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• At Chikkamagaluru and Hassan on 23.01.2020
• At Ramanagara on 16.01.2020
• At Tumkuru on 17.01.2020
• At Chitradurga on 24.01.2020
• At Davangere on 25.01.2020
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The Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board in association with Karnataka Forest Department, National Centre for Biological Sciences, The Bengaluru Butterfly club and Indian Foundation for Butterflies organized Butterfly and Bee festival twice in the year 2019 to create awareness about the important ecological roles played by butterflies and bees. This festival involved a walk with nature and identification of different species of butterflies, sharing interesting facts about them, educating children about their life cycles through interesting talks and enacting plays. First Butterfly and Bee festival was conducted at the campus of Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru on 15th July 2019. Around 70 members and school children attended the festival . The 2nd Butterfly and Bee festival was held at Forest Research Centre, Doresanipalya, J.P Nagar, Bengaluru on 23rd November 2019. School children from various schools and 120 members participated in this festival.
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The Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board had organized “Certified Nature Guide Training program” from 12th to 16th Nov 2019 at Bannerghatta Nature Camp. There were 36 participants for the training program. The objective of Nature guide training program was to impart basic training to the local youths in the subjects of nature, wildlife and skills required for guiding tourists and to certify the trainees after completion of training so that they can be employed in Eco trails run by Karnataka Forest Department in regulated and controlled manner. The Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board has so far conducted such training programs for more than 253 Certified Nature Guides. Generally, this Nature Guide training Programme lasts for 5 Days for which the participants/trainees are ed by the respective field officers. Participants come from various backgrounds that may include forest watchers, those who are already working as trekking guides and those who are manning interpretation centres. They participate both in the classroom sessions and in all field activities as scheduled in the training program. The resource personnel guide the trainees on various aspects such as Hazard evaluation, Risk management, Emergency procedures, natural history through geology, basic information of birds, amphibians, mammals, important tree species, climbers etc.
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A two day workshop was organized on various aspects of raising Sandal in Agro-forestry by Social Forestry Wing at Aranya Bhavan, Bengaluru on 3rd and 4th of January 2020, in collaboration with Sandal Growers Association. The workshop was attended by senior forest officers, and field officers of Bangalore Circle.
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Karnataka Ecotourism Development Board, in collaboration with Karnataka Forest Department is organizing 6th Karnataka State Bird festival 2020 in the foot hills of Nandi Hills from 17th – 19th of Jan 2020. Located about 60 km north of Bengaluru, Nandi Hills is part of a conspicuous range of hills consisting of four other hillocks – the Brahmagiri, Channagiri, Dibbagiri and Skandagiri. Nandi Hills is one of the most sought-after bird-watching destinations of Bangalore. It is known to harbor over 200 species of birds. Some of the important birds that can be seen at Nandi Hills include, Blue-headed Rock Thrush, White-throated Ground-thrush, Eurasian Blackbird, Pied Thrush, Indian Blue Robin, Olive-backed (Tree) Pipit, Ultramarine Flycatcher, Verditer Flycatcher, Spotted Babbler, Indian Scimitar-Babbler. The theme for the festival is Conservation of Vultures. Though Long Billed Vultures are not locally present in Nandi Hills, this species is endangered and awareness is required for its conservation. During this festival technical sessions by experts have been arranged along with birding visits. Interested birders may register at https://bit.ly/2ZA2Eko or www.myecotrip.com
The Tiger census was released at New Delhi as part of Global Tiger Day on 29-07-2019. Heads of the Wildlife Wing of various states were present on the occasion. There was a photo session with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sri. Narendra Modi and Central Minister for Environment and Forest, Sri. Prakash Javdekar.