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Nanda Devi National Park
The Nanda Devi National Park is one of the most spectacular wilderness areas in the Himalayas. It is dominated by the peak of Nanda Devi, which rises to over 7,800 m. No humans live in the park, which has remained more or less intact because of its inaccessibility. It is the habitat of several endangered mammals, especially the snow leopard, Himalayan musk deer and bharal.
PHYSICAL FEATURES Comprises the catchment area of the Rishi Ganga, an eastern tributary of Dhauli Ganga which flows into the Alaknanda River at Joshimath. The area is a vast glacial basin, divided by a series of parallel, north-south oriented ridges. These rise up to the encircling mountain rim along which are about a dozen peaks above 6,400m (21,000ft), the better known including Dunagiri (7,066m), Changbang (6,864m) and Nanda Devi East (7,434m). Nanda Devi West, India's second highest mountain, lies on a short ridge projecting into the basin and rises up from Nanda Devi East on the eastern rim. Trisul (7,120m), in the south-west, also lies inside the basin. The upper Rishi Valley, often referred to as the 'Inner Sanctuary', is fed by Changbang, North Rishi and North Nanda Devi glaciers to the north and by South Nanda Devi and South Rishi glaciers to the south of the Nanda Devi massif. There is an impressive gorge cutting through the Devistan-Rishikot ridge below the confluence of the North and South Rishi rivers. The Trisuli and Ramani glaciers are features of the lower Rishi Valley or 'Outer Sanctuary', below which the Rishi Ganga enters the narrow, steep-sided lower gorge (Lavkumar, 1979). The basin presents a diverse array of glacial and periglacial forms. The glaciers cover a wide spectrum of growth phases. The combinations of normal and perched glaciers on different rock types add interest to the basin (T.M. Reed, pers. comm., 1988). The greater part of the park falls within the Central Crystallines, a zone of young granites and metamorphic rocks. Along the northern edge is exposed the Tibetan-Tethys, consisting of sediments of sandstones, micaceous quartzite, limestones and shales (Kumar and Sah, 1986). The Tethys sediments form Nanda Devi itself and many of the surrounding peaks, and display spectacular folding and thrusting, while mountains like Changbang are granite (M. P. Searle, pers. comm., 1988). The crystalline rocks of the Vaikrita Group and lower part of the Tethys sediments have been tentatively subdivided into four formations, namely: Lata, Ramani, Kharapatal and Martoli (Maruo, 1979). Further geological details are given by Lamba (1987).
CLIMATE Being an inner Himalayan valley, Nanda Devi Basin enjoys a distinctive microclimate. Conditions are generally dry with low annual precipitation, but there is heavy rainfall during the monsoon, from late June to August. Prevailing mist and low cloud during the monsoon keeps the soil moist, hence the lusher vegetation than is usually characteristic of drier inner Himalayan valleys. The basin is snow-bound for about six months of the year, snow being deeper and at lower altitudes on the southern side than the northern (Lavkumar, 1979; Lamba, 1987). Meteorological data are not available.
VEGETATION Forests are restricted largely to the Rishi Gorge and are dominated by fir Abies pindrow, rhododendron Rhododendron campanulatum and birch Betula utilis up to about 3,350m. Forming a broad belt between these and the alpine meadows is birch forest, with an understorey of rhododendron. Conditions are drier within the 'Inner Sanctuary', becoming almost xeric up the main Nanda Devi glaciers. Beyond Ramani, the vegetation switches from forest to dry alpine communities, with scrub juniper Juniperus pseudosabina becoming the dominant cover within the 'Inner Sanctuary'. Juniper gives way altitudinally to grasses, prone mosses and lichens, and on riverine soils to annual herbs and dwarf willow Salix spp. Woody vegetation extends along the sides of the main glaciers before changing gradually to squat alpines and lichens (Lavkumar, 1979; Reed, 1979; Hajra, 1983a). Balodi, n.d., gives a floristic analysis of the area based on the 1993 Nanda Devi Scientific and Ecological Expedition. A total of 312 species, distributed over 199 genera and 81 families, has been recorded and preserved in the herbarium of the Northern Circle, Botanical Survey of India. At least 17 of these are considered rare (Hajra, 1983a). Not included in this list is Saussurea sudhanshui, newly described from the area (Hajra, 1983b). A total of 773 plantshas been reported from the proposed biosphere reserve (Indian National MAB Committee, n.d.). Some 620 species from 344 genera and 116 families were recorded by the 1993 Nanda Devi Scientific and Ecological Expedition (Samant, n.d.). Nationally threatened species recorded include Nardostachys grandiflora (I), Picroehiza kurrooa (V), Cypripedium elegans (R), C. himalaicum (R), Dioscorea deltoidea (V) and Allium stracheyi (V). A species list is given in (Samant, n.d.). Local populations use a total of 97 species, 17 for medicine, 55 as food plants, 15 as fodder, 16 for fuel, 5 for tools, 8 for house building, 2 fibres, 6 miscellaneous, and 11 for religious purposes.
