Nature Education Program

Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh

2017 – 2021

Report by

Saniya Chaplod

Nature Conservation Foundation has been carrying out research and conservation activities since 2003

in and around the Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR), an extraordinarily rich tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh

that is also a part of the Indo-Burma global biodiversity hotspot.

In 2017, we began our formal Nature Education Program in villages around PTR. The main highlight of

this program is the annual Nature Education Camps inside the Pakke Tiger Reserve done in partnership

with Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department

Every year, we conduct three-day and one-day camps in November-December inside PTR for the

students of the seven schools (5 government, 2 private) registered with us. Our goal is to expose

children to the forests and wildlife around Pakke through year-round activities and nature camps in the

Pakke Tiger Reserve, in collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department. Through these

camps, we also raise awareness/knowledge of importance of forests and wildlife of Pakke for the entire

community.

We have three modules, each for a different class/age group. The first module aims to introduce young

children (Class 6 & 7) to the beauty, joy and wonders of Pakke TR and its wildlife through an experiential

program.

The aim of the second module is to understand and appreciate the inter-relationships between different

forest creatures, how we are part of the same ecological processes that sustain life on earth and how

these are operational in Pakke.

The aim of the third module (Class 7 & 8) is like the second module. It aims at giving the children an

important message about interdependency.

Camping site for students during Annual Nature Camps inside PTR in 2018

Since 2017, we have engaged with around 800 students from Class 5 – 9 through our Annual Nature

Camps and year-round activities.

Camp Date School Class No. of students

2017

1 Nov 21st Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Seijosa 6 36

2 Nov 22nd – 24th VKV Nivedita Vihar 8 32

3 Nov 25th – 27th A2 Govt. Residential School 8 28

4 Nov 28 Govt. Secondary School, Darlong 6-7 39

2018

1 Nov 20th – 21st A2 Govt. Residential School 8 11

2 Nov 22nd – 24th Govt. Secondary School, Darlong 9 20

3 Nov 25th – 27th VKV Nivedita Vihar 8 26

4 Nov 28th – 30th Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Seijosa 9 28

5 Dec 4th Govt. Middle School, Niti Darlong 5-7 23

6 Dec 5th Govt. Upper Primary School, RWD

Colony 6-7 26

7 Dec 6th Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Seijosa 6 27

8 Dec 7th VKV Nivedita Vihar 7 33

9 Dec 8th A2 Govt. Residential School 6-7 17

2019

1 Nov 21st – 22nd Govt. Upper Primary School, RWD Colony

7-8 23

2 Nov 22nd – 24th Govt. Secondary School, Darlong 9 18

3 Nov 25th – 27th VKV Nivedita Vihar 8 32

4 Dec 4th VKV Nivedita Vihar 6 31

5 Dec 5th A2 Govt. Residential School 6-7 25

Total 475

A collage of images from Nature Camps inside PTR

Nature Education Workshop for teachers and trainers

We have also held two one-week training workshops (2017 and 2019) for our field staff, teachers of the

seven schools, Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department staff (serving in Pakke) as well as local youth to

equip them to understand the importance of nature education and to carry out nature education

activities for students/other members of the community.

