Flora and Fauna

Flora
The forest blocks consist mostly of ravines and some flat waste lands. The Yamuna and Chambal ravines are very old. It appears that the ravines have been formed due to relative level of banks and their geological structure. Unfit for any other use, the vast areas under ravines come under heavy grazing and and reckless hacking. this subsequently accelerated the erosion and extinction of woodland wherever it was existing. Later, for protection of the ground from erosion and further deterioration and for the creation of fuel and fodder reserves the area was closed to grazing, and babul, sissoo and neem were sown. The waste lands were previously the property of the Zamidars and were generally devoid of any tree or shrub growth. They were scattered all over in small or big patches near villages or along the river banks and were grazing grounds for the cattle of neighbouring villages. After the abolition of Zamidari the state government transferred to the forest department large tracts of land where plantation was possible.The pioneer work for the protection of land from erosion by planting forests had been taken up as early as 1888 by Mr. Fisher, the then collector of Etawah. He induced the Zamidars to permit the wastelands to be managed as single unit with a view to conserve timber. It covered of about 2000 acres  of area. This forest is said to be largely responsible for saving Etawah city from the erosive action of the Yamuna.The Total forest area (reserve and protected both) is 301.04 sq. km. which is 12.52 percent of the total geographical area. According to Champion and Seth's classification the forests are "Northern Acacia Scrub" type forests. The flora of Etawah district comprise 560 species out of it 123 species bear medicinal value like Arjun, Neem, Bel, Indra Jav, Babool and Arvsa.The trees found in the district are of Dhak (Butea monosperma), Aonla (Emblica officinalis),Arjun (Terminalia arjuna), Ashok (Polyalthia longifolia), Asna (Terminalia...