Project
Restoration of Shola-grassland montane habitat

In 2012, EBR Centre Trust received a grant from IUCN-NL under their SPN programme and purchased around 24 acres of tea plantation in an area surrounded by pristine shola-grassland hinterland, housing phenomenal biodiversity that we are studying. Led by a post-doctoral ecologist, they are restoring and rewilding this tract, by first raising at their plant nursery the seedlings, and then planting the acquired land into their former shola forest, grassland and wetland habitat. A number of plant species that are endemic to this small zone - like the cobra lily Arisaema translucens and Arisaema tylophorum have not only been rediscovered here after several decades, but are being propagated in the nursery, in preparation for re-introduction in the field. A number of plant species of particular importance to the indigenous Toda people are also being planted. We need to extend the area to be rewilded significantly in the coming days.