Jakanari reserve forest
Jaccanaire reserve forest/Jakanari
Jaccanaire reserve forest/Jakanari is a reserve forest north of Coimbatore where Forest College and Research Institute is situated. This forest is in the foothills of Jakanari mountain of the Nilgiri mountains. Kotagiri Ghat (State Highway 15) runs through this reserved forest. The Kotagiri Ghat is the oldest known route into the Nilgiris. It approximately follows the route taken by John Sullivan on his discovery trips in 1819. The distance between Mettupalayam and Kotagiri on this road is 33 km and it has only 4 hairpin bends. This road is part of State Highway 15. It is slightly less travelled as it is a slightly longer route from Mettupalayam to Ooty than the route via Coonoor, though as of 2012 the road condition is superior to the Coonoor Ghat road. It is also statistically less vulnerable to landslips. It is possible to divert from this route to Coonoor.<ref>There is a link from Aravenu to Bandishola https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9WalzFldU.
Corridors in this area
Jaccanaire slope to Hulikkal Durgam corridor
This elephant corridor connects the Jaccanaire Slope reserve forest and Hulikkal Durgam Reserve Forest of Coimbatore Forest Division. The elephants from Sathyamanagalam Tiger Reserve move to the southern part of Coimbatore forest division through the foothills of highly undulated mountains and cross the corridor between the second hairpin bend of Mettupalayam – Coonoor highway and Kallar village. The corridor is very narrow due to plantations and various man made developmental initiatives like establishment of Arecanut Plantations, Banana Plantations which are crops favoured by the elephant. The details of the Jaccanaire to Hulikkal Durgam corridor, which is otherwise called the Kallar at Ghanda pallam corridor, connect Sathyamanagalam Tiger Reserve and the Coimbatore Forest Division. The length of the corridor runs up to 7 kilometres and the width of the corridor extends up to 300 meters. The forest types prevalent in the corridor are Tropical Thorn and Dry Deciduous Forests which encompass a total of 27 tree species sampled in 0.25 acre area.
Dominant tree species
The dominant tree species available in the belt are *Ficus benghalensis*; *Azadirachta indica*; *Albizia amara*; *Acacia nilotica* and Bamboo species. Because of human invasion, most of the tree canopies were cut and fed to the livestock population by head loads and hence almost all these species appear heavily pruned. In this corridor, elephant-loving species like Bamboo are not well flourishing due to poor rainfall and unauthorized removal of clumps for basket making activities by local residents and basket weavers located nearby. In this corridor, one could observe threats to the elephants are the presence of Swami Sachidhanandha Jyothi Niketan School and the presence of Black Thunder, the water theme park, which are positioned across the corridor of the elephants and affect their migration. Besides, these buildings and theme parks were provided with solar-operated power fences and hence the elephants have been forced to move out of the area. When it moves to an alternate route in the slope, one could visualize the establishment of Arecanut plantations and Banana plantations which were once occupied in an unauthorized manner. Politically powerful people were occupying these lands and thereby the elephants were unable to find space for feeding and free movement.
References
1.https://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2019/vol7issue3/PartO/7-3-118-515.pdf
This article "Jakanari reserve forest" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Jakanari reserve forest. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
