Tag: natural vegetation

According to the National Forest Policy, a region should have 33% of its land under forest.

According to the latest enumeration available with the Forest department, despite having excellent irrigation systems, water harvesting structures and annual moderate rainfall, Thanjavur district has the percentage of forest cover is just 1% of the total geographical area. Out of 3396.57 square km geographical area, only 111.87 square km area has vegetation.

In Tamil Nadu there is only 17.5% of the area under forest cover. Tamil Nadu is extremely rich in biodiversity but adequate attention has not been paid in the past to assess it effectively and as a result many species have become endangered. 

Tropical evergreen forests are characterized by heavy rainfall and a warm climate. The commercially important trees grown in this area are ebony, mahogany, rosewood, rubber and cinchona. These forests also have a variety of animals like elephants, monkey, lemur and deer and various birds, bats, sloth, scorpions and snails.

In Tamil Nadu, forests are confined to Western Ghats and hills, where rainfall is generally above 2000 mm. Considering the distribution pattern of certain characteristic species that reflect the climatic variations, especially temperature, the forests are further subdivided into low which is less than 800 m and medium which ranges from 800-1450 m elevation.

Tropical evergreen forests in Tamil Nadu are found in the Western Ghats, specifically along the slopes of the Nilgiris and the Anamalai hills.

Sandalwoods are the scented woods which are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and unlike many other aromatic woods. Though the tree of sandalwood can grow under a variety of environmental conditions, the finest heartwood is formed only in dry, rocky and hilly terrain in Tamil Nadu. Major parts of sandalwood are grown in Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Thiruvannamalai, Vellore, Namakkal and Villupuram Districts, this species naturally spread over in large areas.

• The only rubber growing district in Tamil Nadu is Kanyakumari District. 
  
• In Kanyakumari District 19233  rubber plantation are available which produce 24020 tonnes of rubber annually.
  

Casuarina trees are hardy and well-adapted to the sandy, poor soil and dry conditions found in the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu.

Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu possesses the highest percentage of area under forest. It has 8.35% to geographical area according to district-wise forest cover  of Tamil Nadu in 2007.