About Kerala

The new state of Kerala was formed by merging Travancore, Cochin and Malabar areas on 1st November 1956. Mr. E.A. Lazredo (Madras) was the first Chief Conservator of Forests of Kerala. The Forest Department was reorganized into three circles (Quilon, Chalakudy & Kozhikode) and 14 divisions (Trivandrum, Thenmala, Punalur, Konni, Ranni, Kottayam, Malayattoor, Chalakudy, Thrissur, Nenmara, Palghat, Nilambur, Kozhikode & Wayand) for administrative convenience. The forest boundaries of divisions and ranges were prescribed by government notifications. The administration of each of the division was put under the charge of a Divisional Forest Officer and the management of these divisions were on the basis of working plans. Working plans were prepared for all the divisions.The extent of virgin forests at the time of re-organisation was 8635.11 sq.km. excluding forest plantations. A number of forest divisions and circles were created to make forest management very effective. Munnar division was started in 1963.A number of administrative reforms have been brought for the sustainable utilization of the forests. The important ones formulated include the Kerala Forest Act 1961. Under the Private Forest Vesting and Assignment Act, the government took over all the private forests of the Malabar area.In spite of the best efforts of the department to maintain maximum land under forest cover and exploit the tangible and intangible benefits out of it, the area under forest cover has been shrinking due to a multitude of reasons.

Reference : Kerala Forest Website