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Shuklaphanta National Park initiates scientific study and research in its grassland

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Kanchanpur, February 14, 2018: Various scientific study and research are being carried out in the savanna of  Shuklaphanta National Park by the implementation of Darwin Project.

As said by Pradip Raj Joshi, Inspection and Survey Officer at the Zoological Society of London’s Nepal Office, the Shuklaphanta National Park has been divided into five segments for the operation of various scientific study and research. Joshi mentioned that this type of experimentation on savanna is totally a new kind of study.

Joshi added, “For three years we have been slashing and burning the reeds, the elephant grass and other vegetation in the grassland. We have been leaving patches of grassland fallow, setting the grassland on fire without cutting grass, keeping a record of the presence of wild animals and observing the grass grow here. The grassland would be brought to use on the basis of our observations regarding the wildlife presence, the status of the vegetation and adaptation.”

Anil Prasain, Assistant conservation officer of the National Trust for Nature Conservation, mentioned that the national park is inhabited by swamp deer, tiger, rhinos, large species of birds and other animals, the grassland is an important ecosystem in Shuklaphanta.

According to Gopal Bahadur Ghimire, Assistant Conservation Officer of the Shuklaphanta National Park, the research is plainly an effort to improve the ecosystem conservation in the park.

Inside the Shuklaphanta National Park, there are 12 large and small savannas. They are crucially important in terms of their circumstances of the grassland ecosystems in Nepal and their conservations as well as their management is a must. The Shuklaphanta National Park is a protected area in the Terai of the Far-Western Region, Nepal, covering 305 km of open grassland, forests, riverbeds and tropical wetlands at an altitude of 174 to 1,386 m.