Kishtwar National Park located in Doda District about 40km north-east of Kishtwar Town. Location of the place is 33°20'-34°00'N, 75°40'-76°10'E. It was declared as a national park on 4 February 1981. The total area covered is 42,500 ha. State altitude ranges from 1700 m to 74800 m.
The national park surrounded by the cachments on all four sides. In the north there is Rinna River, South is covered by Kibar Nala, in the east lies Great Himalaya and to the south-west Marwa River where all the three Kiar, Nanth and Kibar nalas drain into Marwa River and joins with River Chenab just above Kishtwar town. The
The area is generally irregular and steep, with narrow valleys bounded by high ridges opening out in their upper glacial parts. The area lies in Great Himalaya's Central Crystalline belt. Rocks composed mainly of granite, gneiss and schist and are strongly folded in places with the occasional bed of marble. The shallow, slightly alkaline soils are mostly alluvial with gravel deposits.
The influence of the monsoon is weak. Places located near the national park Palmar and Sirshi have an annual rainfall (1,761m) which is 827mm and 741mm, respectively. In March and April and July and August rainfall is highest excess of 100mm per month. In December and January mostly it is snowfall when the whole are is covered with snow. In January maximum temperature recorded in Sirshi is 13°C and Minimum temperature here has been recorded as -7°C and in july maximum temperature has been recorded as 35°C and minimum temperature recorded as 11°C.
13 vegetation types are represented based on the revised classification of Champion and Seth. Silver fir Abies pindrow and spruce Picea wallichiana, mixed with cedar Cedrus deodara and blue pine Pinus griffithii are most common from 2,400m to 3,000m. In the Dachan Range notavble is the small expanse of chilgoza pina P. gerardiana. Pure stands of cedar and blue pine occur at lower altitudes (1700-2400m). Represented by horse chestnut Aesculus indica, moist temperature deciduous forest, walnut Juglans regia, maple Acer spp., poplar Populus ciliata, hazel Corylus cornuta, bird cherry Padus cornuta, ash Fraxinus cornuta and yew Taxus wallichiana. The silver fir and birch Betula utilis forest mostly supported by the sub-alpine zone, from 3,000m to the tree line at 3,700m, and this merges with birch-rhododendron Rhododendron campanulatum scrub, above which is alpine pasture.
Geographically distribution of animals, the area is reputedly among the richest in the Himalaya (Ranjitsinh, 1979). As per the list of Bacha (1986) there are 14 species of large mammals that are present which include brown bear Ursus arctos, leopard Panthera pardus, snow leopard P. uncia, Himalayan musk deer Moschus chrysogaster, hangul Cervus elaphus hanglu and ibex Capra ibex sibirica. In addition to above listed ones, wild boar Sus scrofa, Indian muntjac Muntiacus muntjac, serow Capricornis sumatraensis, Himalayan tahr Hemitragus jemlahicus, bharal Pseudois nayaur and possibly markhor Capra falconeriare are also present. The brown bear population is the largest found anywhere in the Himalaya. The size of the hangul population is unknown, but it may be limited to only a few animals.
Some 28 common type of birds are listed here amongst which are the pheasants, Himalayan monal Lophophorus impejanus and koklass Pucrasia macrolopha, but the status is not known for Himalayan snowcock Tetraogallus himalayensis and western tragopan Tragopan melanocephalus (E).
In the Cultural Heritage racial groups include Thakurs, Kashmiris, Gujars, Rajputs and Brahmans (Bacha, 1986). The permanent settled population is not there but there are some 115 families of nomadic graziers with 15000 head of livestock. Even there are unspecified numbers of families from nearby villages. With 10000 heads have grazing rights in the national park. In peripheral area some agriculture is also practised.
The area is a place of attraction to tourists but the facilities over there are approximately nil. The forest rest house area located at Ekhla and Sirshi. Two more with catering facilities for tourists are still being planned between Srishi and Yurdu.
Kishtwar on account of its fairly large size, is arguably the most important cis-Himalayan area in the state. It different from one another mammalian fauna include a number of endangered species. Till 1948, its forests were exploited to their severe detriment when logging has been scientifically managed and finally ceased with the establishment of the national park (Bacha, 1986).
Under a project launched by Central Government, the national park has recently been earmarked as one of seven snow leopard reserves. The main aim of the project is at conserving the species, its prey populations and its fragile mountain habitat. A management plan has been prepared for the period 1986-1987 to 1989-90 (Bacha, 1986), according to which the national park will be zoned into core and buffer areas of 27,500ha and 15,000ha, respectively. No grazing will be allowed in the core zone; existing grazing rights being compensated for through payment and provision of alternative grazing grounds.
