To mark World Environment Day observed on June 5, nature-loving citizens will gather at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) nature reserve in Goregaon on June 9 to build bunds and check dams across the streams that flow through the forest. The green initiative is aimed at conserving soil and water in the 33-acre forest reserve located between the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) and Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari (Film City).
The streams emerge in the SGNP and pass through the reserve, feeding the Oshiwara river, which has been degraded into a sewage channel in its lower reaches. Shardul Bajikar of BNHS said that climate change has already affected streams in the reserve. “When I first came here, I saw the streams running even in March, but now they don't. These are gradual signs of a degraded forest,” he underscored.
The volunteers are planning to construct check dams across three streams. Standing two-feet, these structures will be built with loose boulders from the reserve. Built to reduce the velocity of the water flow, check dams will help trap topsoil that could be eroded during the monsoon. The bunds will also collect water and allow it to percolate into the soil.
The nature reserve was created in 1993 for educational activities that could not have been conducted inside the SGNP. As a private facility, the BNHS nature reserve allows such activities. The land was leased to the BNHS by the government in 1983. In 1996, the Conservation Education Centre was set up in the reserve. The SGNP has around 25 species of mammals, 275 types of birds, 150 types of butterflies and a rich diversity of plants.
The Conservation Education Centre (CEC), bordering the forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, is located in forests given to the BNHS in 1983 by the Maharashtra Government,at the behest of the government of India, when it completed 100 years of service in nature conservation.
The CEC began activities in 1993, conducting programmes for students, educators, government employees, corporate bodies and nature enthusiasts. The workshops, nature trails, and certificate courses are aimed at creating awareness and concern about nature. Visitors can walk into the reserve for a small fee while members of BNHS have free access. The centre has special programmes to make conservation education accessible to the underprivileged students.
Certificate courses conducted by the centre every year in subjects such as ornithology, herpetology, biodiversity conservation, butterfly studies, botany and marine conservation. Anyone with interest and a basic qualification (Class X) can apply for the courses National Park.