Uttarakhand forest department has put the poetry of 15 eminent writers in 18 of its conservation centres across the state under the initiative to highlight how Nature inspires literature, especially poetry and creates awareness in the people about their green heritage.
After a six-month-long period of work, Chief conservator of forests (research wing) Sanjiv Chaturvedi has put 110 display boards listing the poetry of 15 eminent poets in 18 conservation centres across the Himalayan state.
“First we have put their poems inspired by Nature, be it that of former PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Ruskin Bond, Tagore, Gulzar or Robert Frost. Second, we have put poems which have been written on specific plants like Tagore has written a poem on palm and Banyan. Similarly, Sumitranandan Pant, son of the soil, has written a poem on Buransh (Rhododendron)in Kumaoni”, he said.
Chaturvedi said this initiative has been taken to highlight the connection of Nature with literature and poetry and continue to inspire people who visit these conservation centres about green heritage.
{{/usCountry}}Chaturvedi said this initiative has been taken to highlight the connection of Nature with literature and poetry and continue to inspire people who visit these conservation centres about green heritage.
{{/usCountry}}“We have used poems of eminent Hindi, English and Urdu poets to help visitors develop an emotional bonding with Nature and feel inspired for its conservation. We have displayed 110 poems of poets like Sumitranandan Pant, Mahadevi Verma, Harivanshrai Bachchan, Nirala, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, Ruskin Bond, Thoreau, Ghalib, Akhtar Sheerani and Adam Gondvi and so on,” he said.
The IFS officer said they have also put display-boards of quotes of famous thinkers and conservationists ranging from Mahatma Gandhi to US President Franklin Roosevelt.
“All these display boards have been put up at conservation centres that include our main Haldwani range headquarters, orchid centre at Mandal and Lumti, Fern centre at Ranikhet, Rhododendron centre at Munsyari, Lichen Park at Munsyari, Moss Garden at Nainital, Grass centre at Ranikhet, Oak Centre at Ranikhet, Palm Garden and Cactus Centre at Haldwani, Ficus Garden and Bamboosetum at Lalkuan. At the Rhododendron centre in Munsyari, only Kumaoni poem of Sumitranandan Pant on Buransh has been displayed,” he continued.
Recently, the state forest department in a first had also developed a Green Ramayana Park, where plant species mentioned in Valmiki’s Ramayan and associated with Lord Rama in six major forest types in India, have been grown. After finding 139 species mentioned by Rishi Valmiki’s Ramayan, the state forest department selected some 30 representative plants from six main forest types associated with Lord Rama’s journey, along with that of Sita and Hanuman.
Also, in its biggest conservation initiative to protect Himalayan flora, Uttarakhand forest department, following three-year-long fieldwork, recently created a repository of 1145 plant species, including 68 threatened, rare and vulnerable species, aimed at their germplasm conservation, so that these species remain conserved in case they disappear from the wild due to any reason.
According to the 196-page report released by the forest department, the state forest department has collected and grown over 4.61 lakh plants belonging to these 1145 species across its eight research ranges in both Garhwal and Kumaon regions.
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