Present Stock of Bamboo in the state

Uttaranchal has 7 species of bamboo in all that are found naturally either in the reserve forests or in the homesteads. Dendrocalamus strictus is found in the reserve forests and is also found outside the RF to some extent. Arundinaria falcata, A. spathiflora, A falconeri, A. jaunsarensis. the four ringal species are found in the reserve forest only. Bambusa nutans and Dendrocalamus hamiltonii are found in the homesteads and in or around villages only. Almost 4-5 other bamboo species like Dendrocalamus giganteus, Bambusa bambos, Bambusa balcooa etc. have also naturalized in the state but to a very limited extent. The bamboo outside forest area is difficult to calculate. The current Bamboo Resources in the Reserve Forest Area of Uttaranchal is being given division wise (Bamboo and Ringal overlapping working circle)

As per the below available information, although bamboo is present in 1.39 lakh ha. of forest area about 60% is small bamboo species of Arunidinaria genus. D. strictus is present on the rest 40% of area. A history of large amount of bamboo being supplied to whole of north India also exists. But during last 15-20 years, most of the resources have been put into development of other timber crops than on bamboo. Therefore, factors like mass flowering, forest fires and lack of cultural operations have rendered these valuable resources to degrade. The average per ha availability of bamboo in Lansdowne forest division has been calculated to 11-12 clumps. After the start of this mission bamboo plantations have been regularized in forest department with an average plantation of 2000 ha. per year.