Forest situation analysis and future forecasting of famous Upper Tanawal forests ecosystems on western banks of lesser Himalaya

The current work was carried out in Upper Tanawal which lies in the mid of Western part of lesser Himalaya. The area lies between 34°0.34.40′ N to 34°0.48.88′ N latitude and 72°0.84.27′ E to 73°0.10.50′ E longitude. Upper Tanawal is rich in biodiversity. No work regarding forest and forest situation is done previously in this area. (Farooq, et al., 2017). The area was once housing notable and thick forest strands famous for their habitat uniqueness to harbor number of pheasant and other wildlife species. Due to security reasons and worse situation of law and order compromising government writ the area remained scientifically as well departmentally neglected resulting rapid and vigorous ruthless deforestation. The area was extensively visited and sampled using Quadrate method for phytosociological data collection. Phytosociological attributes like density, cover, and frequency were also Calculated and recorded for all tree species of the area in each quadrat. Altitude, slope angle, atmospheric humidity and temperature were also considered as environmental variables for each sampling site. Results reflect that Upper Tanawal hosts 52 different tree species of 39 genera belonging to 25 tree families.The important forests of Upper Tanawal are under high anthropogenic and environmental disturbances. Some of them may easily be managed because of the presence of large number of seedling; however, some areas need serious attention. It was observed that Pinus roxburghii and Pinus wallichiana are the potential tree species for reforestation and afforestation in the area. This study will be the baseline for new researchers in the study area.