, where these species occur, suggesting that conserving Melagiri is necessary for the persistence of Four-horned antelope. Melagiri is also home to the rare and endemic Grizzled Giant squirrel which is restricted to few localities in southern India.

Moreover, Melagiri also harbors the highly endangered freshwater otters, which have been decimated by poachers in their entire breeding range in the north India plains. Melagiri is one of the regions remaining in India where they can breed and feed in secure environments [4]. They prey on fish and are considered pyramid species in the riparian or river ecosystem, playing a vital role in maintaining the cleanliness of river beds.

The other IUCN red listed species include Predators such as Leopard, Dhole, Sloth Bear, Marsh Crocodile, Jackal and Prey species such as Chital, Gaur, Sambar (deer), Barking deer, Smoothcoated otter, Elephant, etc. Other species such as Tiger, Ratel and Striped Hyena are awaiting rediscovery. The area is also home to the last few remaining Common Langurs in the Hosur Forest Division.

The Melagiri hills are comprised of mixed vegetation types such as thorn scrub, dry tropical riverine, dry deciduous, mixed deciduous, dry evergreen, and semi evergreen. The forests of the hill harbor many rare plants and trees such as giant Mangifera indica, Garcinia gummi-gatta, wild Balsam, wild jack, etc. Endangered species such as Shorea roxbhurgii also occur in the division. Significant trees such as old growth Mutti (Terminalia arjuna), Hardwickia pinata, Ippe (Madhuca longifolia), Diospyros malabarica etc occur here. The highly endagered Grizzled Giant squirrel and fresh water otters.

Wildlife Corridor

The Melagiri hills are adjacent to the Bannerghata National Park, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, Kollegal and Sathyamangala. With these forests connecting to Mudumalai, Mukurthi, Bandipur and other tiger habitats, when well protected, these stretches will become one of the largest tiger habitats in the world.

As the meeting point of the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats, these forests form a vital link in the elephant corridors of South India, connecting the Bannerghatta National Park and the River Cauvery. An excellent example of this aspect is the 1984 migration of a herd of 38 elephants which has since populated the Seshachalam and North Arcot hills (Eastern Ghats) after a gap of 350 years.

Elephant is without doubt the flagship species in the Melagiri hills. A sizeable population of resident elephants said to number around 150 heads according to FD sources exist here. Elephants also cross over from Kollegal and Kanakpura forest ranges by swimming across the Cauvery River into the area.

If not for this corridor, the elephants in Kanakapura, Bannerghatta and Kollegal will be isolated.

Contiguous stretch of forests connecting various Tiger reserves and Wildlife Sanctuaries

Man – Elephant conflict

The area of Melagiri hosts both a resident and migratory population of elephant herd. With increasing conflict since 2001, the Tamil Nadu forest department assigned Asian Nature Conservation Foundation to evaluate the present status of human–elephant conflict which was carried out between June–August 2009.

The amount spent for compensation and crop protection measures significantly increased over the years , as did the amounts proposed to be spent in the future, while the human–elephant conflict continues to increase over the years and does not show declining or stabilizing trends. The reason for such a situation is that compensation payment for crop damage or human death (or even for elephant proof barriers to some extent) are only temporary measures. Since elephants are wide ranging species with strong fidelity to their home range and corridors, an equal or more importance needs to be given to permanent solutions such as consolidating the elephant habitats. Reestablishing elephant corridors cutoff in the recent past, and relocation of enclave villages into the isolated forest patches without elephants, with better welfare packages, would not only reduce the human–elephant conflict but also enhance peoples’ living standards.

The Hosur Forest Division, being a territorial division, accommodated in the past a large number of cattle pens inside the forest areas. With cattle grazing continue to exert further stress on the habitat resulting in a reduction of grazing areas for elephants due to human disturbance during the day hours and also by depleting fodder resources available to elephants. The degradation of habitats brought about by grazing and fuel wood cutting opens up spaces that facilitate the proliferation of weeds like Lantana and Eupatorium. These weeds suppress the growth of grass and other natural vegetation, which in turn results in reduced food resources for elephants. Therefore, there is urgent need to reduce the biotic pressure in this division.

Overall, the results show that forest fragmentation appears to be the major cause of human–elephant conflict with biotic pressure acting as a contributing factor. The points to the need to consolidate elephant habitats and to reduce biotic pressure to minimize the human–elephant conflict.

Catchment Area

Melagiri hills are the last hill section through which the mighty river Cauvery flows. After Melagiri, the river descends to the plains of Tamil Nadu, making Melagiri the last catchment area for this perennial river.

The other rivers and streams that originate or flow through the Melagiri and joins Cauvery include Chinnar, Ponnaiar, Anaibiddahalla, Hebbahalla and Doddahalla.

Due to rampant deforestation, most of these rivers are on the verge of drying out, resulting in the declined inflow to Cauvery. This directly affects the millions of people in Tamil Nadu who are dependent on the Cauvery for irrigation, consumption, etc.

Given the productive nature of well-protected deciduous forests to hold a high number of tigers and prey, Melagiri hills with its unique position close to a source population provides a strong opportunity to conserve tigers and their prey in this high potential landscape.

Due to many settlements inside the forest and the villages on the fringes, Melagiri faces sever threats such as Fuel wood collection, cattle grazing, livestock penning and illegal tree felling. Elephant areas are being exploited for bamboo and leased for NTFP collection, resulting in regular human-elephant conflicts.

A sanctuary proposal for Melagiri hills has been pending for more than 10 years now. The more it gets delayed, the more it faces the increased biotic pressure due to industrial expansion around the division. A place once famous for its huge number of tigers, a place which was frequented by the great writer and hunter turned conservationist Kenneth Anderson, is awaiting the rediscovery of Tigers.