Hirpora

Wildlife Sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

or Heerpora Wildlife Sanctuary is located,

Hirpora Hirpora (or Heerpora) is a village, near Shopian town in the Shopian district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the second largest village in the district, after Devepora. It is situated on the Mughal Road, west of Sho ...

Shopian district Shopian district (), known as Shupyan () in Kashmiri, is a hill district with its administrative division in Shopian town, located in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, since it is situated on the historical road commonly known ...

of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies 12 km from Shopian town, south of

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

. It spreads over an area of . It is bounded to the north by Lake Gumsar, northeast by

village, east by Rupri, south by Saransar and to the west by the

Pir Panjal pass The Pir Panjal Pass, also called Peer Ki Gali (or ''Peer Gali''), is a mountain pass and a tourist destination located in the Pir Panjal Range in Jammu and Kashmir. It connects the Kashmir Valley to the Rajouri and Poonch districts via the Mug ...

. The slopes are gentle to moderately steep on the eastern aspect and very steep with many cliffs on the higher northern and western aspect. The southern and southeastern portions are moderately steep. Heerpora wildlife sanctuary is one of the beautiful wildlife sanctuary in Jammu and Kashmir

Flora

The vegetation types present in the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary include western mixed coniferous forests, deciduous sub-alpine scrub forests and sub-alpine pastures. Western mixed coniferous forest is dominated by Kail pine with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and fir (''Abies pindrow'') as its primary associates. The West Himalayan sub-alpine forests are dominated by fir, while the deciduous sub-alpine scrub is dominated by

Himalayan birch ''Betula utilis'', the Himalayan birch (''bhojpatra'', sa, भूर्ज ''bhūrjá''), is a deciduous tree native to the Western Himalayas, growing at elevations up to . The Latin specific epithet ''utilis'' means "useful", and refers to the ...

(''Betula utilis'') and

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...

(''Juniperus communis'') with wild rose as an associate. The southeastern part has moderately open coniferous vegetation dominated by Kail pine and associated with fir and spruce. The vegetation of the more rocky and open northwestern portion is predominantly sub-alpine scrub forest dominated by juniper and the Kail pine as an associated species. Man-made sub-alpine pastures also occur in both north-western and south-eastern parts of the sanctuary.

Fauna

The Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary is an abode to many species of animals including the Himalayan brown bear,

Himalayan black bear The Himalayan black bear (''Ursus thibetanus laniger'') is a subspecies of the Asian black bear found in the Himalayas of India, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Description It is distinguished from '' U. t. thibetanus'' by its longer, thicke ...

musk deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all seven, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, but rather their fa ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

Tibetan wolf The Himalayan wolf (''Canis lupus chanco'') is a canine of debated taxonomy. It is distinguished by its genetic markers, with mitochondrial DNA indicating that it is genetically basal to the Holarctic gray wolf, genetically the same wolf as the ...

Himalayan palm civet The masked palm civet (''Paguma larvata''), also called the gem-faced civet, is a palm civet species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008 as it occurs in many ...

and around 50 individuals the critically endangered Pir Panjal markhor. Besides, 130 species of birds including the

spotted forktail The spotted forktail (''Enicurus maculatus'') is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in the Himalayas and the hills of Northeast India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and southern China including Yunnan. Birds of this species are 25&n ...

western tragopan The western tragopan or western horned tragopan (''Tragopan melanocephalus'') is a medium-sized brightly plumed pheasant found along the Himalayas from north-eastern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan in the west to Ut ...

rock bunting The rock bunting (''Emberiza cia'') is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. The genus name ''Emberiza'' is from Old German ''Embritz'', a bunting. T ...

rufous-breasted accentor The rufous-breasted accentor (''Prunella strophiata'') is passerine bird in the family Prunellidae, endemic to the Himalayas, descending in the winter to lower-to-middle altitudes. It is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Tibet, China, India, Myanmar ...

Himalayan woodpecker The Himalayan woodpecker (''Dendrocopos himalayensis'') is a species of bird in the family Picidae. It is found in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, primarily the Himalayas and some adjoining areas, and ranges across Afghanistan, I ...

, blue rock thrush,

white-capped redstart The white-capped redstart or white-capped water redstart (''Phoenicurus leucocephalus'') is a passerine bird of the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and to certain regions of Central A ...

Himalayan griffon The Himalayan vulture (''Gyps himalayensis'') or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old World vulture native to the Himalayas and the adjoining Tibetan Plateau. It is one of the two largest Old World vultures and true Accipitridae, raptors. It is li ...

common stonechat Common stonechat is the name used for the ''Saxicola'' species ''Saxicola torquatus'' when this is treated in its broad sense. It is, however, now more widely considered to be a superspecies consisting of several related but distinct species, w ...

red-billed blue magpie The red-billed blue magpie (''Urocissa erythroryncha'') is a species of bird in the crow family, Corvidae. It is about the same size as the Eurasian magpie, but has a much longer tail, one of the longest of any corvid. It is long and weighs . T ...

and

grey wagtail The grey wagtail (''Motacilla cinerea'') is a member of the wagtail family, Motacillidae, measuring around 18–19 cm overall length. The species looks somewhat similar to the yellow wagtail but has the yellow on its underside restricted t ...

are found in the sanctuary.

Disturbance

The

Mughal Road Mughal Road is the road between Bufliaz, a town in the Poonch district, to the Shopian district, in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The 84-kilometre roadhttp://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=6_12_2008&ItemID=35& ...

cuts through the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary and is believed to inhibit the movement of animals, especially the critically endangered Pir Panjal markhor. The Sanctuary has also been disturbed due to

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

, excessive

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

grazing and construction of permanent huts by the

Gujjars Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

Bakerwal The Bakarwal (also Bakkarwal, Bakharwal, Bakrawala and Bakerwal) are a nomadic ethnic group, who along with Gujjars are listed as Scheduled Tribes in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir since 1991.https://tribal.nic.in/downloads/CLM/CLM_1/1 ...

s and local shepherds.

Gallery

File:Heerpora Wildlife Sanctuary Shopian.jpg, A view of the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary from the

. File:Mughal Road via Hirpora Sanctuary.jpg, A view of the

, which cuts through the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary. File:Water Stream - Hirpora N.P. Shopian.jpg, A stream flowing through the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary. File:Stream - Hirpura N.P. Shopian.jpg, A stream flowing through the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary in Shopian district of Kashmir. File:Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, Shopian, Kashmir.jpg, Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary (As seen from Mughal Road). File:Pastures Hirpora - Pir Ki Gali.jpg, Lush green Pastures of the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary at Pir Ki Gali. File:Hirpora WLS Shopian Kashmir.jpg, The Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary has dense Coniferous Forests & difficult terrain.

References

External links