Pine tree; Pines for Survival

Bhushan Parimoo

Poor natural regeneration in the Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) forests is a matter of perturbing ecological concern in the Jammu region. Locally called chir or cheel, it is one of the prized tree species — a prominent coniferous Longleaf Indian Pine tree native to the Himalayan region. The species is named after the Scottish botanist William Roxburgh. A massive, large evergreen tree with an elongated crown, it attains a height of up to 50 metres, with about 3.5 metres in girth, and forms a straight cylindrical bole that becomes umbrella-shaped at the top. The bark is thick, rough, and deeply fissured, displaying shades of reddish-brown. The leaves are needle-like, grouped in fascicles of three, and may grow up to 35 centimetres in length. Cones are ovoid or conical, measuring 10 to 20 centimetres, with each cone containing numerous winged seeds.

It thrives in the subtropical and lower temperate zones of the Himalayas, at altitudes ranging from 450 to 2,300 metres above sea level. It prefers well-drained, sandy, or rocky soils and can tolerate dry conditions, often dominating on southern slopes where moisture availability is lower. It holds significant ecological, economic, and cultural importance. Characterised by its tall stature, long needles, and resinous bark, the Chir Pine forms a crucial component of the subtropical pine forests of the Himalayas.

While Resin is used to extract turpentine oil and Rosin besides a host of other pine derivatives, the timber obtained is valued for construction purposes — in Kashmir for making trusses of the attics and in rural areas for roof battens, door/window frames etc. The chir needles are recently being used to make briquets which serve as a good firewood alternative. Its stalled recruitment requires urgent, need-based attention from forest managers to prevent further degradation of these vital subtropical ecosystems.

Unscientific, aggressive resin tapping — often utilising highly concentrated acid stimulants on shaved bark — has caused severe tree mortality and forest degradation. By cutting off the tree’s primary pathways for food and water, exhaustive tapping practices have led to widespread drying of entire pine crops.

Sh. S.S. Razvi, IAS, former Commissioner-cum-Secretary to the Government of J&K for Forests, is historically recognised for his extensive, grassroots-level tours into the interior forests of Jammu and Kashmir. He extensively engaged with the Gujjar and Bakerwal (G&B) communities, directly assessing their living conditions, traditional grazing rights, and livelihood challenges. His observations were that apart from vandalism of pine rocks, abnormal trampling by outsiders severely damages fragile forest ecosystems. This behaviour degrades the soil by reducing air-filled pores, compacting the ground, and stripping away vital understory vegetation — ultimately accelerating erosion, reducing biodiversity, and disturbing natural wildlife with negative impacts on grazing sources vital for rural economy and particularly livestock sustenance. He did issue clear instructions to reduce resin tapping from 41,000 metric tons to 8,000 metric tons, though considerable damage had already been inflicted.

This writer had a chance to meet Sunderlal Bahuguna, Chipko Movement activist, in the mid-eighties in the office chambers of the Director Social Forestry, Late P. Parnaik, who was a state guest to assess the status of forests. He carried a brief but intensive tour of Chenab Valley and was disappointed by the degradation of forest cover. He stressed the need to revive Chir Forests. His observations were not taken note of and were not followed. How long should the State allow the deforesters to continue? What are the State subjects waiting for till the whole forests turn into deserts? The planet has a long list of lush green forests that man made into deadliest deserts. Should we ignore it?

It requires mention that the Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation (SFC) was established on May 9, 1978, to preserve, supervise, and develop forests while managing the extraction and sale of timber — but resin extraction was kept outside its control.

Distribution of Chir in J&K & Available Group Stock

The altitudinal zonation of chir is from 500–1800m and is found in the forest divisions of Poonch, Rajouri, Nowshera, Mahore, Reasi, Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Billawar, Basoli, Udhampur, Ramnagar, Doda and lower reaches of Bhaderwah.

Chir in J&K is majorly grouped under Champion and Seth classification Group 9 and the expanse of chir is as follows:

(ISFR – 2023)

Out of all the Forest Groups present in J&K, Chir forests form the second largest group by covering approx. 15% of J&K forest area.

Chir is an important species not only in forests but also in rural areas in Trees Outside Forest (TOF) category. The status of chir is as following:

(ISFR, 2023)

Despite chir being one of the major tree species in J&K, the reply to RTI raised by the author reveals that in the annual plantation programs, chir is being neglected by most of the forest divisions and the plantation programs majorly include Broad Leaved Species with little commercial value.

One of the prime objectives in the management of forests is to improve the quality of forests, which is the Capital of Forest Dept. if viewed from a pure financial perspective. And in the annual plantation programs we are replacing the high quality capital with low quality and low-value substitutes.

From the replies to the RTI filed by the author, it follows that only Ramnagar Division has planted chir in satisfactory number, and rest all the divisions have almost ignored chir or planted very less chir in forests. This might be a severe violation of the Working Plan prescriptions in the chir bearing areas of J&K.

Reasons for Ignoring Chir

The author has been associated with the working of the Forest Dept. for the past one decade and is in touch with serving and retired field officers. The most plausible reasons for avoiding chir, as appeared from discussions with field officers, are as following:

• The chir takes approx. 3 years to develop into a good sized seedling with a well developed root system capable of surviving in the field plantation.
• While chir will survive only in its appropriate altitudinal zonation with suitable geological formation containing quartzite, other Broad Leaved species — which are either understory or associate vegetation of chir — have adaptability for wider altitudinal and geological variations.
• Most of the plantation units are planned along the road side, where plants could be quickly carried and planted in the limited planting season. The areas worthy of plantation but away from roads are deliberately avoided.
• Post plantation survival is another factor for ignoring chir.

It is time and prudent for the top brass of the Forest Dept. to look into these issues and intervene for corrective action.

 ( the writer is a Jammu Based Environmentalits )