ECO BRIDGE

Subject: Environment

Context: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Uttarakhand Forest Department has built a special eco bridge in the Ramnagar forest division of Nanital district for reptiles to cross over the busy jungle road.

Concept:

• The highway to Nainital is a very busy one and a large number of vehicles ply on it during the tourist season. The jungle next to it is home to many reptiles including pythons and monitor lizards.
• This is a dense forest, and elephants, leopards, deer, and blue bulls move in this area. Drivers can see them from some distance and slow down or stop, but they rarely do for snakes, lizards, monitors, or squirrels.
• So, the bridge was built to provide a safe passage for the reptiles from the vehicles coming from both sides.
• The bridge will have four camera traps for monitoring purposes and it will be studied as a model by the Forest Department, Ramnagar Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).

Eco- Bridge:

• An eco-bridge or the eco conduct is an overpass that allows easy crossing of animals across human-made barriers.
• The intervention requires the laying of fertile soil to grow grass and plants over the structure, so that fragmentation of the reserve forest is camouflaged.