Kali Tiger Reserve

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Karnataka State Forest Department has written to the National Tiger Conservation Authority-Project Tiger Division (NTCA), under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, to include Kali Tiger Reserve (KTR) in the Economic Evaluation of Tiger Reserves in India – Phase III, to be taken up in 2023.

• The Kali reserve represents great diversity in terms of tiger landscape, ecosystems and socio-economic conditions, and was therefore a fit case to be selected for the economic evaluation.

About the Kali Tiger Reserve

• Kali Tiger Reserve, earlier known as Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve, is located in the central portion of the Uttara Kannada (North Canara)  district of Karnataka state. 
• It is sandwiched between Haliyal and Karwar forest divisions and covers parts of Haliyal, Karwar, and Joida taluks. 
• The Tiger Reserve comprises two important protected areas of the region viz., Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary (475.018 Km²) and Anshi National Park (339.866 Km²). 
• These two protected areas are contiguous to each other and form a single tract of the protected area located in the biologically sensitive Western Ghats. 
• These two protected areas were administratively unified under Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve (DATR) in the year 2007. 
• Forests of the Tiger Reserve are primarily moist deciduous and semi-evergreen, with excellent patches of evergreen forests in the westernmost parts as well as in deep valleys. 
• Animals found in the Tiger Reserve include Tiger, Leopard, Elephant, Bison, Wild dog, Sambar, Spotted deer, Sloth bear, Wild boar, Hanuman langur, Bonnet macaque, varieties of reptiles and birds including all four species of hornbills as its residents., etc.
• Kali Tiger Reserve is home to rare black panthers. 
• Kali Tiger Reserve was located in the biologically sensitive Western Ghats, which was an UNESCO World Heritage Site and a global biodiversity hotspot. 
• Kali Tiger Reserve formed an important tiger corridor of Central Western Ghats connecting the tiger habitats in Karnataka, Goa, and southern Maharashtra.