Forester's hall of fame

<From the hindu>

Forest Department's book highlights their life and work and traces the
history of forests over 160 years.

In an effort to inspire the present and future generations of foresters,
the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has brought out a book – 'Hall of
Fame', illuminating the life and work of 25 illustrious foresters of the
past.

The book begins with Dr. Cleghorn, considered the father of scientific
forestry in the country, right down to 'Elephant Doctor' V.
Krishnamurthy and naturalist par excellence M. Krishnan.

Through these personalities, the book traces the forests' history over a
160-year period. If you travel to the Tamil Nadu Forest Academy in
Coimbatore, you may have to take the Cowley Brown Road, named after its
founder principal.

Its first Indian principal C.R. Ranganathan also finds a mention in the
book for his outstanding working plans in Madras province. His theory of
dual climax about montane sholas and grasslands is a pioneering one.

If you have been to the grave of Hugo Wood at Mt. Stuart at Anaimalais
surrounded by teak, you might have seen the inscription 'SI MONUMENTUM
REQUIRIS CIRCUMSPICE' meaning "If you want to see me, look around". He
had successfully carried out artificial regeneration method of teak.

The present-day foresters still refer to V.S. Krishnaswamy's book,
'Thoughts on Indian Forestry' and T. Jayadev happens to be the forest
chief with 17 years' standing in the history of the forest department.

There are vignettes too. K. Andiappan, as an assistant conservator of
forests, was responsible for the Javadis road scheme at Tiruppattur
before independence. K Venkatakrishnan was the 'Architect of Rubber
Plantations'.

T. Achaya the 'Planter' finds a place for his invaluable contributions
to the development of tea plantations, particularly the TANTEA, and,
Mohammed Ansar Badsha for his dedication to the formation and
development of wildlife sanctuaries.

Then there are others who were not part of the department. 'Elephant
Doctor' Krishnamurthy, a veterinarian, had treated more than 3,000
elephants in his career, captured 160 wild elephants and treated them,
oversaw the birth of 99 calves in captivity. He was the one to perform
the first post-mortem on an elephant.

M. Krishnan is known for his magical writing, delightful prose and
original thinking and one who had great respect for natural history.
What is not known is that he had conducted surveys for 14 States and
their forest departments across the country in amazing detail and depth.

One cannot miss out on Richard Radcliff, the man who stood like a Banyan
tree - protecting and nurturing the Nilgiri Wildlife Association for
over 30 years or E.R.C Davidar, who fell in love with Ooty as a child
and went on to do a pioneering work on the elephant corridors of the
Nilgiris and Anaimalais "to preserve them in perpetuity".

"This is only the beginning and more such compilation will be brought
out in future," says a forest official involved in the project.

The book 'Hall of Fame' illuminates the life and

work of 25 TN foresters

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