Preparations for All India Tiger Assessment 2022 have been started in the State. In this connection, two day training of circle level nodal officers was completed at Pachmarhi of Satpura Tiger Reserve Hoshangabad. Principal Secretary Forest Ashok Varnwal and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force Ramesh Kumar Gupta reviewed the preparations for tiger assessment in the State.
It is noteworthy that the All India Tiger Assessment is done every four years. This year assessment will run for three months from October to December.
Tiger estimation is done in three phases. in the first phase, first of all the evidence related to the presence of herbivorous and carnivorous wild animals in all the forest beats of Madhya Pradesh and other states is collected. In the second phase, scientific study of the GIS map and in the third phase, photographs of wild animals are taken by placing camera traps in the forest areas.
The speciality of this year's tiger assessment is that instead of using paper, tiger data will be collected through a special mobile app M Stripe Ecological. Along with this, emphasis is being laid on the recording of herbivorous and carnivorous wildlife in a phased manner in the regional forest divisions and corporation areas, apart from the Tiger Reserves. For this, field staff is being trained for tiger census.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Alok Kumar, State Nodal Officer for Tiger Assessment 2022 HS Negi, Dean of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun YV Jhala, NTC Tiger Cell Incharge of Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun Qamar Qureshi, Scientist Dr. Ujjwal Sinha along with other senior officers provided the training and the nuances of the assessment were also explained. Other forest officials of all tiger reserves were present on this occasion.