Dehing Patkai

Dehing Patkai National Park covers about 231.65 km² of lowland rainforest in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam, in the Dehing Patkai landscape, a dipterocarp-dominated forest that continues into Arunachal Pradesh^[1]. It was notified as Assam's seventh national park on 9 June 2021^[2]. The forest is also known as the Dehing Patkai Rain Forest.

The park shelters hoolock gibbon, Asian elephant, slow loris, tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, golden cat, fishing cat, marbled cat, sambar, hog deer and sloth bear, along with birds such as the white-winged wood duck, Assam's state bird^[2]. Recorded so far are 47 mammal species, 47 reptile species and 310 butterfly species^[2]. About 293 bird species have been counted, including wreathed hornbill and lesser adjutant^[1].

The forest is classed as Assam Valley tropical wet evergreen forest^[2]. It has four layers, with the hollong, Assam's state tree, dominating the emergent layer; Mesua ferrea, Shorea assamica, Vatica and Dipterocarpus are important canopy trees, and orchids, ferns, epiphytes and lianas fill the understorey^[1].

The park lies in the Brahmaputra valley of upper Assam, in lowland forest beside the Assam-Arunachal border where the ground rises toward the Patkai hills.

The climate is tropical and very wet, with annual rainfall reported above 4,000 mm^[1].

More than a dozen communities live around the forest, including the Tai Phake, Khamyang, Khampti, Singpho, Nocte, Chutia, Ahom and Moran peoples^[1]. Tea gardens, village settlements, deforestation and oil and coal exploration have broken the once-continuous rainforest into isolated patches^[2].

The area was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 2004 at 111.19 km²^[2]. In July 2020, after protests against coal mining inside the sanctuary, the state directed the forest department to upgrade it, and the national park was notified on 9 June 2021, taking in the sanctuary, Upper Dehing Reserve Forest (West Block) and Jeypore Reserve Forest, with a village area excluded^[2]. The sanctuary was also declared the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant^[1].

The main draw is the rainforest itself, with its gibbons, hornbills and butterflies. The nearest towns are Naharkatia, Duliajan and Dibrugarh^[1].

The nearest towns are Digboi, Naharkatia, Duliajan and Dibrugarh in upper Assam^[1].

The state government is adding anti-poaching camps and patrol staff, and the national park status followed protests against coal mining in the sanctuary^[2]. Fragmentation by tea gardens, settlements and extraction is the main concern for the remaining rainforest patches.