Mimosa weed posing threat to Kaziranga Park

GUWAHATI, April 10: The spread of grassland in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is under threat from an invading weed called Mimosa which has bloomed over 120 hectares areas inside the national park at the cost of the green grass, life to hundreds of herbivorous park inmates. The Assistant Conservator of Forest in the National Park, Utpol Bora today informed that the concentration of the unwanted wild herb is more in Kaziranga and Bagori ranges of the Park, than in other parts. However, it is threatening to cover all parts of the Park in near future. When Mimosa grows on a particular area, it devours the existing cover of grass on the area. The Park authority is worried over the spread of Mimosa for the reason that it is not eaten by animals like rhinos, deer etc. although the elephants sometimes tend to taste it. According to the park official, Mimosa has covered about 120 hectares park area during a period of about six years in recent times. He informed that the weed spread to the park from neighbouring tea estates. The tea gardens in the vicinity of Kaziranga National Park used to grow Mimosa for years as a 'soil stabilising crop'. Probably during waves of flood Mimosa seeds got carried to national park areas from the tea estates and germinated there at the cost of the grass cover. Most of these tea estates, however, put an end to years-long practice of growing Mimosa in response to the request made by Kaziranga Park authority. Still, a tea estate called Methoni has been an exception. This tea garden located at the periphery of Kaziranga National Park continues to grow Mimosa ignoring requests from the Park authority. Meanwhile, effort has been made to weed out Mimosa inside Park areas through conventional method of ploughing. However, Bora felt that an all out offensive would have to be made simultaneously in all affected parts of the Park to root out Mimosa. For that the perennial problem of fund scarcity comes in the way. The Park authority had asked for some money from the Union government for 'deweeding operation'. Although the money has been sanctioned it was yet to be handed over to the Park authority, it was learnt. The authority has also approached Environmental Investigation Agency, an international NGO which has been helping Kaziranga National Park in many ways on several occasions in the past, for supply of a tractor to expedite ploughing of Mimosa. Ploughing is the only way left for KNP authority to weed out Mimosa as it will not be advisable to use any herbicide which is likely to take a toll on the animals.