Shola forests are tropical Montane forests found in the valleys separated by rolling grasslands only in the higher elevations. They are found only in South India in the Southern Western Ghats. The shola forests are patches of forests that occur only in the valleys where there is least reach of the fog and mist.

At least five major types of wet evergreen forest or rainforest are found in the Anamalai hills

region depending on elevation above sea level and aspect (eastern versus western slopes of

the main hill range):

1. Plains and low elevation wet evergreen forest

This type is found at elevations below 700 m, particularly on the western side of the Ghats. It

is characterized by tall dipterocarp trees including many endemics: Dipterocarpus indicus and Dipterocarpus bourdilloni, Vateria indica, Hopea ponga. Historically, much of this type has been lost, especially in the plains. Examples exist in areas near Manamboli and Vazhachal.

2. Medium elevation wet evergreen forest

This is the most extensive wet evergreen type in the Anamalai hills today, found at elevations

between 700 m and 1,400 m. It is characterized by tree species such as Cullenia exarillata,

Mesua ferrea, Palaquium ellipticum, and Myristica dactyloides. Much of this rainforest type

occurs as fragments, including on private lands in the Valparai plateau and Nelliampathy hills. Examples of this type can be found at Iyerpadi near Valparai, near Uralikkal-Surulimalai and in near Malakkiparai.

3. Transitional forests with Lauraceae

As we move higher, between 1,400 m and 1,700 m, the above forest type changes to

montane forest through this transitional forest type. This type has many Lauraceae species

such as Persea macrantha, Neolitsea sp. and Litsea sp. An example is Akkamalai forest.

4. Shola forest

The typical shola forest, a kind of stunted montane wet evergreen forest, is found at

elevations above 1,800 m. This type is found only in the hills of the Nilgiris, Anamalais, and

Palnis in the Western Ghats. Characteristic trees include Schefflera racemosa, Michelia

nilagirica, and Prunus ceylanica. Examples are seen in Konalar-Grass Hills and in Eravikulam.

Restoration is the process of returning an ecosystem to its original state prior to disturbance or human impact. Ecological restoration is defined as the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed (Society for Ecological Restoration International Science and Policy Working Group 2004).

In the context of restoration, recovery means the process of returning to similar conditions

as reference sites:

1) The natural structural characteristics of the ecosystem such as multi-layer vegetation, tree

canopy cover, etc.

2) The natural functional attributes and dynamics of the ecosystem such as pollination,

dispersal, decomposition, etc., and

3) The characteristic indigenous species assemblages of the ecosystem, such as the plants,

animals, fungi, etc. found in reference sites.

Restoration should always be towards a goal. Reference sites help determine that goal.

Reference sites are sites containing representative examples of the area under restoration as it was prior to human disturbance. They may also be relatively undisturbed sites located in the same environmental setting (e.g., same elevation, rainfall zone, and soil type), which have been subjected to little or no human impacts.

It is a common misconception that if we strictly protect an area, it will naturally recover because ‘Nature knows best’. This may be true for large areas of little disturbed forests, but we now know that many areas will not recover even after decades of protection. In such areas carefully planned intervention in the form of restoration becomes necessary because:

1) natural recovery of the original vegetation and associated animal communities will not

occur even under strict protection following the removal or curtailment of disturbance

factors,

2) natural recovery may take an enormous amount of time (decades to centuries) unless we

intervene to ‘assist the recovery’ of the degraded site, and

3) meeting specific conservation goals requires the revival of specific sites within a specific

time period.

Restoration may be necessary in a wide variety of sites such as areas where:

1) there is heavy infestation of weeds, grasses, and vines, choking natural vegetation,

2) the soil seed bank is depleted or lost due to historical disturbance such as fire and grazing,

3) parent trees that can produce seeds are locally extinct, as in isolated fragments,

4) natural forests have been replaced by monoculture timber plantations or cash crops,

5) settlements, plantations, or other land-use existed earlier but are now abandoned,

6) soil nutrient status and symbiotic mycorrhizal fungal populations are lost or reduced,

7) large areas have been cleared or mined with top soil lost, eroded, or depleted, or

8) open areas have been created due to clear-felling, fires, or landslides.