A Brief Overview of Vegetation of Pangi Valley (Chamba, Himachal Pradesh): A High Altitude Region of Northwest Himalaya, India

Preliminary survey was conducted in the Pangi Valley which is an an high altitude region of Northwest Himalaya, India. Pangi Valley has been least studied for floristic studies except for few cytological and ethnobotanical studies. Pangi was excluded in Flora of Chamba District and there is not much information on the vegetation. With the ever increasing population and, stress on natural resources for human needs, Pangi is now headed to a road for development. This area which hold enormous potential of vast floral and faunal genetic diversity requires to be explored before it is too late. The current attempt aims to present a general overview of the vegetation and information about some important plants of this geographically important cold desert region of India.

Pangi valley lies in the north-western extremity of Himachal Pradesh in the Chamba district. This is a cold arid region in the Trans Himalayas where rough terrain, scanty rainfall, harsh weather conditions and heavy snowfall are prominent features. Pangi is a high altitudinal remote tribal area with an eye catching natural beauty. It is bordered by two mountain ranges i.e. the Great Himalayan Range and the Pir Panjal Range and drained by river Chandrabhaga. Geographically the area lies between 32º 12' 41" to 32º 47' 59" N latitude and 76º 13' 56" to 76º 47' 48" E longitude with an elevation ranges from 2006 to 6168m (average elevation 4008 m), spreading over an area of 1600 sq km.
Pangi valley is a part of Pangi tehsil of Chamba district with its headquarters at Killar. Killar can be reached by road from Chamba via Sach Pass, from Udaipur and from Dharwas. The high altitudinal passes remain close during most of the months of a year (October-June) due to heavy snowfall cutting the valley from rest of the country. Due to these geographical and climatic barriers Pangi has been remotely developed, culturally isolated and has preserved its untouched biological diversity. Chandrabhaga (Chennab) flows in the south north direction cutting the valley into two almost equal halves. The river on its due course through the valley forms deep narrow gorges and valleys with steep slopes. Number of small streams also called Nallas flow through the entire valley and some are major tributaries of Chennab (Sechu Nalla, Luj Nallla, Twan Nalla, etc). These small streams form a criss cross pattern in the valley which is life supporting system for faunal and floral elements of the valley.
Pangi lies in the semi arid zone of inner Himalayas. This is a rain shadow area as high mountain peaks do not allow the heavy monsoon winds to reach the valley making the climatic conditions harsh. Most of the precipitation here is in the form of snow fall along with avalanches. The temperature shows great fluctuation during the different months of the years. It takes a dip below mercury during the colder months of the year i.e. winters accompanied by strong winds. Summers are warmer with temperature rise of more than 25° C. Pangi valley comes under cold and dry zone as per agro climatic conditions. Pangi is sub divided into three major (Hudan, Sural, Saichu) and four minor valleys. The region is remotely habituated with villages at far distance. The region is habituated mostly by Bhot and Pangwal tribal people. The higher altitudinal sub valleys are called Bhatoris. Hinduism and Buddhism are the two major religions followed along with worship of local deities. Pangwali and Bhoti are the spoken languages. Saichu Tuan Nala Wild Life Sanctuary has been established in the valley for the protection and conservation of wildlife and plant wealth of the valley. The WLS is spread over a wide area 390.29 square kilometres, with an altitudinal range of 2500 to 6072 meters including glaciers and high alpine grasslands. This is home to endangered snow leopards. Some of them are Capra sibirica (Ibex), Hemitragus jemlahicus (himalayan thar), Ursus arctos (brown bear), Ursus thibetanus (black bear), Moschus chrysogaster (musk deer), Uncia uncia (snow leopard). The birds include the Monal and Cheer pheasants, Himalayan western tragopan, Snow peacock, Himalayan woodpecker, Snow pigeon, and Black beaded jay.
Pangi Valley has been least studied for floristic studies (Watt 1881); for cytological studies which remained confined to of dicot plants (Kumar et al., 2011;Rana et al., 2012Rana et al., , 2013Singhal et al., 2009Singhal et al., , 2011aSinghal et al., , 2011b; for ethnobotanical studies (Rana et al. 2014;Dutt et al. 2014). Bhattacharya and Uniyal (1980) reported very few species from Pangi locality and more stress was laid on Trilokinath region. Pangi was excluded in Flora of Chamba District (Singh and Sharma 2006) and there is no comprehensive account of vegetation. With the ever increasing population and, stress on natural resources for human needs, Pangi is now headed to a road for development. This area which hold immense potential of vast floral and faunal genetic diversity needs to be accessed before it is too late. The study aims to present a general overview of the vegetation of this geographically important cold desert region of India.
Intensive field surveys and rapid sampling of vascular plants from different localities of Pangi Valley was done to explore the area from 2015-2016. A precise note was made on common plant species along with relevant details. Species identification was done consulting regional floras Pangi is rich in terms of floral diversity and is home to some rare, endemic and endangered plant species. It is thickly forested at lower altitudes. These are, development of a deep and strong extensive root system, underground modified stem i.e. rhizomes and bulbs, stunted growth with shrubby appearance, frost resistance, accumulation of starch grains in chloroplasts, vegetative reproduction with reduced sexual life cycle and an efficient seed dispersal mechanism.
The vegetational wealth of Pangi Valley can be categorized into the following types:   in the valley. However, activities such as entry of large livestock for grazing in summer to valley from adjoining areas and dependence of people on wood as a fuel are the activities noted down during collection trip which may pose threat to local flora in a long term if not checked on time. Man and nature conflict is evident. There is a need of more efforts to study the fragile ecosystem of this region of North Western Himalaya. However, there are a few threats to note. i) unchecked deforestation and use of forest wood as a fuel, ii) grazing by the livestock from surrounding areas is goes unchecked, iii) ever increasing agriculture on slopes where ever possible and replacement of native forest by Salix and other broad leaf species poses a serious threat to local flora and fauna of the valley.
As the road connectivity is getting better with years, once a remote tribal area, Pangi is now set on path of development in terms of Infrastructure, economy, education, communication etc. However as the region is tribal and most of the local economy is directly or indirectly dependent on the natural resources, there is a near threat to the biological wealth of the region. There is need to put in more efforts for conservation and protection of biological resources in this magnificent valley of inner Himalayas so that its cultural and biological heritage is conserved for the future generation.