On one of the Saturdays a couple of weeks ago, when 20-25 volunteers from DIYA Foundation and Gayatri Pariwar had joined hands to plant the saplings, I bumped into a student - Gaurav Dube from Bio-tecnology department of University Of Pune. He expressed interest in Green Hills Group activities and during the course of discussions, I expressed to him our intent to run a project in collboration with an academic institution around understanding the impact of the prolification of Gliricidia on acres and acres of land on the ARAI / Vetal Tekdi (Hilltop). I expressed the problem statement in following words over an email that I sent later.
Thanks for your call and I am all excited and very happy to engage UoP on a project that we will like to undertake in interest of preserving the bio diversity of the Pune region, particularly on the Forest Lands, Hills and Hill Slopes
I am attaching some information about the two exotic species which we think are affecting the bio-diversity of the forest land in Pune city. We will like to understand more about the species and undertake projects that help control their propagation and also help native species grow in their vicinity to suppress their impact.
Gliricidia : Found on Vetal Tekdi and vivinity of ARAI. The attachment in this email has all the information about the species.
The other species is Patangi : Caesalpinia sappan which is found on Taljai, Vaghjai forest land and on University of Pune campus too.
I represent two stakeholders - Green Hills Group (an NGO) and IBM India (possible sponsor) will like to come to the campus, meet the interested members and take this project forward. I will be happy to facilitate a field visit and meetings in coming week.
Gaurav called me subsequently and suggested that I post the pictures of Griricidia. Expect that this project begins soon and helps counter the prolification of these dominant exotic species.. A problem that the forest department has been trying to tackle since last 4-5 years.
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