Young enthusiastic nature and wildlife lovers from across Assam ran for a  green cause  taking part in the Green Marathon organised along a particular stretch  of the National Highway 37 that flanks the southern boundary of  the Park. It  was flagged off  by Assam’s Minister for Environment and Forest - Honble Rakibul Hussain at the entrance of the office of the Director of the KNP at Bokakhat. This was done in collaboration with Bokakhat District Master Athletic Association, Assam Forest Department and Bokakhat Civil Administration along with other corporate partners with generous support from The David Sheppard Wildlife Foundation, NRL and Star Cement.

The athletes ran 22 kilometers along the highway to Kohora, the main entrance to the magnificent National Park. People lined up along the both sides of the highway to cheer the runners as well as to witness the unique event. T-Shirts, leaflets, posters and stickers were distributed to the participants and onlookers to spread the message of conservation. Street plays were organised along the road to highlight the importance nature and environment and the Park. 

Wildlife conservationists and temple authorities across  Assam have joined hands to save endangered species of turtles as their population is fast dwindling in the northeast. Even as the population of turtles is declining, some temples in the state are home to some rare and endangered species of these reptiles in their ponds..

Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), Aaranyak and temple authorities have decided to work jointly for conservation of turtles in temple ponds through scientific intervention and capacity building of temple members.

"Temple ponds are genetic pools for many of the rare and endangered turtle species, which are no longer found in the wild. We are working for the long-term conservation of turtles in temple ponds to save their genetic resources," Aaranyak head of herpetology division, Dr. Abhijit Das said.

There are about eight old temples, including Kamakhya and Haigrib Madhab at Hajo area in Kamrup district of Assam that house different species of turtles. TSA director Shailendra Singh said turtle conservation in temples will be carried out with the cooperation of temple authorities through a five-year project.

"We will take inputs from temple authorities on what kind of intervention can be made so that turtles in the temple ponds are scientifically conserved," Singh added. Temple authorities have welcomed the move saying that scientific conservation would help in long-term survival of the species, which are so far being protected out of religious belief.

The annual monitoring of tigers in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) using camera traps during 2009, 2010 and 2011 has recorded a total of 118 individual tigers (adults, sub-adults and cubs) including the six photo identified and known individuals that died during the period of study. A three year summary of the camera capture history of the identified individual tigers is also presented in the report that was released in Kaziranga by Rakibul Hussain, Minister of Forest and Environment, Assam .

The results presented in this report reflect the individual tigers identified in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Further, the results of camera trapping for the year 2011 have also been published by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (Status of tigers in India, 2011).

Dr. M Firoz Ahmed, Head, Tiger Reseach & Conservation Initiative of Aaranyak, who led this exercise with his team, said that the exercise of camera trapping in tall grassland habitat was very challenging. “The entire team has done an excellent job and the results are rewarding. Through this exercise we have also tried to train the staff of the forest department and make them a resource during Phase IV monitoring of tigers in Kaziranga Tiger Reserve,” he added.

Aaranyak & Gibbon Conservation Centre in collaboration with Assam Forest Department, Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department with the financial support from US Fish & Wildlife Service have organised a week long training programme for the foresters of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in five batches during the year 2012.

Each of the batches consisted of 20 participants and duration of the residential course was week-long. A wide range of related topic areas were covered including biodiversity in Northeast India and primate conservation in Northeast India with special reference to hoolock gibbons, gibbon census or population estimation, gibbon data collection, maintaining & reporting, techniques of floristic study, gibbon habitat characteristic and restoration, population and habitat monitoring, gibbon rescue and rehabilitation, Global Positioning Systems & their use in the field and a leegal orientation (Wildlife Laws and its application). This course provided participants with an initial understanding of the basic principles of primatology and exposed them with the methods and techniques used in field research. The course consisted of daily lectures and field exercises.

