JAMMU: Director General, Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Kanchan Devi, today inaugurated a one-day capacity building programme for the Forest Range Officers (FROs) and other frontline functionaries for the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Department at Forest Information Centre, Bikram Chowk, here.
The training programme was mainly focused on increasing the capacity of forest officials on Soil Test-Based Nutrient Management Practices and enriching knowledge about the forest ecosystems amongst the field functionaries.
DG, ICFRE, during her presidential address, highlighted the importance of Forest Soil Health Cards with special reference to Jammu & Kashmir. She said that under the programme launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India, Forest Soil Health Cards for all Territorial Forest Divisions have been prepared. She called upon the field officers to plan their afforestation and plantation programmes, keeping in view the parameters of soil health of the area for the success of the plantation programmes.
She said that there is a seamless connection between vegetation and soil. Forest soils develop over a long period of time under the influence of forest cover, bedrock and micro-organisms. Tree species/vegetation growing in forested landscapes affect the soils as well as the microclimate, she added.
Similarly, the growth and survival of trees and associated vegetation largely depend on the health of the underlying soil layers. Therefore, understanding the nutrient status and health of forest soils is essential so as to increase forest productivity, enhance microbial populations and achieve success in plantation activities and maintain the forest ecosystem stability.
Further, DG, ICFRE said that a few years back, there was a general perception that forest soils are similar to agricultural soils, and there is no need to study the forest soils separately. But practically, forest soils are influenced by the nutrient cycling and rhizosphere biology in the natural environment, which necessitates the need for assessment of forest soils separately.
Therefore, in this backdrop, ICFRE envisioned to take up a broad based study on the forest soils under the All India coordinated research project on Preparation of Forest Soil Health Cards (FSHCs) under different vegetation types in all the forest divisions of the India, with the financial assistance under the CAMPA Scheme from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), New Delhi. It is the first initiative of its kind in the forestry sector, aiming at broad assessment of nutrient status in forest soils and subsequently formulate suitable management practices for degraded areas. She said that ICFRE has a pan-India presence with nine regional research institutes present in different biogeographic zones of India.
Suresh Kumar Gupta, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests& HoFF, Jammu & Kashmir, expressed gratitude to ICFRE and HFRI, Shimla for completion of Forest Soil Health Cards for territorial forest divisions of J&K. He advised all the field functionaries attending the programme to seek the guidance from the respective Forest Soil Health Cards of their divisions for raising quality planting material in the nurseries and successful afforestation in the field.
He also called upon continuous interaction and collaboration with ICFRE, especially its institute, i.e. HFRI, Shimla. He said that the soils of the world are under stress due to many anthropogenic and natural factors. He asserted that it is essential to assess and improve the soil health in forest ecosystems in view of the nationally determined goals of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons by 2030.
Suresh Kumar expressed his concern that plantation activities cannot achieve the optimum results due to various soil-related constraints and less availability of exact information about the nutrient status in forest soils.
In his address, he featured the key role of research organisation like ICFRE and HFRI for providing concrete information to the forest department and support in the management of precious natural resources.
Dr. Sandeep Sharma, Director, HFRI, Shimla made a key note address in the programme. Emphasizing on important and versatile role of soils for human beings, he presented a brief background of the seminal assignment of preparation of Forest Soil Health Cards (FSHCs) taken up by ICFRE and informed that as a regional institute, Himalayan Forest Research Institute, Shimla was entrusted with responsibility to prepare the Forest Soil Health Cards (FSHCs) of all the territorial forest divisions of UT Jammu & Kashmir.
Director HFRI shared that soil samples have been collected from multiple sampling locations across different forest types in various forest divisions of Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently, the samples have been analysed following the Standard Operating Protocols for assessing the vital soil parameters and finding out the status of soils in forest ecosystems.
Apprising of the training programme, he said that it is also a part of a larger objective to provide the working knowledge of forest soils and train field-level functionaries to make practical use of Forest Soil Health Cards.
During the technical sessions, Dr. RK Verma, Scientist -G and training coordinator, Himalayan Forest Research Institute (HFRI), Shimla interacted with the participants. He made a detailed presentation about the Forest Soils Health Cards (FSHCs) and explained that soil samples have been collected from different locations in UT Jammu and Kashmir. He said that GIS and RS tools have been used for deciding the sampling locations and the quantum of samples to be collected from different vegetation types in various forest divisions of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr. Vijender Pal Panwar, Scientist-F and National Project Coordinator (NPC), Forest Research Institute(FRI), Dehradun, shared his views and elucidated the genesis, conceptualisation, and broad implementation of FSHCs project activities at national level. NPC told uniform methodology has been adopted to collect and analyse the samples.
The programme was attended by Sarvesh Rai, PCCF & Chief Wildlife Warden, T Rabi Kumar, PCCF/CEO, CAMPA, Conservator of Forests, Divisional Forest Officers and Range Officers. More than 100 officers of various ranks attended the one-day programme, physically and virtually.
The inaugural session of the programme was also marked by the official release of Forest Soil Health Cards (FSHCs) of UT J&K. During the plenary session, discussions were held and participants put up queries to clarify their doubts.
