Dehradun. The reigns associated with the number of snow leopards (snow leopard) called the pride of the high Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand will be exposed next year. A schedule of counting snow leopards for the first time in the state has been set. Under the Secure Himalayas project, the census will begin in the first week of November in the 10 forest divisions of the higher Himalayan region, whose forest department is preparing for the preparations. The arid area of 12800 square kilometers of these divisions is divided into 80 grids, of which 80 teams will be involved in the calculation. The results of this four-step calculation will be announced by November next year. It will be clear that the number of snow leopards is actually there. Based on this, focus will be on other points including habitat development, security.
Snow leopards have presence in Uttarkashi, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Badrinath, Kedarnath forest divisions as well as Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve, Gangotri National Park, Govind Wildlife Vihar under the High Himalayan region. Photographs often captured in the camera trap in these forest divisions confirm this. However, there is no information about their actual number due to not being calculated yet. It was decided to count the snow leopards when the Secure Himalayas Project was started under the United Nations Development Program.
Conservation of snow leopards – Promotion and habitat development is the most important point in the project. Earlier snow leopards were to be counted from February this year, but then the weather did not support them. After this, the Corona crisis created problems. Now preparations have been started to calculate the snow leopards when the conditions are normal. According to RK Mishra, the nodal officer of Secure Himalaya Project in the state, personnel have been trained for calculation. The calculation will be in four stages. Survey work will be started from the first week of November.
This will be calculated as
First Phase: Field survey in the grid scheduled from the first week of November. Footmarks of snow leopards, along with sampling faeces will be seen directly. Along with this, local residents, military and military personnel living in ITBP camps, shepherds will be contacted and will be identified by taking information about the potential sites of snow leopard.
Second Phase: In March-April next year, the survey of the abandoned grid will be done in the first phase.
Phase III: In May, about 150 camera traps will be installed at potential sites to capture pictures of snow leopards.
Phase IV: In October, data will be analyzed based on images from field survey and camera trap. Snow leopard figures will be public by November.
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