Biodiversity Heritage Site

This area has a unique ecosystem with traditional, cultural and rich heritage values coupled with critical habitat and ecosystem services to its rich diverse of flora and fauna. Elathur lake is one of the important bird habitats for wintering grounds and breeding grounds for resident & migratory birds and almost 5000 birds roost in this lake during peak migratory period.

It is a revenue land located between Sharavathi Wild Life Sanctuary and Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary. It has Shola vegetation which is primitive vegetation in the Western Ghat and also has grasslands.

The area holds a total of 610 germplasms of 49 crops including high economic value plants. There are number of plant types developed through genetic breeding programme within the garden. The site also has 165 wild plant species including 48 medicinal varieties, rare and endangered plant species. The garden has high density of Swietenia macrophylla (planted in 1874 with seeds obtained from Royal Botanical Garden, UK) and Ficus bengalensis with ideal conditions for their natural regeneration.

Mahendragiri hill is situated at an elevation between 700-1501 m above mean sea level in Gajapati district of Odisha. With increase altitude, the hill complex demonstrates several micro climatic conditions like tropical shola, tropical semievergreen, tropical moist-deciduous & tropical dry deciduous. The diversified vegetation with rich floral diversity representing 40% of the reported flora of Odisha. A total of 1,358 species of plants including 1,042 species of angiosperms under 122 families, 60 species of pteridophytes, 104 species of bryophytes, 53 species of lichens and 72 species of macro-fungi and 2 species of gymnosperms occurring in the hill ecosystem.The ancient temples of Kunti, Shima, Arjuna and Yudhisthir at Mahendragiri have been declared as protected monuments under the Ancient Monument and Archaeological sites and Remains Act 1958 by the State Government. These monuments provide a sacred and holy background for receiving about one lakh devotees annually every year to worship the deities of the hill

This area has a unique ecosystem with hillock covered by native vegetation with dry deciduous, thorny and scrub forest type with sporadic grassland ecosystem which supports rich diverse of flora and fauna and breeding centre for migratory birds. Nagamalai hillock area holds 138 plant species, 118 bird species and 94 faunal species besides traditional, cultural and heritage values and render service to local community as a form of local tradition worshipping deity-Sacred grove.

It is a reserved forest being preserved as natural forest having biological, ethinical and historical values.

The site is habitat of wild animals & rare species of plants and grass. More than 150 species of birds, 24 species of mammals, have been recorded in this area. The natural plantation of Bori (Zizyphus jujube) tree is unique and survived since old ages.

Rich Heritage of indigenous germplasm of horticulture and medicinal plants. It provides good habitat for good number of avifauna, butterflies and other insects

Canary Pahad BHS, in Hazaribag District is a Hilly Area spreading over an area of 2110.67 Acre which comes under Hazaribag East Forest Division. Canary Pahad BHS is situated about 704 meters above mean sea level. Major species of this site are Shorea robusta, Buchanania lanzan, Sterculia urens etc. 

The site consists of many Rare Endangered Species such as Dalbergia latifolia, Pterocarpus marsupium, Boswella serrata, etc.

It is a Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas

The fish Schistura hiranyakeshi was spotted for the first time in a pond at the Mahadev Temple at Amboli in Sindhudurg district , Western Ghats The 2.11 ha area has now been declared as ‘Shistura Hiranyakeshi Biological Heritage Site’ in April 2021. It has become the 5th such heritage site in the state of Maharashtra. The fish was found by the team led by Tejas Thackeray, a wildlife researcher, and son of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.

Habitat for Himalayan Newt, which is an evolutionary significant species originated during the early-middle Miocene and endemic to the Indo-Nepal Himalayan region.

Mawtneng BHS is a vital area for biodiversity conservation due to its rich floral and faunal diversity. The Mawtneng BMC is responsible for management of BHS under guidance of Meghalaya SBB and in accordance with BHS guidelines issued by NBA.

It is a Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas

It offers refuge to Black Softshell Turtle Nilssonia nigricans listed under Appendix I of CITES and extinct  in the wild category of IUCN.

Habitat of nearly 100 species of avifauna with other Schedule-I fauna like Golden Monitor Lizard, smooth coated Otter, Golden Jackal etc and other rare animals.

Sirpur lake is an important habitat of Migratory birds and is also declared as Ramsar Site and Important Bird Area, which is very important from Biological point of view and which needs to be protected and it is a source of livelihood for Local communities.

This area is vital for biodiversity conservation due to its rich floral and faunal diversity. There are about 175 floral species and 177 faunal species present in Sirpur Lake, which includes 130 species of birds, 14 species of reptiles, 34 Butterfly species and other animals.

This comprises 1135 ha of Longku Forest and another 200 ha watershed areas of Joulangpang-Khoukao waterfalls. The Rongmei tribes of Dailong and other villages of Tamenglong district were conserving forest in the form of sacred groves known as “Raengan”, meaning gateway conservation (resting) site of the farmers which is precursor to all conservation activities of these tribes in Tamenglong district. The type of habitats includes Montane Wet Temperate Forest, Tropical Evergreen Forest, and Semi Evergreen Forest and Riparian forest. The area contains more than 159  plant species including 16 species of ethno-medicinal value, used by the local tribes. This includes the globally rare and endemic species of Indian wild orange (Citrus indica) and Jewel orchid (Anoectochilus albolineatus). A total of 101 avian species including the 2 endemic species: Grey sibia (Heterophasia gracillis) and Darjeeling woodpecker (Dendrocopos darjellensi), 8 mammalian species, 10 species of snakes have been recorded including rare and endemic Cherrapunji Keelback (Hebius xenura).

A patch of Betula utilis or Bhojpatra trees wilh some intersp~rsed Willow trees Dominant shrubs and herbs: Rosa species, Lonicera species, Sorbus species, Agropyron longearistatum, Festuca species, Primula denticulata, Polygonatum verticillatum, Plantago asiatica, Heracleum candicans, Berberis species, Artemisia species, Bunium Persicum etc. Major faunal species, in the surrounding area: Snow Leopard, Brown Bear, Tibetan ·Wolf, Ibex etc

The site has unique geological and palaeo-botanical features. Well preserved angiosperm wood fossil representing the existence of a forest dating back to the late Jurassic age.