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Chapter Overview Map
Soils, Forests and Wildlife of Telangana
4.1–4.4 Soils
- Red soils cover roughly half of each agro-climatic zone; black soils are most extensive in the North Telangana Zone.
- Soil type follows parent rock: granite-gneiss gives red soils, Deccan basalt gives black soils.
- Water erosion is the main form of land degradation in the State.
4.5–4.6 Forest cover and types
- Forest cover was 18.89% of the State's area in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023.
- Almost all forests are tropical dry deciduous, with teak in the north and mixed deciduous forest along the Godavari.
- Forests concentrate in the Godavari valley districts and around Amrabad in the south.
4.7 Pressures and conservation
- Clearing, fires, mining, grazing and fragmentation reduce or degrade forests.
- Planting trees raises green cover, but a plantation is not a natural forest.
4.8 Wildlife and protected areas
- Telangana has 3 national parks, 9 wildlife sanctuaries and 2 tiger reserves, Kawal and Amrabad.
- Most protected areas lie in the forested north-east, north and south, not in the cultivated centre.
4.9 Forests, wildlife and people
- Forests give fuel, fodder and forest produce and are home to wildlife.
- Dependence on forests creates conservation challenges, but it is not by itself proof of damage.
Don't confuse
- Forest cover is canopy seen by satellite; recorded forest area is land recorded as forest in government records.
- A tiger reserve is a statutory tiger management unit with a core and a buffer; a national park is one category of protected area.
The branches follow the chapter: soils first, then forests, their pressures, wildlife and people. Notice how each branch moves from where a resource is to why it is there and how it is protected.