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Magazine
A green record
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The current Guinness record for the maximum number of native trees planted in one day belongs to the Nilgiris. Now comes the tough part — ensuring the restoration of the once-decimated shola forest. TARUN CHHABRA gives an account of this arduous, but rewarding, task.
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Seedlings being transported to inaccessible areas by volunteers from the villages.
IT all began one cold winter evening in December 2001. The following year had been declared by the United Nations as the "Year of the Mountains" and the Nilgiris as hill district decided to celebrate it accordingly. The Nilgiris is a core area of the India's first Biosphere Reserve. The upper Nilgiri plateau has a unique ecosystem comprising rolling hills interspersed with dense montane evergreen forests called sholas. These are home to several fauna like the endangered Nilgiri tahr, marten and primates like the langur. Plant endemism is also remarkably high. For a small area, around 100 plant species are not found elsewhere.
A group of us including the then Collector Supriya Sahu met to decide what could be done to observe the "Year of the Mountains". This included the creation of a world record by planting trees in one or several of the degraded shola forests. When the idea was mentioned at a public meeting, the response was overwhelming. On April 2, 2002, it was decided to plant a quarter of a million tree seedlings using the services of 50,000 people in one day. The area afforested would be close to 2,000 acres.
Then came the details from the Guinness World Records. Only 300 people could participate in the planting activity, restricted to only one area. Tens of thousands of pits had been meticulously dug when we noticed the rule that no digging machinery could be used. The pits also had to be dug on the same day as the planting. We could not plant trees at night.
The existing world record for the maximum trees planted in 24 hours was held by Fultonvale High School, when 293 persons planted 34,083 one-year-old native white Spruce seedlings at the Blackfoot Provincial Recreation area in Alberta, Canada on May 18, 1999.
We had lost two months but the aim now was more realistic to plant around 40,000 seedlings (mostly native shola species appropriate to the site) in 24 hours with 300 participants.
Finally, we found the area required to meet the objectives — Kuruthukuli village, Nanjanad, just a few kilometres from Ooty on June 13, 2002. The land selected (around 80 acres) was, according to old British maps, once a shola montane forest with grassland draining into a large wetland. Over the years, the forest had been decimated and the land used for other purposes.
Now we faced a formidable set of hurdles. There was no electricity, mud roads were rendered useless with the onset of the southwest monsoon and transporting the seedlings to the areas marked all over the site became the biggest logistical nightmare.
STF volunteers busy with the planting.
Small portable generators, gas lamps food, refreshments, log books, identification cards, T-shirts, rules and regulations, the list of the 300 participants to be identified and informed, mapping the area using a global positioning system — the arrangements went on and on. After transporting the seedlings to their respective zones, we were woefully short. At the eleventh hour, we had to find several thousand more seedlings. When these were all in place, they had to be numbered with tags, a formidable task indeed for the young children who volunteered to do so.
The observers were selected according to the guidelines from the Guinness World Records. Dr. M. R. Srinivasan, retired Chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Agency and former member of the Planning Commission; Brigadier Chaitanya Prakash Chairman and Managing Director of the Hindustan Photo Films; Ashok Upreti, of the Indian Forest Service and the Wildlife Warden of the two National Parks in the Nilgiris were natural choices.
Meanwhile the rains began and vehicles were unable to operate in the sea of mud. Some areas were covered with stones so that vehicles could access some areas. In the more inaccessible areas, the laborious task of shifting the seedlings by head loads commenced. Local villagers and children braved the rain to move the seedlings to the marked areas.
On D-day, June 23, 2002, the rains doubled their intensity. The 300 participants included army men, policemen, indigenous people and volunteers from the nearby villages. The rules and regulations were explained and they were given basic digging implements — a spade and a fork. All present were requested to synchronise their watches. At precisely 17 hrs, a police bugler gave the call and the countdown began. All the zones had a centre with a wireless system connected to the command centre. The official observers fanned out to check details like pit measurements, health of the seedlings ... While media and those documenting the venture were allowed in, police stood guard to ensure that unauthorised people were not allowed in. Constant monitoring was on to ensure that only the 300 registered participants were allowed to dig and plant. By 18.30, planting ended for the day. Again, activity commenced at sunrise. Appropriate breaks were given and the details were noted in the logbook. At 17 hours on June 24, the police bugler sounded the call to halt all activity. Counting of seedlings was in progress in all zones and the total was 42,182 — the existing record had been broken by a large margin.
Busy at work ... greening the Nilgiris.
In a relatively short period of just over two months, a grand certificate from GWR arrived stating that our efforts had indeed succeeded and a new world record for the maximum number of native trees planted in one day (42,182) belonged to the Nilgiris).
Although a place in the Guinness Book of World Records was a motivating factor, we wanted to go beyond that by recreating a decimated shola forest. So, each zone had to be analysed and appropriate species had to be selected and planted.
It is now imperative to see that the seedlings, so carefully selected, take root and growth has to be monitored. Even when the trees are young, it would be interesting to see the now non-existent streams begin to flow. Once this happens, the wetland would also be restored — the soil has been compacted due to lack of water and heavy grazing — and the original swamp species could be reintroduced. At a later stage, endangered native plants like balsam can also be reintroduced. If success is achieved up to this stage — this would take years as shola trees grow very slowly, the area (to be called Guinness Park) would be converted into an eco-awareness and research centre.
Now comes the task of ensuring that the trees planted to make a world record reach for the sky and in a few years, the flora and fauna of this once-pristine area is restored thus achieving an ecological restoration along with setting up a tourist spot and eco-awareness centre for the future. This will also be a reminder that man can, for a change, heal his environment too.
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