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Site description (2004 baseline):

This small sanctuary in Mandi district has been in the news due to the state government’s plan to establish a large cement factory about 500 m from the boundary. Bandli was a Reserve Forest till 1962, when it was first notified as a Sanctuary. After the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, final notification took place in 1974. It is located about 7 km from Sundarnagar town. The Sanctuary was declared mainly to protect Cheer Pheasant Catreus wallichii, which had been exterminated from many nearby areas due to hunting. The Sanctuary is under heavy pressure due to its proximity to villages and towns. Singh et al. (1990) identified only two major forest types: Himalayan Subtropical Pine Forest and Ban Oak Forest.

AVIFAUNA: This sanctuary helps to protect a small surviving population of Cheer Pheasant. No detailed study on avifauna has been conducted, except for surveys of pheasants. This IBA comes under Western Himalayas Endemic Bird Area (EBA-128) and Sino-Himalayan Subtropical Forest (BirdLife International, undated). However, as we do not have the checklist of birds of this site, we do not know how many Restricted Range and Biome Restricted assemblages are found in this IBA. Besides studies on the globally threatened Cheer Pheasant to know its status and distribution in this site, detailed studies on the general avifauna are also required. It is a Data Deficient site.

OTHER KEY FAUNA: Leopard Panthera pardus is quite common and a major cause of concern to livestock owners. Asiatic Black Bear Ursus thibetanus is also found, but it confines itself to forest and grassland areas.

Barking Deer Muntiacus muntjak and Goral Nemorhaedus goral are the major natural prey of Leopard. Himalayan Yellowthroated Marten Martes flavigula are the major predators of Cheer Pheasant and other smaller prey. Common Langur Semnopithecus entellus and Rhesus Macaque Macaca mulatta are the non-human primates in the IBA.

MAIN THREATS: Poaching; Human settlement; Forest fires; Denotification; Cement factory project.

Besides poaching, livestock grazing and forest fires plague most of the sanctuaries of northern India. Bandli Sanctuary is under threat of denotification by the Himachal Government, which intends constructing a large cement factory very close to the Sanctuary border. Earlier in 1992, the proposal to set up a cement plant was rejected by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) as the proposed mining site would have disturbed the Sanctuary. In 2001, the State Government revived the plan with a proposal to denotify half the Sanctuary to facilitate the project. The residents have been opposing the cement plant proposal since 1992, and have now formed several environmental protection groups to save the Sanctuary. It has been pointed out that a large number of people in Mandi are likely to be adversely affected by the pollution from the cement plant. There are fears that water channels will dry up or become polluted, water mills will be rendered useless and cropping patterns and yields would be affected. The tourism industry is also opposing the cement plant project in such sylvan surroundings.

Key contributors: Sanjeeva Pandey and K. Ramesh.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bandli Wildlife Sanctuary (India). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bandli-wildlife-sanctuary-iba-india on 26/11/2024.