Valmiki Tiger Reserve

About Valmiki Tiger Reserve

• It is located at the India-Nepal border in the West Champaran district of Bihar.
• It is situated in the Gangetic Plains bio-geographic zone of the country.
• It forms the easternmost limit of the Himalayan Terai forests in India and is the only tiger reserve in Bihar.
• It comprises the Valmiki National Park and Valmiki Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It is surrounded by the Royal Chitwan National Park of Nepal in the north and the river Gandak on the western side.
• Rivers: Rivers Gandak, Pandai, Manor, Harha, Masan, and Bhapsa flow through various parts of the reserve.
• The forest of this region has a combination of bhabar and terai tracts.
• Vegetation: It mainly consists of Moist mixed deciduous, Open-land vegetation, Sub-mountainous semi-evergreen formation, Freshwater swamps, Riparian fringes, Alluvial grasslands, high hill savannah and Wetlands.
• Flora: Sal, rohini, sihor, teak, bamboo, semal, Mandar, shisham, Jamun, Gular etc.
• Fauna: Tigers, Leopards and Indian Wild Dogs are large predators. Leopard cat and fishing cat Deer, sambar, barking deer and hog deer etc.

Q1) What is Project Tiger?

It is a tiger conservation programme launched in 1973 as a centrally sponsored scheme by the Government of India and administered by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).It aims in ensuring a viable population of the Bengal tiger (‘endangered’) in its natural habitats, protecting it from extinction and preserving areas of biological importance as a natural heritage that represent the diversity of ecosystems across the tiger's range in the country.

Source: Bihar: Reduced human activity, including mining bans, helped increase tiger numbers in Valmiki reserve