FAUNA An account of the 14 known species of mammals is given by Tak and Lamba (1985) and Lamba (1987). The basin is renowned for the abundance of its ungulate populations, notably bharal Pseudois nayaur (LR) (Tilman, 1937) estimated to number 820 in 1977 (Lavkumar, 1979) 440 in 1981-84 (Tak and Lamba, 1985; Lamba, 1987) and 990 were sighted in 1993 (Sathyakumar, n.d.). Preliminary surveys suggest that Himalayan musk deer Moschus chrysogaster (LR), mainland serow Capricornis sumatraensis (VU) and Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus (VU) are also fairly common (Lavkumar, 1979; Tak and Lamba, 1985; Lamba, 1987), but probably not as plentiful as previously due to hunting (Dang, 1961). However, numbers appear to be increasing due to the closure of the park to human activities (Sathyakumar, n.d.). The distribution of goral Nemorhaedus goral (LR) does not appear to extend to within the basin, although the species does occur in the vicinity of the national park (Tak and Lamba, 1985; Lamba, 1987). Snow leopard Panthera uncia (EN) is reported to have been "extraordinarily common" (Dang, 1961). This may reflect the relative ease with which the species is observed here and in the vicinity (Green, 1982), it being unlikely that the park supports a large snow leopard population because of its comparatively small size and the deep snow in winter (Green, 1988). Other large carnivores are common leopard P. pardus, Himalayan black bear Selenarctos thibetanus (VU) and brown bear Ursus arctos, the existance of which has yet to be confirmed. The only primate present is common langur Presbytis entellus (Tak and Lamba, 1985; Lamba, 1987) although Rhesus macaque Macaca mullata (LR) has been sighted outside the park boundaries (Sathyakumar, n.d.). Some 83 species are reported from the biosphere reserve (Indian National MAB Committee, n.d.).
Sankaran, n.d. recorded a total of 114 bird species belonging to 30 families during the 1993 Nanda Devi Scientific and Ecological Expedition. Some 67 of these species were not recorded during earlier surveys. Abundant species recorded during May-June include crested black tit Parus melanolophus, Yellow-bellied fantail flycatcher Rhipidura hypoxantha, Orange flanked bush robin Erithacus cyanurus, Bluefronted redstart Phoenicurus frontalis, Indian tree pipit Anthus hodgsoni, Vinaceous breasted pipit A. roseatus, Common rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, and nutcracker Nucifraga caryocatactes. Species richness was found to be highest in temperate forests, with a significant decline in richness as elevation increased.
Other expeditions for which bird lists are available include Reed (1979) and Tak and Kumar (1987). Lamba (1987) lists 80 species for the area but the distribution of some of these is restricted to lower altitudes in adjacent areas. Some 546 species are reported from the proposed biosphere reserve (Indian National MAB Committee, n.d.).
There is a lack of systematic surveys on invertebrate fauna. Baindur (n.d.) recorded 27 species of butterfly from 6 families during May-June 1993, including Common yellow swallowtail Papilo machaon, Common blue apollo Parnassius hardwickei, Dark cloudedyellow Colias electo, Queen of Spain Issoria Iathonia, and Indian tortoiseshell Aglais cashmirensis.
CULTURAL HERITAGE Nanda Devi, after Devi (meaning goddess), consort of Shiva, is a manifestation of Parvati and has been revered as a natural monument since ancient times (Reinhard, 1987). Hindus have deified the entire basin and every 12th year devotees have approached the foot of Trisul to worship Nanda Devi, the 'Blessed Goddess' (Kaur, 1982). The local people are Bhotias, those of Lata Village being Tolchas (Kandari, 1982).
LOCAL HUMAN POPULATION The park is uninhabited but there are two small villages (Reni and Lata) on the north-western side. Local people used to bring more than 4,000 goats and sheep to Dharansi and Dibrugheta for grazing (Lavkumar, 1979) and derive an income from employment as porters and guides before the area was closed in 1983.
posted to World Heritage Sites. at Thu Jul 17 21:46:00 EDT 2003.
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