"We began planting grass for the rhinos last year. This year, we have plowed the fields with a tractor to begin the planting," says Surbir Pokharel, president of the Gyaneshwor Community Forestry Users Group. Pokharel claims that their users group has spent Rs 200,000 for this purpose.
Not to be outdone, members of the Setidevi Community Forestry have gone a step further. They have dug a well that will supply their rhinos´ waterhole with water.
The community forestry groups in Chitwan-- Gyaneshwor, Setidevi, Sidhi Ganesh and Majhua -- occupy a total area of 700 hectares. That´s not just sizeable land, it´s apparently also an Eden that the rhinos have taken well to. According to Pokharel, 14 rhinos live in the area, which has proved to be fertile breeding ground for these animals: locals have spotted five rhino births in the forests.
The locals are enthusiastic about the progress made by the rhinos in their sanctuaries. They have reason to be.
"The rhinos will not enter our farms if they find proper food and water in the community forests. That is also why we are spending time and money in these projects," says Bhimbahadur Gurung of Setidevi Community Forest User´s Group.
Conservationists too are happy with this interest among the locals to conserve the rhinos.
"The locals are treating the rhinos as if they were their own domestic animals. This kind of treatment is indeed rare," says Ramprit Yadav, ex-ranger of Chitwan National Park.
The community forests, which line the banks of the Narayani River, were started in 2006, and today, they are thick with Sisau (Dalbergia Sissoo) trees. Credit for that must go to the locals. And it looks like the good deed will soon pay even more dividends. Locals say that they have started spotting tigers in their forests as well.
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