CORBETT NATIONAL PARK

• Wildlife

Corbett National Park:-Being the oldest national park in India the Corbett National Park holds a vast and gripping history that dilates the princely state of Tehri Garhwal. The British, after evicting the Boksas tribe in the early 1860s, embarked on preserving the forest against cultivation and cattle farming. Later in 1879 the forests were constituted into a Reserve Forest and in the early 1900s the idea of setting up a national park on the territory was fed back. The process of setting the boundary was led by Sir Jim Corbett in the year 1936 and a part was named as Hailey National Park, covering an area of 323.75 sq kms boasting Asia’s first national park and one of the tiger reserves. After the independence the park was renamed as Ramganga National Park and there again the name Corbett National Park was assigned in the period 1955-56. In 1974 the rich and wild ecosphere was picked out as a location for launching Project Tiger. Later in the 20th century the process of demarcation was initialized, owing to Corbett Tiger Reserve, by adding the entire Kalagarh forest division that also includes the area of Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary. Today the Jim Corbett National Park comprises an area of 1,318.54 square kilometres including 520 square kilometres of core area and 797.72 square kilometres of buffer area and is one of the thirteen protected areas covered by World Wildlife Fund under their Terai Arc Landscape Programme.