The training was inaugurated on May 22, 2012 by Dr. Dilip Chetry, Programme Head, Primate Research & Conservation Initiatives of Aaranyak and Executive Director or Gibbon Conservation Center.

There were 15 foresters from different part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh attending the week- long conservation training programme. Professor P.C. Bhattacharjee, former head Department of Zoology and wildlife expert of NE India, Dr. J. Biswas of Primate Research Centre; Mr. Gunin Saikia ACF of Sivasagar Forest Division; N.K.Malakar, DFO, Jorhat. Dr Jayanta Das, WADT; Dr. Dilip Chetry, Dr.Anjan Kr. Talukdar, Dr. Pranab Bujar Baruah of Handique Girls’ College, Dr. Rekha Chetry of J.N.College, Mr. Arup Kr.Das of Aaranyak and Mr. K. Ghosh of Nakachari College , Advocate Ajay Kr. Das of Gauhati High were resource persons in the week-long training.

Experts have urged the state government to formulate a comprehensive policy on management of floods and erosion. The necessity of a state policy on the issue was raised during a consultation on water governance, organised by biodiversity conservation NGO Aaranyak and New Delhi-based NGO India Water Partnership in Guwahati. Floods and erosion are two major water-induced hazards that ravage the state every year, causing misery and large-scale loss of property and livelihoods. In fact, about 5 lakh hectare of land has been lost in the state due to erosion alone since the 1950s.

This consultation was about identifying and analyzing the most important water-related issues in the state for formulating a set of strategies for effective mitigation focusing on interdisciplinary research, intervention and policy advocacy. While flood and river bank erosion and land degradation due to sand deposit are the major water related problems, Assam is also periodically facing drought like situation.

Aaranyak in collaboration with the Forest Department of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in Assam organised a eight-day exposure trip for select members of conservation NGOs working for Manas Tiger Reserve. The objective of the exposure trip was to build and enhance capacity of the 22 conservation workers selected for the trip during March 30 to April 6 next.

The 22 conservation workers participating in the exposure were from eleven local NGOs working for Manas Tiger Reserve. The programme was possible by the genrous support of USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife Service). This was, in fact, the second such exposure trips out of the five in total planned by Aaranyak within year 2012-13 and first trip was completed in 13 March 2012. The main aim of exposure trip was to enlighten the conservation workers and volunteers on the role of the community in protection of forests and ecotourism. The local NGO members from Manas Tiger Reserve got a chance to interact with counterparts conservation organization and forest officials of other areas in Northeast. The exposure trip incorporated two components -- group discussion and field trip. The members of local NGOs were taken to Nameri National Park, Kaziranga National Park in Assam, Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh and Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary in Nagaland.

A group of students and volunteers numbering 70 had a rare opportunity to stay amid pristine nature during a Nature Orientation Initiative (NOI) organised by Aaranyak and its collaborators at Agartoli Range of the famous Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam during April 9-12, 2012.

It was the fifth NOI conducted by Aaranyak for a group of select students and volunteers pooled from fringe areas of Kaziranga National Park and Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park in Assam. The nature education programme for young generation was organised by Aaranyak in collaboration with Kaziranga National Park Authority, WWF-India, Bhumi, ATREE, WTI and UTTER. There were 31 students and 13 committed conservation volunteers among the group of 70 participants.

The experience they had by virtue of being in the lap of the nature was just wonderful and ranged from holding live snakes under expert guidance to enacting plays on conservation themes.

It was for first time a single NOI programme covered participants from  fringe areas of  national parks in the Assam. They were facilitated to a splendid three-night stay at the fringe of the enchanting Kaziranga National Park  to help them understand nature and its languages better so that we can spot young future conservationists.

 During this program participants were engaged in various group and individual tasks/assignments, indoor as well as outdoor activities including boat safari on Brahmaputra River that flows by jeep safaris inside Kaziranga National Park, environmental games, wildlife film screening, interaction with experts, etc. They attended theory classes on wildlife and environment besides gathering practical experience  in the field.