{"id":110088,"date":"2026-06-26T17:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=110088"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:59:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T12:29:02","slug":"salim-ali-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/salim-ali-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Salim Ali National Park, Location, Geography, Flora, Fauna"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salim Ali National Park, formerly known as the City Forest National Park, was one of India\u2019s few urban protected areas. Located in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, it was named after the eminent ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali in recognition of his outstanding contribution to bird conservation in India.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Salim Ali National Park Location and Geographical Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salim Ali National Park is <\/span><b>located in Srinagar district of Jammu and Kashmir.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is situated on the <\/span><b>foothills of the Zabarwan Range<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, near the famous <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/dal-lake\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Dal Lake<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The park forms part of the <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/jhelum\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jhelum River<\/a> basin.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It originally covered an area of about 9 square kilometres.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The landscape comprised temperate forests, marshes, wetlands and riverine habitats, providing favourable conditions for a wide variety of wildlife.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Salim Ali National Park Floral Diversity<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vegetation of the park represents the temperate Himalayan ecosystem.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Deodar, Blue Pine (Kail), Chinar, Willow and Poplar.<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Wetland vegetation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> included reeds, grasses and other marsh plants.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dense vegetation provided food, shelter and nesting sites for numerous bird species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rich plant diversity also played an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of the Dal Lake catchment.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Salim Ali National Park Faunal Diversity<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salim Ali National Park supports a rich diversity of wildlife due to its temperate forests and wetland habitats.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It provided habitat for the endangered <\/span><b>Hangul (Kashmir Stag)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, along with the <\/span><b>Himalayan Black Bear, Leopard, Himalayan Musk Deer, Himalayan Serow and Jungle Cat.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The park was particularly renowned for its <\/span><b>avifauna<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with over 70 species of resident and migratory birds, including Paradise Flycatcher, Himalayan Monal, Kingfishers, Herons, Egrets, Cormorants and numerous migratory waterfowl from Central Asia.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several <\/span><b>reptiles and amphibians<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> associated with wetland ecosystems were also recorded from the park.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Salim Ali National Park Major Challenges<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salim Ali National Park faces <\/span><b>serious conservation challenges due to rapid urbanisation and developmental pressures.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A major portion of the notified National Park was converted into the <\/span><b>Royal Springs Golf Course<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> between 1998 and 2001, resulting in significant habitat loss and fragmentation. The shrinking forest and wetland ecosystem has adversely affected wildlife, particularly resident and migratory birds. Encroachment, increasing tourism, and infrastructure development around Dal Lake and the Zabarwan Range have further degraded the ecological integrity of the area.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Dr. Salim Ali<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dr. Salim Ali<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1896-1987), popularly known as the<\/span><b> \u201cBirdman of India,\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was India\u2019s most distinguished ornithologist and naturalist.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He <\/span><b>conducted the first systematic bird surveys across India.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He played a pioneering role in developing ornithology as a scientific discipline in the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was closely associated with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and made significant contributions to bird conservation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His efforts greatly influenced the protection of several important bird habitats, including Keoladeo National Park in Rajasthan.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Salim Ali National Park is located in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Read about its location, flora, fauna, geography, conservation challenges, and Dr. Salim Ali.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":110069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[8341],"class_list":{"0":"post-110088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-salim-ali-national-park","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110090,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110088\/revisions\/110090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}