Buxa Tiger Reserve

Buxa Tiger Reserve is a tiger reserve in the Alipurduar district of northern West Bengal. It lies in the Dooars, the strip of plains and foothills at the base of the Eastern Himalayas, along the border with Bhutan. It covers about 760 sq km and was made a tiger reserve in 1983, as India's 15th tiger reserve.

Why is it important?

Buxa sits at a meeting point of forests. To its north is Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan. To its east is Manas in Assam, and nearby is Jaldapara National Park in West Bengal. Together these forests make a large, connected landscape where elephants, tigers and other animals can move across borders. Buxa is also a key elephant corridor between North Bengal and Assam.

Where did it come from?

Buxa was declared a tiger reserve under Project Tiger in 1983. In 1986 a part of it was declared a wildlife sanctuary. In 1992 the state government announced its intention to make a National Park there, and the Buxa National Park (about 117 sq km) was finally notified on 5 December 1997.

How is it laid out?

• Core area (Critical Tiger Habitat): about 390.58 sq km
• Buffer area: about 370.29 sq km
• Height: from about 60 metres in the plains to about 1,750 metres in the hills
• Rivers: the Sankosh, Raidak and Jayanti, among others, which come down from Bhutan

What lives there?

Buxa has moist tropical forests and grasslands. It has over 350 kinds of trees and around 144 kinds of orchids. Animals include the Asian elephant, gaur (Indian bison), clouded leopard, leopard, leopard cat, marbled cat, dhole (wild dog) and sambar. Its hill streams hold mahseer fish, and it has over 280 kinds of birds.

Why did tigers disappear from Buxa?

Even though Buxa was a tiger reserve, its tigers slowly faded away. The main reasons were:

• Habitat damage: Earlier, the forest was managed for timber, and many grasslands turned into thick woods or were degraded.
• High human pressure: About 37 forest villages lie in and around the reserve, along with tea gardens, highways and a railway line. People depend on the forest for firewood, grazing and fodder.
• Loss of prey: With fewer deer and other prey, tigers could not survive.
• Poaching in earlier decades.

For years, no resident breeding tiger was confirmed in Buxa. Camera traps only occasionally caught transient (passing) male tigers, likely wandering in from Bhutan or Assam.

Buxa in history

The reserve takes its name from Buxa Fort, an old fort on the Bhutan trade route. The British used it as a detention camp for Indian freedom fighters in the 1930s, under the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1930. Revolutionaries of groups like the Anushilan Samiti and Jugantar were held there. It was known as one of the toughest prisons in India after the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands.

Commonly confused concepts

• Buxa vs Jaldapara vs Gorumara: All three are in North Bengal's Dooars. Buxa is a tiger reserve; Jaldapara (famous for the one-horned rhinoceros) and Gorumara are national parks, not tiger reserves.
• Buxa vs Sundarbans: West Bengal has two tiger reserves. Sundarbans in the south is a mangrove delta tiger reserve; Buxa in the north is a Himalayan foothill forest.
• Dooars vs Terai: Both are flat lands at the foot of the Himalayas. The Dooars lie in North Bengal and Assam, below Bhutan. The Terai lies further west, below Nepal and Uttarakhand (where Valmiki is).

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• People and the forest: Many families in forest villages and tea gardens depend on Buxa. Tigers returning may increase cattle losses and fear. Quick compensation and eco-development committees are needed.
• Roads and railway: Highways and the railway line through the Dooars cause wildlife deaths, especially of elephants.
• Prey recovery takes time: The grassland and deer have been built up since 2018, but they must keep growing for many tigers to settle.
• Way forward: protect the cross-border corridor with Bhutan and Assam, reduce dependence of villagers on the forest, and keep long-term monitoring of the new tigers.

Concepts to Know

• Dooars: The flat land and low hills at the foot of the Bhutan Himalayas in North Bengal and Assam. "Duar" means "door", as these were the gateways to Bhutan.
• Transient tiger: A tiger passing through an area without settling there.
• Elephant corridor: A narrow strip of forest or land that elephants use to move between two larger forests.
• Gaur: The Indian bison, the largest wild cattle in the world.
• Dhole: The Asiatic wild dog, which hunts in packs.