Forests on the Valley rim have a heavy burden: they must help maintain bio-diversity, sustain the rural population, and prepare for the recreational needs of an urbanising Valley floor.
The woods in and around Kathmandu Valley have always fulfilled the rural and urban demand for firewood, charcoal, fodder and timber. While the rural population has remained steady, a fast expansion in the city population has led to a increase in the demand for forest products.
The area under forest cover has declined rapidly, making up only 18 percent(7,616 ha)of Valley area, according to 1990 figures. Overuse of the woodlands led to a loss of 1,360 ha of forest cover between 1972 and 1986. About 1,840 ha has been converted to grasslands, some of it from forests, during the same period. Agricultural land decreased 17 per cent to 20,320 ha, primarily due to takeover by urban sprawl.
While the green cover has disappeared over much of the Valley floor, some of the original flora and fauna are still to be found in the forests on the four main ridge-tops on the Valley rim, namely, Phulchoki, the highest at 2,765 m, Shivapuri (2732 m), Nagarjun (2188 m) and Chandragiri (2432 m).
Trees and damselflies
Wildlife specialists know the Valley as one of the larger inter-montane basins in the "Lesser Himalayan Midland Zone". The sub-tropical broad-leaved forest of Schima and Castanopsis (Chilauney andKatus in Nepali) are dense. Floral diversity is particularly marked in Phulchoki, which harbours 571 angiosperms, two gymnos-perms and 80 species of ferns and rel ated species. Over 100 species of mushroom sprout on Shivapuri hill, including a species known mlactarius pleurotoideus, which was not known to be found in the Himalayan region until very recently.