The Greater One-horned Rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis has been listed as a Vulnerable species on IUCN Red List, Appendix I of CITES, and a protected animal under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029 B.S., 1973.  In Nepal, it was found only in Chitwan, Bardia, Shuklaphanta and Parsa national parks, but it has recently been also reported from the forests of Rautahat.  The main objectives of the study were to assess habitat suitability and threats for rhinoceros in Rautahat at an elevation range of approximately 300–1,000 m.  Remote sensing data and geospatial modeling techniques were used to assess habitat suitability of rhinoceros.  Vegetation assessment was carried out for tree, shrubs, and herbs of plot size 10m × 10m, 5m × 5m, 1m × 1m respectively for habitat suitability.  Threat analysis was carried out using purposive sampling among local people and their perceptions were collected on the movement of rhinoceros and threats.  The integration of nine explanatory variables showed that about 0.06%, 29.18%, 20.45%, and 50.31% of the study area was found to be most suitable, suitable, moderately suitable and unsuitable habitat respectively for rhinoceros.  Out of 30 respondents, 37%, 23%, 20%, and 20% identified the main threat to rhinoceros to be unmanaged habitat, poaching, human-wildlife conflict and environmental factors, respectively.  This study recommends parts of the Rautahat District to be extended as the habitat of rhinoceros and starting of immediate conservation initiatives in the area.

An account of widespread degradation and deforestation in Nepal has been noticed in various literature sources. Although the contribution of community forests (CF) on the improvement of forest cover and condition in the Mid-hill of Nepal is positive, detailed study to understand the current situation seems important. The study area (Tanahun District) lies in the Gandaki Province of western Nepal. The objective of this study was to estimate the forest cover change over the specified period and to identify factors influencing the change. We used Landsat images from the years 1976, 1991, and 2015 to classify land use and land cover. We considered community perception in addition to the forest cover map to understand the different causes of forest cover change. Forest cover decreased from 1976 to 1991 annually at a rate of 0.96%. After 1991, the forest increased annually at a rate of 0.63%. The overall forest cover in the district regained its original status. Factors related to increasing forest cover were emigration, occupation shift, agroforestry practices, as well as particularly by plantation on barren lands, awareness among forest users, and conservation activities conducted by local inhabitants after the government forest was handed over to community members as a community forest management system.

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A significant volume of wood was lost due to wood defects; however, few studies were done to quantify wood loss by wood defects. This study was focused on quantifying wood loss by heart rot, especially hollowness in Shorea robusta. The study was conducted in Tileswornath community forest of Rautahat district. The data were collected from the felling site of the regeneration felling block of Tileswornath community forest. 44 trees were selected randomly, and tree diameter, total height, and volume were measured. The destructive method was followed as heart rot cannot be visible from the surface. Felled trees were sanctioned into 285 logs and separated based on the hollowness. Hollow diameters at both thin end and mid and thick end, as well as length, were measured on the hollow log, and Smalian’s formula was used to calculate the volume of hollowed portion, and volume calculation formula for the cylinder was used to calculate total volume. For the solid logs, mid diameter and length of the log were measured and volume calculation formula for the cylinder was used to calculate total volume. Logistic regression was performed to identify the relation of total height and diameter with the probability of hollowness presence. The study showed that 59% of sampled trees and 34.39% of logs were found to be hollowed due to heart rot. 41.79% volume was occupied by hollow on the hollowed log. Logistic regression discards the relation of height to the hollowness but signified the relation of diameter to the probability of hollowness presence. Before implementation of scientific forest management modality, the timber retained in stump per tree was found as 0.18 cubic feet.

Floods are major problems, and their coexistence poses a potent threat, which cannot be eradicated but has to be managed. Extreme affects untold numbers of people, taxing economies, disrupting food production, creating unrest, and prompting migrations. There is much more that can be done to understand the effects of floods, particularly to help protect the poorest and most vulnerable. This research was carried out in the affected area of Bhimdatta municipality and aimed to find out the flood event of 2013 and present the scenario done for flood disaster management. The primary data were collected by direct observation and key informant survey. Landsat images were downloaded from USGS websites, and secondary information was collected through previous research and articles. The data were analyzed by using ArcGIS. It was found that the flood had created a negligible impact on the forest, high impact on the river itself, and average impact on land. 0.13% of forests, 17.38% of land, and 82.48% of river bodies were affected by the flood of 2013. Different governmental and nongovernmental organizations played an effective role for flood disaster management.

