Wednesday, 29 September 2021 | PNS | Bageshwar
The country’s first naturally developed fernatum (conservation zone) has taken shape in the Kalika forest range at Ranikhet in Almora district. The department staff have made efforts to make it an Asian-level study site so that researchers can get to know about these fern species from the Jurassic era. At present, there are 103 different types of ferns and the number could further increase to 120 soon. Of these, 95 per cent of species are from Uttarakhand.
The new Fernatum was recently opened on Dalmoti Road of the Kalika Forest Research Center by the Chief Conservator of Forests (Research) Sanjeev Chaturvedi. According to the CCF, the fernatum has a stock of the species found in the high, middle and lower Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand and soon this fernatum would be made the largest naturally developed region of its kind in Asia. He elaborated that the fern species gifted by nature are very beneficial medicinally and they need to be preserved. For their preservation, the fernatum has been prepared in a one-hectare area in Kalika.
Of the many ferns now found in the fernatum, Hansraj is a typical fern species of Uttarakhand. It is full of medicinal properties and its roots are used to counter effects of snakebite. Its 10 species have taken root in Kalika.
Chaturvedi also took stock of the spice garden being developed at Sauni Binsar and guidelines have been given about the spice species being grown there. He concluded, “In Kerala, a conservation center for fern species has been set up in the green and shed houses, but in Kalika, the country’s first fernatum has been prepared naturally according to the local climate. We will make it an Asian-level learning center. We are going to make it the nodal center for the study of fern species.”
