Assessment of dead and fallen wood availability in forests of different watersheds of sirsi taluk

The study was carried out in the watershed areas (5B1A5 and 4D4F5) of Sirsi taluk, Uttar Kannada District during the year 2016-2017 to assess the quantity of available deadwood in the forests which could be used as fuel-wood by the nearby villagers. Five villages in each of the watershed were selected and transect line (100 m  10 m) one near the the village and the other away from the village were laid. Total of 20 such plots were laid with 0.01 per cent sampling intensity. The volume of dead and fallen wood found available in the village forest was 1.8 m3 in watershed 4D4F5 and 0.5160 m3 in watershed 5B1A5. It was 1.4340 m3 in transects away from the villages and 0.979 m3 in transects near the villages of both the watersheds. The study concludes that the availability of the dead and fallen wood in the forests of the selected watersheds is insufficient in meeting the demand of fuel-wood from the nearby villages.