Jorhat, April 10: Scientists at the Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI) here have found a new sub-type pine forest in Arunachal Pradesh, said to be the first such forest in India.

The forest comprises Pinus merkusii trees, a pine species, and is spread over an area that is large enough to qualify as a sub-type forest.

The RFRI at Sotai on the outskirts of this town, about 310km east of Guwahati, is the only one of its kind in the Northeast under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) — an autonomous body under the Union ministry of forests and environment.

The director of the RFRI, N.S. Bisht, told The Telegraph today that as part of a nationwide field survey, a team of scientists of the institute, led by leading taxonomist of India H.B. Naithani, discovered the trees in huge tracts in Walong near Kibithu in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh.

Bisht said that never before was this pine species sighted on a large scale with over 80 per cent domination in the area and hence qualified for sub-type forest tag. The forest is spread over more than 100 square km.

“It is not that Pinus merkusii species has been sighted for the first time in the country, but it is for the first time that the species has been found over a huge area and qualifying to be a sub-type forest,” Bisht said.

The director said survey was conducted by the research institutes under ICFRE in different regions of the country to reclassify the various group types, sub-types of forests in the country from April to December last year.

The name of the survey was Reassigning of the Forest Types and Sub-types in India.

This is for the first time that such a massive exercise was undertaken in India after publication of the Champion and Seth Report on forest classification in India in 1968.

Bisht said the aim of the nationwide survey was to find out whether there have been changes in the classification of forests in India as over a period of time, because of anthropogenic pressures, some types of forests disappear and new types emerge.

He said compilation of the data along with findings had been completed in the respective research institutes and all such reports were analysed by the Forest Research Institute (Dehradun) and within a month or so the final report of the country will be released.

Bisht said the survey team found all the six major types of forests and 37 sub-types of forests out of the 39 mentioned in the Champion and Seth Report while discovering the new subtype.

Naithani told this correspondent from Dehradun today that the team found the species from Hawaii at Dichu in Anjaw district.

The taxonomist said that maximum girth of a tree was 352cm.

He said despite having very good regeneration rate under natural conditions, artificial plantation trials, however, have not succeeded so far in the state.

“We could not go to a few locations where two sub-group types were believed to be present, because of inaccessibility, hostile climatic conditions and insurgency,” Naithani added.