Chief conservator of forests (research wing) Sanjiv Chaturvedi, whose idea it was to build the conservatory, told TOI, “Grasslands hold more than a third of the world’s land-based carbon. Most of that carbon is not touched by wildfires, which typically just burn through above-ground vegetation. In fact, fires can even promote the growth of grasslands and even help them store carbon more efficiently. In forests, severe wildfires release large quantities of carbon into the air and it can take trees decades to recover from that. Certain species of grass stop wildfires.” The
conservatory
houses the fire-resistant “Thysanolaena maxima” species, also known as tiger grass or broom grass. “Found along steep hills, ravines and sandy river banks up to an altitude of 2,000 metres in Uttarakhand, its dry flowering stocks are used as brooms by locals and the green portion, which grows round the year, as fodder. The perennial species also prevents erosion on steep slopes and is planted to revive barren lands. This grass is widely being planted across Nepal for slope stabilization and soil moisture retention,” Chaturvedi added.
The scientist in-charge of the Doon office of the Botanical Survey of India, SK Singh, lauded the initiative. “Some species of grass, which serve as fodder for livestock, as well as some bamboo species that have multifarious utility, do require germplasm conservation,” he told TOI. Notably, the fragmentation of grasslands in states like Gujarat and Maharashtra has affected the population of the Great Indian Bustard.