RECORDED FOREST AREA

The recorded forest area of the state is 8629.30 sq.km which is 52% of its geographical area. The Reserved Forests constitute 3.06%, Protected Forests 5.51% and Unclassed Forest constitute 93.56%.

PROTECTED AREA

Nagaland has one National Park and three Wildlife Sanctuaries covering 222.0 Sq. Km which constitutes 1.34% of the State’s geographical area.

FOREST COVER

Based on interpretation of satellite data pertaining to Oct-2017 Feb-2018 the forest cover of the state is 12,486.40 Sq.km which is 75.31% of the State’s geographical area. In terms of forest canopy density classes, the State has 1,273.19 Sq.km area under very dense forest, 4,533.72 Sq.km are under moderately dense forest and 6,679.49 Sq.km under open forest. District-wise forest cover in different canopy density classes along with the changes compared to updated 2017 As-sessment and scrub are given in Table below

FOREST TYPES IN NAGALAND

Though Nagaland is a small State, it has been endowed with a wide variety of Forest Types on account of its unique geographic location and wide range of physiographic terrain. The following forest types are found in the State (as per classification by Champion & Seth)

a) Northern Tropical Wet Evergreen Forest (1B): These forests once covered the Namsa-Tizit area but now only a small vestige is found in the Zankam area. It is found only in Mon District. The dominant species in this type of forest are Hollong (Dipterocarpus macrocarpus), Makai (Shorea assamica), Nahor (Mesua ferrea) etc.

b) Northern Tropical Semi Evergreen Forest (2B): These types of forests are found in the foothills of Assam-Nagaland border in Mokokchung, Wokha and Kohima Districts. The species that make up these forests are similar to those of the Northern Tropical Wet Evergreen Forests. The only difference is that in the former case the evergreen species dominate though there are deciduous species like Bhelu (Tetrameles nudiflora), Paroli (Stereospermum chelonoides), Jutuli (Altingia excelsa) etc, whereas in the present case, the number of evergreen species decreases and the deciduous species are more in number.

c) Northern Sub-Tropical Broad Leaved Wet Hill Forest (8B/C1): These types of forests are found in the hill areas below 1800m and above 500m in all the districts of Nagaland. The wet evergreen species are conspicuous by their absence and the dominant species are mostly semi-deciduous. Some of the important timber species in this type are – Koroi (Abelmoschus), Pomas (Chukrasia), Sopas (Magnolia), Gamari (Gmelina), Hollock (Terminalia), Sam (Betula nigra), Am (Mangifera), Badam (Prunus), Betula etc.

d) Northern Sub-Tropical Pine Forest (9/C2): These types of forests are found in hills with elevation of 1000m to 1500m in parts of phek and tuensang Districts of Nagaland. Pine is the dominant species, and is found mixed with Quercus, Schima, Prunus, Betula and Rhododendron.

e) Northern Montane Wet- temperate Forest (11B): These types of forests are found on the higher reaches of the tallest mountains (above 2500m) like saramati and Dzṻkou area. The species that dominate are Rhododendron, Oaks (Quercus), Birch and Juniperus sp.

f) Alpine Forest(15): Alpine vegetation is found at high altitudes in ridges of Saramati range,which remains covered with snow for major part of the year from October to April. After melting of the snow during the brief summer a few annuals, herbs and shrubs along with mosses can be seen growing there. Species of Rhododendron, Abies, and Juniperus are found in sub alpine vegetation gradually merges into alpine vegetation which comprises of high altitude grasses and drawf Rhododendrons. Many members of Primulaceae, Saxifragaceae, and Polygonaceae families are also found.