View of the Biligiri Rangan Hills project site. A wild elephant at the Biligiri Rangan Hills site. Photos courtesy of Biodiversity Conservation Network

Harvest of Non-Timber Forest Products, India The Western Ghats mountain range runs along the Arabian Sea in southern India. Within the range, the Biligiri Rangan Hills area is home to elephants, sloth bears, leopards, wild dogs, gaurs (wild oxen), and sambar, chital, and barking deer, as well as more than 900 plant species. The Biligiri Rangan Temple Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1974 and covers 540 square kilometers. Prior to 1974, the area was open to logging. Current harvesting of non-timber forest products by the local Soliga people and the removal of fuelwood by outsiders are putting pressure on the area's biodiversity. The Soligas harvest products from eight forest species for commercial purposes, among them honey, nelli ("gooseberry," for pickles, medicine, and shampoo), and antwada ("soapberry," for shampoo). Yet they could generate more income by processing and marketing the products themselves. To protect both the local biodiversity and the natural resources that the 4500 Soligas depend on, the Biodiversity Conservation Network, in concert with the University of Massachusetts and Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra, a local organization, has helped them to establish locally owned enterprises to manage the extraction, processing, and marketing of these forest products. 1 of 2