Mid-hills
Mid-hills
The mid-hills are located at an altitude of between 200 m and
3000 m between the Terai and the High Mountains, with 44 percent of Nepal's population
residing in the area. The area covers about 68 percent of the total area of Nepal.
Communities in the Mid-hills generally tend to be well established with little
in-migration, but noticeable out-migration, mostly for job opportunities. Numbers
leaving the area have increased due to the recent escalation in Maoists' violence
in the country. The region has eight tropical, subtropical, and lower temperate
forests types: sal (
Shorea robusta), subtropical deciduous, pine (
Pinus
roxburghii), katus-chilaune (
Schima-Castanopsis), uttis (
Alnus nepalensis),
khasru-gurans (oak-rhododendron), under slope coniferous forests, and upper slope
mixed hardwood
39. While commercial
logging has been limited by the absence of road networks, heavy subsistence demands
are placed on Nepal's hill forests for firewood, fodder, and green mulch for fertilizer
40.
Community forestry is in place in the mid-hills and most of the forests are generally
in fair condition, except near lucrative timber markets.
