Jim Corbett National Park

Context

  • Recently, The Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently proposed changing the name of Jim Corbett National Park to Ramganga National Park.

About Jim Corbett National Park

  • Jim Corbett National Park is a national park in India located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand state.
  • India’s and Asia’s first national park, the park was set up in 1936, and was called Hailey National Park, named after Sir Macolm Hailey who was then the governor of the United Province. 

    Jim Corbett National Park
    Credit: India Today
  • The park was renamed as Ramganga National Park after the river that flows through it. 
  • But then, shortly after Independence, it was renamed again as Corbett National Park in 1956.
  • Nainital born, Edward James Corbett was a widely revered hunter-naturalist who tracked down and killed a number of man-eating tigers and leopards and his conservation efforts led to the establishment of many forest parks in Uttarakhand. 
  • The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative (1973).
  • The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics.
  • Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal, rohini and mango trees. 
  • The park encompasses the Patli Dun valley formed by the Ramganga river. It protects parts of the Upper Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests and Himalayan subtropical pine forests ecoregions. It has a humid subtropical and highland climate.
  • The buffer contains reserve forests as well as the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • The reserve, located partly along a valley between the Lesser Himalaya in the north and the Shivaliks in the south, has a sub-Himalayan belt structure.
  • One of the thirteen protected areas covered by the World Wide Fund For Nature under their Terai Arc Landscape Program.
  • The program aims to protect three of the five terrestrial flagship species, the tiger, the Asian elephant and the great one-horned rhinoceros.

About Terai Arc Landscape (TAL)

  • Composed of 14 Indian and Nepalese trans-border protected ecosystems of the Terai (Sanskrit for “lowlands”) and nearby foothills of the Himalayas
  • Includes Nepal’s Bagmati River to the east and India’s Yamuna River to the west
  • India’s Protected Areas within Terai Arc Landscape:
    • Valmiki National Park, India
    • Sohelwa Wildlife Sanctuary, India
    • Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, India
    • Dudhwa National Park, India
    • Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary, India
    • Corbett National Park, India
    • Rajaji National Park, India
    • Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, India

Source: India Today & Wikipedia

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