Year No. Participants

Nature Education Workshop for Trainers -January 2017

15 FD staff, NCF staff, School teachers, Volunteers from Aaranyak

Nature Education Workshop for Trainers- October 2019

23 FD staff, NCF staff, School teachers, Volunteers from Assam

S. No Names Department Attended

2 Pranav Trivedi NCF, Camp Instructor Workshop, Camp

3 Sangeetha Trivedi Volunteer Workshop, Camp

4 Dr. Sripriya Rajan Volunteer Camp

5 Khem Thapa NCF Workshop, Camp

6 Tajik Tachang NCF, Local coordinator Workshop, Camp

7 Saniya Chaplod NCF, Nature Education Program coordinator Workshop, Camp

8 Karishma Pradhan NCF, Volunteer Workshop, Camp

9 Prem Tok NCF Workshop, Camp

10 Taring Tachang NCF Workshop, Camp

11 Vijay Tachang NCF Workshop, Camp

12 Sagar Kino NCF Workshop, Camp

13 Sital Dako NCF Camp

14 Monali Mhaskar NCF Workshop

15 Wangta Ralongham FD, Tippi Workshop, Camp

16 Duley Gumbo FD, Tippi Workshop, Camp

17 Sonam FD, Tippi Workshop, Camp

18 Heyo Yari FD, Seijosa Workshop

19 Dharshan Kumar FD Seijosa Workshop

20 Sanjay Tissu FD Seijosa Camp

21 Abhijit Gogoi Assam Workshop

22 Satyajit Gogoi Assam Workshop

23 Debojit Sonowal Assam Workshop

24 Aniran Borah Assam Workshop

25 Latum Nabam Nature Club coordinator, Niti Darlong -

26 Anju Chiri Nature Club coordinator, RWD colony Workshop, Camp

27 Tungma Wage Nature Club coordinator, Darlong School Workshop, Camp

28 Akal Bayor Nature Club coordinator, VKV School -

29 Liki Pema Nature Club coordinator, VKV Nivedita Vihar Workshop, Camp

30 Adam Nabam Nature Club coordinator, A2 School -

31 Mamta Rai Teacher, VKV, Nivedita Vihar Camp

Nature Education workshop for trainers in November 2019 by Dr.Pranav Trivedi

Besides this, we have also been conducting year round activities to keep their interaction continuous.

Nature Conservation Foundation’s Rainforest Nursery Visits

During these visits the students participate in all the activities that the nursery staff perform daily like

de-weeding, watering the plants, cleaning the nursery. Our field staff also explains to them about seed

collection and various other aspects of maintaining a rainforest nursery. The main aim of this visit is to

familiarize the students with the importance of rainforest restoration

Year Class School Number of students

June 2018 6-7 Govt. Middle School, Niti Darlong 15

August 2019 5 Vivekananda Kendriya Vidhyalay, Darlong 24

January 2020 6-7 Darlong Govt. Secondary School 10

NCF’s Rainforest Nursery visit for Darlong Govt. School students in 2019

On ground events during Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival (PPHF)

In January 2018, NCF collaborated with the Forest Department and conducted nature activities inside the Pakke Tiger Reserve for about 150 students from 5 local schools during the festival. The activities included treasure hunt, Wildlife quiz and visit to the Nature Interpretation Centre, Seijosa.

Nature Art workshop

In January 2020, during the PPHF-2020, we a conducted a Nature- Art workshop with 23 children from

Govt. Secondary School, Darlong (Class 5, 6 and 7). During this workshop the kids were briefed about the

plant diversity of Pakke and its importance. We all then made greeting cards for the forests of Pakke

using dried leaves of different plant species found in Pakke. The children made creative cards depicting

various plant or animal species or species.

Nature Arts workshop on the festival ground during PPHF - 2020

However, in 2020 due to the unprecedented pandemic situation we were unable to conduct the annual

camps inside Pakke Tiger Reserve. But to continue our engagement with the students we carried out

various other activities and events from September 2020 to April 2021

Bird walks

In November 2020 we were unable to conduct our Annual Nature Camps as the schools were closed. In

January 2021, the schools re-opened only for higher classes. Therefore, considering the health and

safety of students we only conducted a few on-ground activities with some of these schools in limited

strength besides the Nursery visits mentioned above.

During the program, we explained to the students about the basics of bird watching with a focus on

observing their shape, size, color and habitat without emphasizing only on naming/identifying the

species. After a short walk of watching birds, we played Bird Bingo (images attached) where the

students drew their own Bingo sheets with information and drawings of birds. The students then shared

their experience at the end of the event with us.

