Govind Pashu Vihar National Park
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''Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary'' is a national park in Supin Range, near Uttarkashi town of Uttarkashi district in
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
established initially as a wildlife sanctuary in 1955, and was later converted into a national park. It is named after a prominent Indian freedom fighter and politician Govind Ballabh Pant, who became Home Minister in 1955 and is remembered for his achievement in establishing
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
as an official language of India. The park was established on 1 March 1955, and is situated in the Uttarkashi district in the
Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...
of
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
. The park lies in the higher reaches of the Garhwal Himalayas. The total area of Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is . The Snow Leopard Project started by the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
is being managed at this sanctuary. Also, it is one of the remaining strongholds in the Himalayas of the bearded vulture, a vital ecological catalyst.


The park and its management

The altitude in the park ranges from above sea level. Within the park is the
Har Ki Doon valley Har Ki Doon or Har Ki Dun is a cradle-shaped hanging valley in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, India. The region is surrounded with green Bugyals (High Altitude Meadows). It is surrounded by snow-covered peaks and alpine vegetation. It is ...
which is a known spot for trekking, while the Ruinsiyara high altitude lake is also popular as a tourist destination. The Har-ki-dun Forest Rest House is known for its location amidst a valley of wild flowers. The forest rest houses of Naitwar, Taluka and Osla are en route to Hari-ki-dun and attract large number of tourists. The nearest town from the park is Dharkarhi, from the park. The nearest airport and railway station are in
Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...
at a distance of . Many visitors come to India in order to trek or to see the
wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...
. State governments are engaged in managing national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and may put the interests of tourists, and the money they bring into the state, before the interests of the indigenous peoples that live inside park boundaries. Before independence, the British managed this area for the extraction of timber, building roads and providing forest rest houses. After independence, the state forest department took on this role, regulations increased and timber extraction decreased. Other departments became involved, a motor road was built to Naitwar, schools, administrative buildings and a small hospital were built, immigrants arrived from Nepal and elsewhere and set up stalls, shops and restaurants. By 1988, the road had been extended for inside the park to Sankiri and 300 visitors arrived that year. The road was further extended and in 1990, over one thousand tourists, mostly Indian, visited. By this time, several state departments were involved. The wildlife division of the forest department wanted to preserve the wildlife, exclude tourists and local people from certain areas, and plough back any funds they accumulated into upkeep of the park. The tourism department wanted to encourage the opening up of the area, the building of new roads and tourist accommodation, and was uninterested in the socio-development of the permanent park residents. Since then eco-tourism has further expanded, and tourists from all parts of the world now visit the park.


Flora

The sanctuary contains
western Himalayan broadleaf forests The Western Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion which is found in the middle elevations of the western Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, and Pakistan. Setting The ecoregion forms an area of te ...
at its lowest elevations, transitioning to western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests and
western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows The Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows is a montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregion of Nepal, India, and Tibet, which lies between the tree line and snow line in the western portion of the Himalaya Range. Setting The Western Himalayan ...
at its highest elevations. Trees present in the lower parts of the sanctuary include chir pine, deodar cedar,
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and other
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
species. At altitudes over about , common species include
conifers Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extan ...
such as blue pine, silver fir,
spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
,
yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...
, and
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
species such as
oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
,
maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
, walnut,
horse chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...
,
hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
and
rhododendron ''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nati ...
.


Fauna

There are about fifteen species of large mammal in the sanctuary as well as about one hundred and fifty species of bird. This is the place from which the Indian Government has inaugurated the
Snow Leopard Project Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
. This project aims to provide special conservation measures to protect the snow leopard. This endangered
predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
is threatened by the decline in wild animals on which to prey, by being poached for its skin and body parts, and by being killed by farmers to protect their livestock. Other mammals found in the sanctuary include the
Asian black bear The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sout ...
, the
brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is kno ...
, the common
leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
, the
musk deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all seven, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, but rather their fa ...
, the bharal, the
Himalayan tahr The Himalayan tahr (''Hemitragus jemlahicus'') is a large even-toed ungulate native to the Himalayas in southern Tibet, northern India, western Bhutan and Nepal. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, as the population is declini ...
and the serow. Smaller mammals include the Indian crested porcupine,
European otter The Eurasian otter (''Lutra lutra''), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of th ...
,
goral The gorals are four species in the genus ''Naemorhedus''. They are small ungulates with a goat-like or antelope-like appearance. Until recently, this genus also contained the serow species (now in genus '' Capricornis''). Etymology The original ...
, civet, hedgehog,
Himalayan field rat The Himalayan field rat (''Rattus nitidus''), sometimes known as the white-footed Indo-Chinese rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It has a wide range, being found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Laos, Thai ...
,
Hodgson's giant flying squirrel Hodgson's giant flying squirrel (''Petaurista magnificus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This large flying squirrel lives in Himalayan forests in Asia. Like other flying squirrels, it is nocturnal and able to glide (not act ...
,
wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...
, masked palm civet and
Sikkim mountain vole The Sikkim mountain vole (''Neodon sikimensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in Bhutan, India, Nepal and China. Description The Sikkim mountain vole has a head-and-body length of between and a tail length of . T ...
. Birds found here include several endangered species such as the
golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of p ...
, the steppe eagle and the
black eagle The black eagle (''Ictinaetus malaiensis'') is a bird of prey. Like all eagles, it is in the family Accipitridae, and is the only member of the genus ''Ictinaetus''. They soar over forests in the hilly regions of tropical and subtropical South ...
, the bearded vulture, the
Himalayan snowcock The Himalayan snowcock (''Tetraogallus himalayensis'') is a snowcock in the pheasant family Phasianidae found across the Himalayan ranges and parts of the adjoining Pamir range of Asia. It is found on alpine pastures and on steep rocky cliffs wh ...
, the Himalayan monal pheasant, the cheer pheasant and the
western tragopan The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (''Tragopan melanocephalus'') is a medium-sized brightly plumed pheasant found along the Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the west to Ut ...
. Smaller birds include owls, pigeons,
minivet The minivets are passerine birds belonging to the genus ''Pericrocotus'' in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. There are about 15 species, occurring mainly in forests in southern and eastern Asia. They are fairly small, slender birds with lon ...
s,
thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...
,
warbler Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers Th ...
s,
bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical As ...
s, parakeets,
cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...
s, tits,
buntings The buntings are a group of Old World passerine birds forming the genus ''Emberiza'', the only genus in the family Emberizidae. The family contains 45 species. They are seed-eating birds with stubby, conical bills. Taxonomy The family Emberizi ...
and finches.


References

{{Authority control National parks in Uttarakhand Wildlife sanctuaries in Uttarakhand Geography of Uttarkashi district Western Himalayan broadleaf forests Protected areas established in 1955 1955 establishments in Uttar Pradesh Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests