Abstract

Dearth in the studies related to the fuelwood collection trends, conservation and management has prompted the present work. Nargu Wildlife Sanctuary of Himachal Pradesh was assessed for the fuel resources because the region was not evaluated earlier and dependency of the stakeholders on the forest resources was soaring. In the twenty three villages studied, forty five species (33 trees and 12 shrubs) belonging to 23 families of fuel resource were recorded. In the three different altitudinal ranges of the area probability of use (PU) and resource use pattern (RUI) was studied and it was highest for Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus (1879.30 kg household^-1 year^-1), followed by Rhododendron arboreum Sm. (433.57 kg household^-1 year^-1), Cedrus deodara (Roxb. ex D. Don) G. Don (425.22 kg household^-1 year^-1), Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. ex Don (385.05 kg household^-1 year^-1) and Persea duthiei (King. ex Hk.f.) Kostern. (370.96 kg household^-1 year^-1). Among the surveyed villages, maximum total collection (7992 kg/hh/year) was done in Mandra followed by Seri (7524 kg/hh/year) and Drun (7476 kg/hh/year) villages. Of the total, 33 species were native to the Himalayan Region, 06 species native to the Himalayan region and neighboring countries and remaining species were non-natives. Major thrust of the study is to comprehensively manage the species highly-preferred for fuel, diversification of choice of species from natives to non-natives, and their large scale propagation.

Key words: Conservation, endemic, fuelwood, Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), native.