For the British couple Tanya Balcar and Robert W Stewart, a chance encounter with patches of Shola landscape as tourists on the Palni Hills of Western Ghats has turned out to be a life changer. Shola is a rare and endemic ecosystem, comprising thickets of stunted evergreen trees interspersed with carpets of rolling grasslands occurring on the heights of Western Ghats.
In 1986, having fallen in love with the enchanting landscape, the young couple from london decided to make Palni Hills their home. During 30 years, the duo has transformed over 1,235 acres of barren and degraded land, expanding the pristine Shola grasslands and forests having over 1,000 native species. The Royal Bank of Scotland recently honoured the couple with the prestigious Earth Guardian Award for their exemplary work on this lesser known threatened ecosystem.
Unfortunately, Tanya Balcar is no more today. She passed away in September this year. Her memories continue to thrive on the Palni Hills that she restored with Robert.
Shola (a name derived from the Tamil word Cholai meaning groves) has unique water retention capacity and has been the traditional source of major rivers in the region.
Shola grows above a height of 1,400 metres on the sheltered folds and glades of the global biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats and its surrounding ranges in South India. However, down the ages, this ecosystem has diminished by over 50 per cent.
“Three decades ago, we were shocked to see how the trees were being cut by the local communities for timber and fuel, and how the slopes of Palni were getting dry and denuded,” said Robert.
Today, their restored Shola grasslands and forests have a lush tree canopy of above 15 metres high.
The efforts of the couple began with setting up a Shola nursery in their backyard. It was developed from rescued seeds of plants picked up from scattered locations around Palni Hills. These were first grown and personally looked after in the nursery for five years, before being transferred for plantation.
“These plants have been developed from seeds and not cloned and hence their success rate of survival is much higher. Today, there are two Shola nurseries that hold 400 endemic and native species of forest vegetation -- including woody plants, climbers among others. The other holds 600 species of Shola grasslands -- 100 species of grass, 500 species of herbs, ferns, orchids and sedges,” said Francis John, a Shola expert, working with the couple since long.
A major challenge has been to induce the local communities of wood cutters to take up tree planting. “We began hiring them as labourers for the project to plant trees. Slowly, they were made aware of its ecological importance and its necessity as an important source of water conservation,” says Robert.
Two large villages, Vattakanal and Pambarpuram, in the vicinity of their restoration sites, soon became a part of their Shola Mission.
In 2001, the duo started the Vattakanal Conservation Trust. Since then, they have planted more than 35,000 slow growing Shola plants. The trust has restored, improved and maintained above 500 acres of forests in Palni Hills. It has also restored nearly 750 acres of grasslands by planting of grass and allied species.
The couple had to also deal with invasive trees such as silver oak, eucalyptus, which were planted for their timber and fuel wood value at the proposed plantation sites. With the help of local experts and botanists, the couple sagaciously dealt with them -- not necessarily pulling them all out, but using them effectively to propagate the growth of Shola forests and grasslands. It was found that the Shola forests overpowered the invasive plantation, destroying them naturally in their process of self-sustained growth.
These restored forests are today teeming with wildlife endemic to Shola habitat. These include species as Blue Robin, laughing thrush, Nilgiri Pipit, Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri Marten besides varieties of frogs and snakes.