School Date Class Activity Participants

Darlong Govt. Secondary School 09/01/21 8 & 9 Bird Walk at West Bank 15

Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya Nivedita Vihar, Seijosa

10/01/21 9 Campus Bird Walk 5

Total 20

Bird walk inside PTR (left) and at VKV Nivedita Vihar School campus (right) in January 2021

Online Activities

Students from Class 5-9 participated in playing different Bingo games online from November 2020 to

December 2020. The participation was much lower than usual numbers owing to poor network

connectivity in many areas. The Bingo sheet was sent to them over WhatsApp through their school

teacher. The students then drew their own Bingo sheets, played the game and sent us their sheets over

WhatsApp. These games are designed to encourage students to go out and observe nature in their own

backyards/locality and also connect with it in the process.

School Class Online Activity No. of Participants

Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya Nivedita Vihar, Seijosa 5 Leaf bingo 1

Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya Nivedita Vihar, Seijosa 6 Nature Bingo 13

Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya Nivedita Vihar, Seijosa 7 Plant Bingo 4

Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya Nivedita Vihar, Seijosa 8 Bird Bingo 5

Total 23

Nature and Bird Bingo during online games in 2021

Resource Material

Coloring Book & Nature Journal on Wildlife of Pakke

As one of the resource material for our Nature Education Program we developed a ‘Colouring book on

wildlife of Pakke’ that contains 20 illustrations on various mammals, birds, reptiles and other wildlife of

Pakke. This books doubles up as nature journal where students can take notes or draw there

observation from the forest. This book is an attempt to encourage students to connect to nature

through arts. It will also provide us valuable feedback.

This book will be distributed to the participants of the camps in 2021 and 60 copies will also be given to

the Forest Department. Around 150 copies of the book are also put up for sale at Nature Conservation

Foundation’s online portal and the proceeds from the sale will go towards our Nature Education

program.

Colouring book and Nature Journal on Wildlife of Pakke

Bird Brochure and Field guides on Birds of India

We have reproduced copies of ‘Birds of Pakke’ brochure that had been initially developed for the

Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department during the Pakke Paga Hornbill Festival 2019. This brochure

contains 138 familiar birds of Pakke region. These brochures will also be distributed to students during

the camps and our regular birding events.

Bird brochure on 138 Familiar birds found in and around Pakke

We also plan to provide a copy of the ‘Birds of Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmett and Carol

Inskipp’ to each school.

Panel for Nature Interpretation Centre:

We are getting an elaborate panel on plant-bird interactions painted by the artist Meena Subramaniam.

This panel is based on our recent study inside Pakke Tiger Reserve on plant-disperser networks and will

be displayed at the Nature Interpretation Centre in Tippi Range of Pakke Tiger Reserve. The panel is

under progress and will take some more time to be completed.

Support for Rhododendron Garden in Shergaon, West Kameng district

As a part of our local initiatives towards nature education work we supported setting up of a Rhododendron Garden in Shergaon for educational and recreational purposes. The work on Rhododendron garden is still under progress.

Construction of Rhododendron garden in Shergaon under progress

Plans for year 2021

We plan to hold meetings with the school teachers in June 2021 after the start of new session.

We plan to conduct the Annual Nature Camps in the Seijosa Range in November this year and Tippi

Range in January 2022.

We also plan to form a network of young birders from these schools along with the practicing Nature

guides and local youth groups from the region.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the 98 donors who have supported our program with their generous contributions to the Nature Education Program fund-raising campaign we ran from July 2020 to November 2020 We thank:

The Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department, Pakke Tiger Reserve Management

PTR Forest Department Staff – Darshan Kumar (STPF), Tagi Heyo (Forest Guard)

Mr. Praveen M. Kumar, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Chennai for the generous

funding support

Mr. T. Pali, DFO (Wildlife), Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department

Nature Club co-ordinators – Tungma Waghe Sir, Shamali Madam, Leki Pema Madam

We would also like to thank:

Local Co-ordinators (NCF): Tajik Tachang, Khem Thapa

Nature Conservation Foundation Field staff: Sagar Kino, Sital Dako, Arjun Rai, Narayan Mogar

Devathi Parashuram, the previous coordinator of the Program

Tana Tapi Sir for his support

Dr. Pranav Trivedi for conceptualizing and designing the Nature Education Program

Dr. Aparajita Datta for the support and supervision.