Forest Area

Geographic Area: 1, 55,707 km2 (4.7% of country)

Population:
36.71 million (3.6% of country)
Urban 5.50 million (15%)
Rural 31.21 million (85%)

No. of Districts 30

No. of Hill Districts 0

No. of Tribal Districts 12

Recorded Forest Area:
Reserved Forest (RF): 26329km2
Protected Forest (PF): 15525 km2
Unclassed Forest (UF): 16282 km2
Total: 58136 km2
Of State’s Geographic Area 37.34%
Of Country’s Forest Area 7.50%

Forest Cover
Very Dense Forest: 288 km2
Moderate Dense Forest: 27,882 km2
Open Forest: 20,196 km2
Total: 48,366 km2
Of State’s Geographic Area: 31.06%
Of Country’s Forest Cover: 7.16 %

Forest Cover
Non-Forest
68.8%
Moderate
Dense Forest
17.9%
Open Forest
13.1%
Very Dense
Forest
0.2%

Forests in Villages
 
There are 46,989 villages in the state of which 29,302 have forests as a recorded land use. These villages have a total population of 15.93 million. The villages having less than 100 ha, between 100-500 ha and more than 500 ha forest in each village constitute 85%, 14% and 1% of the total villages, respectively.

 Forest Plantations

The coastal and soil conservation plantations of Casuarina spp. were taken up in early 1950s. During the second Five Year Plan small scale plantation of Salmalia malbaricum for match wood, sabai grass for paper, Acacia catechu for Katha was taken up. After the formation of Forest Development Corporation in 1962, large scale plantations of commercial species like Tectona grandis, Eucalyptus spp., Dalbergia sissoo started. The important plantation programmes include Coastal shelterbelt plantantation and River valley catchment plantation. Plantation activity further got a fillip after launching of externally aided Social Forestry Project in 1983. About 1.83 m ha area has been brought under plantations in the state since independence.