Our Forests 

Forests are an important gift of nature. Ideally, one-third of the total area of a country should be under the forests. At present, only about one- fourth of India's total area is under forest.

IMPORTANCE OF FOREST 

Forest are important to us in following ways. 

• They give us pure air, wood, fruits gum and medicinal herbs. Wood from trees is used to make furniture, paper, pencils and many other things.
• They are home to animals.
• They prevent soil erosion. 

TYPES OF FOREST

Table 12.1 list the different forest found in India. 

Types of forests in India

Forest	Trees Found	Where Found	Main Features
EVERGREEN(also called 'tropical rainforests')	ebony, mahogany, rosewood	Western Ghats, northeast India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands	The trees do not shed their leaves. They remain green throughout the year
DECIDUOUS(also called 'monsoon forest')	teak, sal and sandalwood	foothills of the Himalayas, southern plateaus	The trees shed their leaves in the dry season
THORN	babul, kikar and thorny shrubs	Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana	The trees have long roots, thick barks, sharp thorns and small leaves. they can survive without water for a long period.
MOUNTAIN( also called ' coniferous forest')	fir, pine and spruce	The Himalayas, Nilgiri Hills	The trees are tall and pointed, needle-shaped leaves. they bear cones.
MANGROVE( also called 'tidal forest')	sundari	Ganga-Brahmaputra delta	The trees have special roots that grow above the ground.

SAVE THE FORESTS

Nowadays, are cutting trees in a large scale. This is called deforestation .We have to protect our forest not only because they are useful to us but also because our survival depend on them. We can protect our forest by two ways

- afforestation and reforestation. 

Planting trees is an area that was not a forest earlier its called afforestation. Planting on deforested land is called reforestation.

Distribution of forests in India

WILD ANIMALS

India has a large variety of wild animals. In the past, people wild animals. Thus, many animals become extinct. Hunting is now banned in our country. Also, to protect wild animals and to save the forests, the government set up national parks and wildlife 

sanctuaries all over India. A national park is an area reserved for preserving wildlife, forest and the natural beauty of a region. A wildlife sanctuary is an area to reserved endangered animals. 

• Elephants and Greater one-horned rhinoceroses are protected at the Kaziranga and Manas national parks in Assam. 
• Asiatic lion live in the Gir national park in Gujarat.
• The Sundarbans in West Bengal is home of Bengal Tigers. The tigers are also protected in Jim Corbett and Ranthambhore national parks.
• Snow Leopards are found in Great Himalayan national park. 
• The Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat is home to Indian wild asses.
• Birds are protected in the Sultanpur and Ranganathittu bird sanctuary.

Distribution of a few national parks and sanctuaries in India

Fact wise :

The Jim Corbett National park is the oldest national park in India. It was set up in 1936 as the Hailey National Park to save the Bengal Tiger.