Introduction


The Sheikh Badin Hill National Park is situated on the east of Pezu at an altitude of 1400m above sea level, two hours drive from Dera Ismail Khan on Indus Highway from Dera Ismail Khan to Peshawer and an hour rough drive from Pezu. The only road from Pezu is very rough and steep, that requires a 4 wheeler vehicle.


The Sheikh Badin Hill has quite interesting historical importance, It happened to be one of the cantonments of the British Era. British came there somewhere around in 1861 and left in 1914. There historic buildings of British era suffered an enormous loss over time owing to lack of repair and maintenance. A four km north circular track built at that time for facilitating jogging and walking. A bit further down from the residential ruins, a British cemetery and above it there is a south circular track.


At the Sheikh Badin Hill there are about 25 to 30 houses (mostly belonging to two castes (Sayyed and Mughal). Most of these families come to live at Sheikh Badin Hills during summer vacations and in winter they come down to Pezu.


Sheikh Badin also has a variety of wild life in a nearby Jungle, and a national wildlife park known as Sheikh Badin National Park that has leopards, jackals, wolf, Chakoor and Titer (pheasant and partridge)


Sheikh Badin Hill has its biological significance and importance as it is sort of island (hills of surrounded by desserts). It was declared and managed as a reserved forest since 1952 and it was also declared as a game sanctuary in 1972. In 1993 it was designated as national park by the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa provincial wildlife department to protect the indigenous biological resources of this area.


A team of zoologists from Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, visited Sheikh Buddin National Park and surrounding area on the request of DFO Wildlife to record the fauna of the national park from 23rd-30th April 2011. Sheikh Buddin Hills, Khawri, Tora Khawri, and Panyala were visited by these scientists and documented many species of animal kingdom. The main problem noticed was the negligence of wildlife department, which needs to be empowered. In addition to this we also observed tree cuttings for fuel purpose, overgrazing, bush fire and mining for stones for cement and crush purposes.


TREE CUTTING: In spite of declaring national park since 1993, the indiscriminate tree cutting has been continuing for a long period of time for fuel purposes and for selling in local market to earn bread and butter. It is difficult to find a tree shade on north circular and south circular tract to sit and relax for a few minutes. There was natural plantation wild olive (Kahu), phulai, kikar, and sanatha trees in the park, which have almost been totally cut as clear from the picture. This tree cutting has ruined the natural climate of the area.


OVERGRAZING: There were herds of goats, cows and donkeys of the local peoples as well as of nearby villagers. Small stunted olive trees were clearly showing the grazing pressure.


BUSHFIRE: Bushfire is another important phenomenon in the entire world. There was also bushfire in Sheikh Buddin National in 2010, which destroyed all sort of vegetations and of course fauna of the eastern and northern side of the hills as shown in the picture.


MINING FOR MARBLE AND CRUSH:


Right in the foothill of Sheikh Badin there is a cement factory exuding its constant dust and smoke out of its towering chimneys that serve as a blemish against the backdrop of this beautiful natural setting. Moreover, mineral extraction in the vicinity of Sheikh Badin is inflicting irreparable loss that actively contributes to gradual spoiling of this natural heritage.


RECOMMENDATIONS: Sheikh Buddin National Park needs the attention of the policy makers, before its too late. The staff of wildlife department need to be trained and empowered to handle the above mentioned problem.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We are thankful to Naizi Khan, DFO Wildlife, Ranger Wildlife, Fiazan, Deputy Ranger, Wildlife, Paizu, and watchers of the area for their kind help in the study.

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