Brief About Pauri Garhwal District
Pauri
Garhwal, a district of Uttaranchal state encompasses an area of
5440 sq. km and situated between 29°
45’ to 30°15’
Latitude and 78°
24’ to 79°
23’ E Longitude. This district is ringed by the districts of Chamoli,
Rudraprayag & Tehri Garhwal in North, Bijnor & Udhamsingh
Nagar in South, Almora & Nainital in East, Dehradun &
Haridwar in West. The District is administratively divided into
six tehsils, viz., Pauri, Lansdown, Kotdwar, Thalisain, Dhumakot
& Srinagar, and fifteen developmental blocks, viz., Kot, Kaljikhal,
Pauri, Pabo, Thalisain, Bironkhal, Dwarikhal, Dugadda , Jaihrikhal,
Ekeshwer, Rikhnikhal, Yamkeswar, Nainidanda, Pokhra & Khirsu.
Pauri is the headquarter of
Pauri Garhwal district and is located at the height of 1650 m.
and has a population of 20,397. This is fairly located on high
altitude amongst the Deodar forest and on the northern slopes
of the ridge, which provide one of the ice-clad mountain chains.
Besides Alaknanda, Nayyar
River is the major river of the district and is one of the major
tributies of Alaknanda which is called Nayyar after the confluence
of eastern and Western Nayyar at Satpuli. Both the Nayyars originate
from the Dudatoli range and drain their water to the south. The
high ranges in the Nayyar catchments areThailisain
(Dudatoli - Chakisain ridge), Baijro
(Pokhra - Demdeval ridge), Khirsu-Mandakhal (Pauri - Adwani
- Kanskhet ridge), Bironkhal (Lansdowne - Gumkhal - Dwarikhal
ridge) & Rathwadhab (Dugadda - Kandi ridge).
CLIMATE
The region has a sub-temperate to temperate climate, which
remains pleasant throughout the year. The maximum temperature
recorded in the month of june is 45°C
at Kotdwar while in the higher reaches at Dudhatoli it only rises
to 25°C.
Temperature descends to a minimum of 1.3°C
in January, and means monthly temperature for the region ranges
from 25°C
to 30°C.
The hilly terrain with
its densely forested slopes receives adequate rainfall generally
commencing from mid-June and extending till mid-September. Occasional
rainfall is also recorded in winter. Average annual rainfall in
the district is 218 cm., about 90 percent of which is generally
concentrated over the monsoon. Relative humidity varies between
54 and 63 percent. The higher reaches receive some snow in winter
when temperature falls to freezing point.
SOILS
Soils of the region have been formed either through
pedogenetic processes or are transported
soils. The pedogenetic soils are the one which have been formed
by long duration of exposure to atmospheric agencies, physical
and chemical weathering and rock slides. Such types of soils are
derived from granite Gneissic, schistose and phyllite rocks. These
soils obtained high percentage of silica from their parent body,
while the soils formed from the limestone are rich in calcium
carbonate. The transported soils are carried and deposited by
the streams. Their parent body and source rocks lie at far away
places. Some of these soils have mixed origin pf glacial and fluvio-glacial
origin. These soils of takus, fans and terraces are silt to clayey
loam and are very fertile. The brown forest soils contain very
high percentage of organic matter. The katil soils are stony,
immature and extremely poor. Soils of Upraon are gravelly ab\nd
sandy Loams, they are brown of Talaon. The Talaon soils are brown
in colour with clayey texture. The stony texture provides higher
rate of erosion.
TOPOGRAPHY
The topography of pauri Garhwal is by and large rugged and
except for the narrow strip of Bhabar, the entire region is mountainous.
The highest point of the area is 3116 mtrs at Dudatoli and the
lowest point of the area is 295 mtrs near chilla. The village
located at the hightest level is Dobri, which is 2480 mtrs high.
The cross profiles of the fluvial valleys show convex form with
steep valley sides, interlocking spurs descending towards the
main channel, hanging valleys, water falls and rapids and terraced
agricultural fields on the gentle slopes on the valley sides. The
clustering of villages is confined mainly on the gentle slopes
of the ridges on the fluvial terraces. The forest cover is the
maximum in Thailisain block and the minimun in the Pauri block.
Most of the part of the area is approachable by road from its
district headquarter. Most of these roads are not yet metalled
and are prone to land slips, slides, dusty, except few main roads.
The district of Pauri Garhwal
as part of the Western Himalaya presents a unique set of ecological
characteristics over a complex variety of systems that incorporate
forests, meadows, savannah grasslands, marshes and rivers, as
well as wildlife, geology and several other phyto-geographically
distinctive peculiarities. The occurrence of diverse topographical
and climatic factors has resulted in the remarkable biodiversity
of the district as a result of which flora also correspondingly
differs over its different parts. Forests dominate in the phyto-geography
and also constitute the most valuable natural resource of the
district.
