The total notified forest area of the State is 36914.69 Km2 , which is 22.73 % of the geographical area. They include Reserved, Protected- and Un-classed forests. The Kadapa has the highest notified forest area of 5041.26Km2 and the Krishna has the lowest notified forest area of 664.28 Km2 in the State. As regards the ratio of notified forest to geographical area, Vishakhapatnam District has the highest with 41.50 % and Krishna is the lowest with 7.38 %. As per Champion and Seth’s classification the Forests of State fall under Southern Moist Mixed Deciduous Forest, Littoral Swamp Forest, Dry Teak Forest, Dry Red Sanders Bearing Forest, Southern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest, Dry Deciduous Scrub, Dry Savannah Forest, Hardwickia Forest, Dry Bamboo Brakes, Souther Thorn Forest, Dry Scrub Forest, Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest types.
Protected Area:
The State has 16 Protected Areas – 13 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 3 National Parks and one Tiger Reserve. NagarjunaSagar–Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR) is the biggest Tiger Reserve of India. Out of 36914.77 Km2 of notified forest area, 8137.08 Km2 is included in the PA network.
Community Forest Management:
There are 4,419 VanaSamrakshanaSamities (VSSs) or Joint Forest Protection Committees (JFPCs) in the State. An area of 8426.11 Km2 of notified forests, which is 22.8 % of the forest area, is under Community Forest Management (CFM).
Forest Cover:
The forest cover in the State based on the interpretation of IRS P6 LISS-III 2012 data (September 2012 – March 2013) is 23399.95 Km2 , which is 15.24% of the Geographical area. In terms of the forest canopy cover density classes the State has 651.25 Km2 of Very Dense Forest, 11810.20 Km2 of Moderately Dense Forest and 10938.50 Km2 of Open Forest. The area of the Scrub is 9241.79 Km2 , Non-Forest 3900.52 Km2 and Water Bodies 372.51 Km2 .
The vegetation types met within Andhra Pradesh are
TROPICAL SEMI-EVERGREEN FORESTS (moist deciduous forests mixed with evergreen elements)
This type of forests occur in a localised manner in small pockets in valleys near the banics of perennial streams and hills at about 800 m where the climatic conditions are favourable with plenty of humus and moisture in the soil. Found in in Visakhapatnam district, Borra blocks of Vijayanagaram district Tekkali and Pathapatnam of Srikakulam district.
Tropical moist deciduous FORESTS :
This type occurs in region with a rainfall of 1015 mm and above at an altitude of 610 mts. These forests can be subdivided into three categories for the sake of convenience
- Northern tropical moist deciduous forests (sal forests)-This type of forest is found in srikakulam district. In the sal forests Shorearobusta predominates.
- South Indian tropical moist deciduous forests-These forests are found in parts of Gudem, Rampa agency, parts of West Godavari district, between Rollapenta and Bairluty (Pig. 6b), Gundlabrahmeswaram (Nallamalais) in Kurnool district and Talakona in chittoor district.
- Southern tropical moist deciduous riverian forests-Along the courses of rivers and streams in the plains# where alluvial soil is deposited# there are many predominantly exclusive to these areas. It generally forms a very narrow belt along tne banks; sometimes it may extend to tnehigner elevations.
DRY DECIDUOUS FORESTS :
In this type of forests# the trees oeyin to shed their leaves by about Decemoer and between February and May the forest looks very open and at times eyesoriny# but no area is completely leafless at any one time of the year. Flowering and fruiting are generally far advanced oefore the first flush of new leaves appears with the conventional showers in April – May. These forests are widely spread in almost all tne districts of the state.
DRY SAVANNAH FORESTS :
This kind of forests, formed as a result of intense biotic interference, are scattered tnrouyhouttne state, Tne stunted trees are Emblicaofficinalis, Phoenix humilis, Pterocarpusmarsupium, Terminaliacneoula.
DRY EVERGREEN FORESTS :
This type of forests occur in coastal and plains areas with a rainfall of 635 mm and below at an altitude of less than 244 m and on impoverished soils witn practically no oryanic matter and where the top soil is practically non existent. This type of forest occurs in Poolbayh, Velagada of vijayanayaram district, Madugula range of Visakhapatnam, TeKKali and Pathapatnam of srikakulam.
TROPICAL EVERGREEN SCRUB FORESTS :
This type of forest is met within almost all drier parts of Andhra Pradesh like the districts of Anantapur.
The main species in tnis forest are Acacia chundra, Albizlaatnara. Balanitesaegyptiaca, Anisochiluscarnosus etc.
LITTORAL AND TIDAL SWAMP MANGROOVE FORESTS
These are spread over an area of 3,173 Sq.Km constituting 4.93% total forest area of the state. They occur in the coastal districts of srikaxulam, visakhapatnam. East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Prakasam, Guntur (Fiy. 9) and Nellore. Mangrove forests are located near the esturies of Krishna and Sodavari rivers.
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