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Site description (2004 baseline):

Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary lies in Chamoli district of the Garhwal Himalaya. The Sanctuary was created in 1972, and takes its name from the famous Hindu shrine at Kedarnath. It is situated about 300 km northeast of Delhi, covers an area of 97,500 ha, and is one of the largest protected areas in the Indian Himalayas. The entire Sanctuary lies in the southern catchment area of the Alaknanda river, which is one of three major tributaries of the Ganga. The high rainfall in the area has led to lush broadleaf dominated forests in the temperate and subalpine zones. The Sanctuary also has some eastern Himalayan elements. The highly threatened Musk Deer Moschus chrysogarter, is still found in the Sanctuary in good numbers. Mountain peaks border the Sanctuary at over 6,000 m above msl in the north, and in the by south the Mandal-Okhimath road to the south. Altitude ranges from 1,400 m (near Phata) to 7,068 m (Chaukhamba peak). Trishula Reserve Forest adjoins the Sanctuary on the Gopeshwar- Mandal side, and is a well-preserved Temperate Deciduous forest. The subtropical zone is represented mainly by Chir pine Pinus roxburghii, up to 2,000 m. Euphorbia royleana occasionally occurs on the dry, southern aspects up to 1,500 m. Within the temperate zone, Ban oak Quercus incana (1,500-2,100 m), Moru oak Q. dilatata (2,130-2,750 m) and Karsu oak Q. semecarpifolia (2,500- 3,300 m) forest occur. The flowering plants of Tungnath and Kedarnath are listed by Semwal and Gaur (1981) and Rau (1961).

AVIFAUNA: Green (1986) reported 132 bird species from Kedarnath WLS. Later, Sathyakumar (1994) added 78 more species to the list, and another 30 species were added by Rashid H. Raza (1996-2000), Ramana Athreya, Vidya Athreya, Dhananjay Mohan and Sanjay Sondhi (Unpublished checklist in Management plan) bringing it to 240 species. Cheer pheasant Catreus wallichii, a globally threatened species (BirdLife International 2001), is found in this IBA. The site falls in the Western Himalayas Endemic Bird Area (Stattersfield et al. 1998). Owing to its great altitudinal variation from about 1,000 m to more than 7,000 m, three biomes (Sino- Himalayan Subtropical Forest, Sino-Himalayan Temperate Forest and Eurasian High Montane (Alpine and Tibetan), described by BirdLife International (undated), are found in this IBA.

OTHER KEY FAUNA: Over 30 mammalian species, excluding bats, have been recorded (Green 1985, Sathyakumar 1994). Most noteworthy is the record of a Snow Leopard Uncia uncia in March 1979 (Green 1982).

The ungulates of conservation concern are Himalayan Musk Deer Moschus chrysogarter, Indian Muntjak or Barking Deer Muntiacus muntjak, Sambar Cervus unicolor, Goral Nemorhaedus goral, Serow Nemorhaedus sumatraensis, Himalayan Tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus and Blue Sheep Pseudois nayaur.

MAIN THREATS: Poaching, especially of Musk Deer and Asiatic Black Bear; Forest Fires; Collection of medicinal plants and other forest produce; Grazing; Tourism.

The Wildlife Sanctuary, established mainly to protect the Musk deer, is also important for the diversity of its flora and fauna, notably its assemblage of ungulate species, unique to the Garhwal Himalaya. It has been proposed to include the adjoining reserve forest in the Sanctuary and to declare a 30,000 ha National Park to include high alpine habitats (Rodgers and Panwar 1988). The Sanctuary does not require any habitat improvement through human intervention. Habitat improvement would be achieved by the management of grazing. The Gujjars who have recently made inroads into the area should be diverted to other grazing areas because livestock will permanently degrade the fragile habitat. The Hindu temples in the Sanctuary are of great cultural value. They attract thousands of pilgrims every year, who exert tremendous pressure on the fragile resources of this IBA. Negative impacts from tourism are evident in the Mandakini Valley, particularly in the vicinity of Kedarnath Temple, from where a large amount of minor forest and scrub has been removed. Charaching, particularly of Musk Deer, continues in less accessible areas. Grazing by domestic livestock (goats, sheep and waterbuffalo), burning of pastures and collection of forest products and medicinal herbs are all unregulated. Forest fires pose a major threat to the moist forest formations, and in recent years considerable damage has been done by them. Thus, the forest understorey is heavily degraded in places.

Key contributors: Rashid H. Raza, Dhananjai Mohan and S. Sathyakumar.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary and surrounding Reserve Forests (India). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/kedarnath-musk-deer-sanctuary-and-surrounding-reserve-forests-iba-india on 23/12/2024.