A familiar critique of the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) is that had all its plantations survived the state would be green twice over. Elected representatives, civil society groups, and even career bureaucrats echo this sentiment, albeit unwittingly.
Generations of forest officers have been questioned about the survival and utility of forest plantations. I faced the same during my 35-year career in the Indian Forest Service (IFS).
Let me set out the facts for public scrutiny.
Why does the KFD undertake plantation activities? Tree planting replenishes depleted stocks, mitigates forest fragmentation, fills canopy gaps, and supports natural regeneration. Plantations protect forest land from encroachment and reduce pressure on remnant natural forests by providing a supply of wood and biomass.
In interior forest areas, plantations aim to improve forest quality. Along forest fringes, plantations help to rebuild forests degraded by unsustainable harvesting, human-made fires, cattle grazing, invasive weeds, and encroachment. Outside forest areas, plantations serve aesthetic, commercial, and livelihood purposes.
The plantation data presented here are compiled
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