Historically, the forests of the malnad region were brought under organized management earlier compared to the forests of the other regions. This was motivated primarily because of the presence of hardwood timber, mainly teak. However, the governments of the time were conscious of the requirement of sustainable production of timber. This resulted in relatively more organized and scientific working of the forests through preparation of working plans. Another positive step taken was with regard to the reservation of large expanses of forest areas in the region. In retrospect, it appears to be a very farsighted decision taken by the administrators of the time who had realized the ecological importance of these forests for the overall well being of the entire region which now is Karnataka.
The forests of malnad Karnataka were worked primarily under the following silvicultural systems: in the moist deciduous zone, clear felling was resorted to in relatively flat areas and was followed by stump planting of teak. Selection felling was adopted in slope areas which were allowed to regenerate on their own through coppice and seeds; at times selection-cum improvement system was adopted in which case some follow-up regeneration operation mainly through dibbling of seeds in the felled and opened up spots and cultural operations in the entire coupe were carried out. The evergreen and semi-evergreen areas were worked under selection or selection-cum-improvement system mainly for plywood and matchwood timber. The dry deciduous forests were worked under clear felling system followed by stump planting of teak. The system of coppice or coppice with standards was also in vogue in the teak pole areas of Haliyal and Mundgod taluks. By and large, teak was the main species for planting in the moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests of the region. Teak performed quite well in the entire region except in Dakshina Kannada district (including present Udupi district) where other species such as Hopea parviflora (bogi), Ailanthus malabarica (halmaddi), etc. were introduced with encouraging results.
Source: This is an abstract taken from the book, 'Status of forests in Karnataka' (https://bit.ly/2G2iTh0). The author is Mr. Dipak Sarmah.
