Sal Forest in Assam Dooars and Conservation Management: An Ecological History | ||||
| Journal of Environmental Studies | ||||
| Volume 36, Issue 1, December 2024, Page 67-80 PDF (682.57 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Reviews | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jesj.2024.307339.1087 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
Rachan Daimary   1; Sudev Chandra Basumatary2
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| 1Manipal University Jaipur | ||||
| 2Bodoland University | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The northeastern landscape below the foothills of Bhutan is a complex ecosystem in terms of forest coverage, tall grassland, and floods in India. This ecosystem is distinct regarding its natural resources, geographical description, and socio-economic implications. The extended landscape can be discussed about the history of the Dooars and Sal forest. Dooars is a geographical term that means "door" or "gateway" between Bhutan and the Himalayan foothill plains in India. This landscape is considered the best environment for the Sal forest. Moreover, Sal forests were extracted by the colonial rules in the region. Sal forest was in high demand with the introduction of railways in Assam, besides boat and house construction. In order to extract Sal timber, new policies were formulated by the colonial rulers. This study tries to draw the colonial policy towards Sal forest and its conservation management from the perspective of regional history. Also, it explores the broad period of colonial and post-colonial forest management systems, economic, and socio-political factors, wildlife habitats, and occasional changes to land cover and land uses in the region. The methods used in this study are a search for archival evidence of Dooars on natural resources from the colonial and post-colonial periods. The anthropogenic data have been collected from group discussions and archival documents. The Assam State Archive and the National Archive of India were primarily used as data sources and narrating the historiography. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Dooars; Ecological history; Forest distribution; Governing system; Sal forest | ||||
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