The Uttarakhand Government has upgraded the post of the Director of the Corbett National Park, the oldest national park in India, named after hunter-turned-conservationist Jim Corbett who played a key role in its establishment.
Now an officer of Chief Conservator of Forest rank only will be the Director of the park instead of an officer of Conservator of Forests rank, official sources said here today.
The park was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park. Situated in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, the park acts as a protected area for the endangered Royal Bengal tiger of India, the secure survival of which is the main objective of Project Tiger, an Indian wildlife protection initiative.
The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics. An ecotourism destination, it contains 488 different species of plants and a diverse variety of fauna. The wide area of park poses challenges for its management which includes combating poaching attempts.
The present area of the Reserve is 1,318.54 square kms (509.09 sq mi) including 520 square kms (200 sq mi) of core area and 797.72 square kms (308.00 sq mi) of buffer area.
The core area forms the Jim Corbett National Park while the buffer contains reserve forests (496.54 square kms (191.72 sq mi)) as well as the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary (301.18 square kms (116.29 sq mi).
The average altitude of the region ranges between 360 m (1,181 ft) and 1,040 m (3,412 ft). It has numerous ravines, ridges, minor streams and small plateaus with varying aspects and degrees of slopes.
