Wildlife Management
Wildlife Management tests protected-area law, population estimation, habitat improvement, human–wildlife conflict and species recovery. Chhattisgarh's three national parks and sanctuaries are frequent question areas.
Core rules
- WPA 1972 categories: national park (no grazing, no rights), sanctuary (limited rights), conservation reserve and community reserve; Schedule I gives the highest protection.
- Population estimation: total/block count (index), line transect (density), camera capture–recapture (tigers), pugmark (older method) and dung count for herbivores.
- Habitat management: fire lines, water holes, weed removal, corridor protection and prey augmentation.
- Project Tiger (1973) and Project Elephant (1992) are centrally sponsored; eco-development committees help reduce conflict.
- Chhattisgarh: Indravati NP (1981), Guru Ghasidas (Sanjay) NP (1983) and Kanger Valley NP (1982); Achanakmar–Amarkantak Biosphere Reserve supports sal and wildlife.
- Conflict tools: barriers, early warning, compensation and relocation only as a last resort.
Worked example
A block count records 60 chital in 30 km². Reasoning: apparent density = 60/30 = 2 animals/km². Because detection is imperfect and blocks may miss animals, this is an index, not an absolute density; for population size, multiply by effective sampled area and report confidence.
Traps
- Saying national parks allow tribal rights; they do not, unlike sanctuaries.
- Treating pugmark as equivalent to modern camera-trap estimation.
- Confusing conservation reserve with community reserve.
- Forgetting that Schedule I species offences are treated seriously and are generally non-bailable.