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Dimapur, Sep. 4 (EMN): The Wokha Forest division along with the Wokha Village Council and some concerned individuals planted 500 saplings of rhododendron arboreum (known as Subenthera in lotha dialect) at Mount Tiyi on September 3 and the 4th.
The saplings were contributed by Terakchi K Marak, district forest officer of Silviculture division, Forest department, Meghalaya, an update received here on Friday informed.
The plantation was taken up in a quest to replenish the rapidly vanishing rhododendron at Mt. Tiyi, which is known as the “abode of souls” and is the only natural habitat for rhododendrons in Wokha district, it informed.
Rhododendron is considered to be a keystone species and therefore, their restoration and conservation promotes the existence of other biodiversity components. They need to be conserved as changes in climate affect the life cycle of this important species apart from constant human interference, it stated.
The Forest department and Wokha Village Council jointly resolved to ensure the survival of the planted saplings for posterity and anyone found uprooting or destroying the plants would be dealt with as per the law.
The Forest department also appealed to the general public of Wokha town and all the surrounding villages to refrain from plucking flowers or breaking the branches of the few surviving rhododendron trees during the flowering season in order to make natural regeneration possible.