SR-6 : Status of hydrological studies in forested catchments

Abstract

The forests are largely confined to upper catchments of various water resources projects and catchments of flood prone areas. The manipulation of forest vegetation in upland watersheds may be one way to alter the water budget of a catchment. The report brings out status of important research works done so far in India on the hydrological behaviour of forested catchments. There are nearly 16 Hydrological Research Stations working in India on some aspects of forest hydrology. Mainly two research organisations viz., Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun and its centres and Forest Research Institute and Colleges, Dehradun have done some appreciable studies on the hydrology of small forested watersheds. The organisations like DVC,CWPRS,Pune, CWC,New Delhi, Central unit of Soil and Water Conservation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi etc. have been also doing works on some aspects of forest hydrology. The research studies conducted so far are mostly limited to small experimental watersheds ( < 100 ha) where mostly the effect of land use changes, different vegetative covers and other watershed treatment measures on hydrological behaviour of watersheds have been studied by operating groups of two or more watersheds. The work done so far in India is rather meagre. The studies are required tb be carried out on large representative basins. Attempts have been made to review the effect of forests and forest management practices on hydrological parameters. The report attempts at emphasising the future research needs and ends with an exhaustive bibliography