Green crusader raises objections to percolation pits dug up by Odisha forest officials

By Prabhat Kumar Singh

Bhubaneswar, April 11: Environmentalists have objected to digging up of percolation pits by forest officials of the Odisha government and demanded an immediate halt to the practice. The green activists maintained that these pits were harmful to local flora and posed a threat to wildlife.

“For millions of years, forests have grown and survived without man made interventions like percolation pits which were not seen even three years ago in Odisha forests. This is unnecessary apart from being injurious and harmful to local flora and fauna and should be immediately stopped,” the environmentalists said.

In a letter to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Odisha the Wildlife Society of Orissa, a forum of leading environmentalists of the state, on Monday demanded an immediate stop to creating percolation pits for water retention by the forest department.

Citing adverse impacts on flora and fauna Dr Biswajit Mohanty, the secretary of WSO, pointed out the enormous damage being caused for three years now. He mentioned the latest research findings of German forester Peter Wohlleben who in his 2016 work ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ has revealed many fascinating aspects of the life of trees.

Dr Mohanty also cited that Suzanne Simard at the University of British Columbia has studied the networks linking tree roots with mycorrhizal fungi since 1996 which form a web of underground relations or the “wood wide web.”

“New research has been done worldwide on the ways trees communicate with each other above and below ground. Subterranean communication is not possible without roots. When pits are dug at the base of large trees they cut off roots which are an integral part of the tree. We need to view trees not as isolated individuals, but as communities bound up in a complex set of ecological relationships, with organisms of the same species, with organisms of different species, and most especially with the soil fungi that help to transmit nutrients to plant roots,” the WSO secretary said in the letter.

Stating that trees communicate with each other above and below ground, Dr Mohanty said when pits are dug at the base of large trees they cut off roots.

“Such two feet deep pits pose a serious threat to wildlife too. The forest floor plays an important role towards conservation of fauna provided the natural geography and ecology remain intact as there is a composite and symbiotic relationship between fauna (both micro and macro) and flora of the forest floor.   Elephants, deer,  Bisons and even cattle can easily twist their legs and break bones if they accidentally fall inside such artificial pits while moving on an otherwise level and unbroken flat forest floor. There is a bigger risk of breaking the legs of herbivores like deer or barking deer or wild boar if they fall in the pits while being chased by predators,” pointed out the green activist.

According to experts, many reptiles and amphibians will simply die of hunger or die of heat due to strong sunlight once they fall inside these pits as they cannot escape the trap. Reptiles and frogs need basking areas and once the forest floor is dug up with pits for water they lose this vital need.

“For millions of years, our forests have survived and grown without such percolation pits and I see no reason why the Forest Department is wasting public money in such harmful projects,” said Dr Gourang Charan Rout, honorary wildlife warden, Rayagada.