The wildlife population is an important part of the forest ecosystem and plays a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem health and integrity. In many grassland ecosystems, wild herbivores face substantial competition for space and resource use from livestock over grazing resources. Livestock and ungulates have shared a large portion of the Terai forest resources for decades, but little information has been explored about the influence of livestock on the grassland ecosystems of the protected areas of the Terai region of Nepal. We assessed the impact of livestock grazing on wild ungulate habitat in the Khata Corridor, Bardiya, Nepal. We used direct field observation, key informant interview (n = 10), focus group discussion (n = 5), and a questionnaire survey with local households to study the seasonal occurrence of wild ungulates in multiple habitats, livestock rearing practices, stocking density, and resource use by domestic livestock in and around the forest land of villages located in the Khata Corridor, Bardiya, Nepal. We followed livestock herds from the early morning to their return for consecutive days in each sample village to estimate the grazing circuits. We individually recorded a total number of grazing cattle in five different habitats while following the cattle grazing path by direct and indirect observation. Morisita’s index was used to evaluate the habitat overlap between domestic livestock and wild ungulates. The domestic cattle had a higher habitat overlap and effective stocking density in winter than wild ungulates in summer in the corridor forest. Lower availability of forage around the village led to the concerted effort of grazing in the forest, increasing the higher effective stocking density in winter, leading to the competition with wild ungulates. However, the carrying capacity is highly unevenly observed across the region, and overgrazing is found in many areas of the forest corridor. We recommend the development of comprehensive wildlife livestock grazing strategies for planning sustainable livestock farming and for important wildlife areas to maintain long-term landscape connectivity to protect migrating endangered wild species.

Changing climate can strongly affect tree growth and forest productivity. The dendrochronological approach to assessing the impact of climate change on tree growth is possible through climate–growth correlation analysis. This study uses an individual tree-based approach to model Pinus wallichiana (P. wallichiana) radial growth response to climate across the physiographic gradients in the lower distributional range of Nepal. This study sampled six sites across the Makwanpur district of central Nepal that varied in elevation and aspect, obtaining 180 tree-ring series. Climate data series were obtained from Climate Research Unit (CRU 4.0). The pair correlation approach was used to assess P. wallichiana growth response to climate and site-level physiographic variables such as site-level environmental stress. The study also determined long-term growth trends across the elevation and aspect gradients. Trees at sites with higher elevation and northeast aspect (NEA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation, whereas trees with lower elevation and northwest aspect (NWA) were more responsive to winter and spring precipitation. Basal area increment (BAI) analysis showed the variation of growth at site-level environmental stress, suggesting that the sensitivity of forest ecosystems to changing climate will vary across the lower growth limit of P. wallichiana due to differences in local physiographic conditions.

Land Use Land Cover (LULC) Change has emerged as a significant environmental issue and a worry for the sustainable use of natural resources. This study was performed to determine the rate in change of land cover and its significant impact on springs water in the Ritung Khola sub-watershed of Myagdi district, Nepal, between 2010 and 2020. This study analyzes LULC dynamics and it’s impact on springs water using satellite imageries (Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS) and focus group discussions with the inhabitants. We used Supervised Maximum Likelihood Classification algorithm to classify attributes of the LULC changes. The results demonstrated a significant change in LULC during those ten years (2010-2020). The area covered by agricultural land and human settlements significantly increased by 313.54% and 367.14%, respectively. On the contrary, barren land, water bodies and forest cover have been reduced by 37.52%, 13.16% and 5.26%, respectively. The number of active springs followed decreasing trend as many of them were completely displaced or dried due to erosions and frequent landslides. The findings from this study are expected to facilitate the planning process adopted to prevent springs under the threat of extension and mitigate the water scarcity problem.