Once a pristine rainforest and one of the most bio-diverse regions in the Nilgiris, the Gudalur-Pandalur landscape has become a proverbial minefield for wildlife, attempting to cling on to the last remaining patches of the degraded rainforest. It is now surrounded by vast landscapes occupied over the last century by settlers who have converted the rainforests and grasslands into tea estates and farms. Among these fragmented bio-diverse landscapes is the O’Valley region that, owing to the “undecided” nature of the land’s status, is at risk of becoming overrun by “encroachers and trespassers”.
O’Valley, once known as Ouchterlony Valley, after James Ouchterlony who established tea estates in the region 150 years ago, is home to old-growth native forests. The native forests, “if left for re-wilding, will allow for the once evergreen rainforest canopy to return,” says Godwin Vasanth Bosco, a restoration ecologist. The ecologically sensitive region connects the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve to the grasslands of the Mukurthi National Park and the New Amarambalam reserve forest in Kerala through patches of rainforests.
While the upper slopes of O’Valley have been declared as forest areas within major tea estates under Section 53 of the Janmam Estates Act, a majority of the land has been brought under Section 17 (lease) of the Act. The Director of Survey and Settlements is empowered to either extend or terminate the leases of people occupying the land under Section 17, and it is lack of action on this decision that has enabled encroachments to increase the region, argue activists.
