The stage is set for the forthcoming tiger census in the country. The exercise called “Tiger habitat and population evaluation system” using GIS will come out with more exact figures of big cat count in the country, generating for the first time a “tiger atlas”.

According to sources in National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the “tiger atlas” would serve as a benchmark in the new evaluation system. “This would act as an effective monitoring tool to ensure that we keep the pulse of tiger population and its habitat for future generations to come,” they said.

“This exercise will use the state of the art technology. It will involve mapping, satellite and field data collection, GIS modeling, and validation,” said AK Mishra, Principal Chief Conservator of forest (wildlife) from Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand. The important new feature in tiger estimation this time, would be use of Phase IV tiger reserve level monitoring data collected through state of the art techniques, added Mishra.

Regional training workshops of the senior forest officials are being conducted by NTCA in different reserves prior to the census that would kick off in October. Dudhwa, Kanha Periyar, Kaziranga and Sunderban Tiger reserves have been selected as the venues for training for the purpose, based on the vicinity of the respective tiger range States.

This time the count will also be held in certain reserve forests areas falling outside tiger reserves, especially where there has been a spillover of feline population besides the 42 tiger reserves in the country. Two new States of Goa and Nagaland join the new list of tiger range States where census will be conducted. 

The sources in NTCA said that 2013-14 exercise will have three phases. Phase-I will involve collection of ground data using an eight-day protocol. While Phase-II will include use of remote sensed data to generate landscape and related indices, Phase-III will involve use of camera traps and distance sampling for computing densities of tigers.

The estimation is a collaborative initiative of NTCA and Wildlife Institute of India (WII). It is conducted every four years and was last held in 2010 in 17 tiger bearing States. Experts from and NGOs will also be involved in the forthcoming census.