TROPICAL FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE (TFRI), JABALPUR

INTRODUCTION

The Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur is one of the nine instiuttes under the Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education. The Institut came into existence in April 1988, although its origin goes back to 1973 when a Regional Centre of FRI, Dehradun was established at Jabalpur to provide research support to the problems of forest management in Central India. The Centre not only advanced steadily in terms of infrastructure but also specialised itself as a major nucleus for research on forestry and ecology related problems of tropical forests of the region. The ICFRE society recognised the excellence of the Centre by upgrading in to a full-fledged Institute. The TFRI is fast developing to equip itself in undertaking divers and intensive research on tropical forests.

The Institute's campus is situated on the banks of the Gour river on Mandla Road 10km south east of Jabalpur. The campus is spread over an area of 109 ha amidst picturesque surroundings. In addition,the Institute has an experimental area extending over 300 ha at a distance of about 8 km from the Institute on Samadhi Road. The area enjoys semi-arid type of climate with mean annual precipitation of 1358 mm.

The campus of the Institute is fully developed with facilities like office cum laboratory building, residential complex, bank, post- office, dispensary, shopping complex, central School, community hall, canteen, notor vehicle workshop, rest house and its own water supply system. Construction for Central library cum Information Centre, bio- technology lab, scholar transit hostel, scientists hostel, VIP rest house, stadium and more residential buildings has already been initiated.

Jabalpur is well connected by road,rail and air with all parts of the country,Bhopal and Nagpur being the nearby airports.

ORGANISATION

The Institute is headed by the Director who is assisted by a Group Co-ordinator (Research),Co-ordinator (Facilities) and Controller (for Administration). The research activities of the Institute have been grouped under twelve divisions.

1. Silviculture Division
2. Agroforestry Division
3. Genetics and Plant Propagation Division
4. Forest Resources and Economics Division
5. Forest Pathology Division
6. Forest Entomology Division
7. Biodiversity and Sustainable Management Division
8. Forest Ecology and Rehabilitation Division
9. Non-wood Forest Produce Division
10. Chemistry of Forest Produce Division
11. Forest Botany Division
12. Computer Application and Instrumentation Division

OBJECTIVES

Research work in the Institute is being carried out by a team of experienced Forest officers, Scientists and Research Scholars. The Institute has a sanctioned strength of 11 Forest Officers, 42 Scientists, 5 Research Officers, 9 other officers, 78 Research & Technical assistants, 37 Ministerial Staff, 45 Group D Employees, in addition to 21 Miscellaneous Supporting Staff.

The Institute has the responsibility of meeting forestry research needs of the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa. It's field of operation covers some of the country's most valuable tropical forests haveing immense biological diversity and a large tribal population. A number of mountain chains namely, Vindhyas, Satpura and Maikal hills adorn the landscape of the area harnessing the life sustaining water which is channelled from these watersheds into the rivers Narmada,Tapti,Mahanadi and Godawari. The forests of this region,therefore, have a multiple role to perform i.e. regulation of water, production of valuable forestry goods and the socio-economic well being of the forest dwellers or tribals.

The area of responsibility of the Institute extending from Bay of Bengal in the east to Arabian Sea in the west is well endowed with extensive natural tropical forests which are rich in floristic wealth. According to Champion & Seth's classification, forests of types 3B- South Indian moist deciduous forest (Tropical moist deciduous forest). 3C- North Indian moist deciduous forest, 4A- Littoral forest, 4B - Tidal Swamp forest, 5A - Southern Tropical dry deciduous forest, 6A - Southern Tropical thorn forest, 6B- Southern sub-tropical broad-leaved forest, are found in this region. The prominent species occuring in these forest are Acacia nilotica, Aegle marmelos, Alibizia lebbek, Alibizia procera, Azadirachta indica, Boswellia serrata, Butea monosperma, Dalbergia latifolia, Dendrocalamus strictus, Diospyros melonoxylon, Haldina cordifila, Lagerstroemia parviflora, Pterocarpus marsupium, Shorea robusta, Sterculia urens, Tectona grandis, Terminalia coriacea, etc.

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