Assessment of fuelwood resource preference in representative watershed of west Himalaya, India: conservation and management implications

In the Himalayan hills, woody plant species form a major source of fuelwood. This practice often leads to degradation of forests and raises several management issues. However, lack of adequate information about use patterns and species-level trends of utilization results in gaps in management planning and interventions. Realizing this, a detailed species-level quantification of annual extraction of fuelwood was conducted in Hat-Kalika watershed that represents west Himalayan conditions in India. Across nine surveyed villages, a total of 30 plants (26 trees, 4 shrubs) were being collected for fuel purpose by the inhabitants. Mean fuelwood collection by households ranged from 2916.4 (kg hh−1 year−1) in high-altitude villages to 1256.6 (kg hh−1 year−1) in low altitude. Among used species, probability of use was maximum for Pinus roxburghii (0.79 high-altitude, 0.89 mid-altitude and 0.82 low-altitude zone). Broadly, the tree species contributed 93.3% (low altitude) to 97.3% (high altitude) of annual fuelwood requirement of households. The quantum of collection was considerably higher from the native species compared to the non-natives. Study brings out the possible management implications of present trends of fuelwood collection in the study watershed in particular and mid-Himalaya watersheds of west Himalaya in general.