Ever since the national park was upgraded to a tiger
reserve, management was ensured on the guidelines of Project Tiger, Govt. of
India. The concept of buffer zone
surrounding the Kanha national park was realized by identifying the potential
forest areas of different territorial divisions contiguous to existing national
park. And, in 1976 the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh notified an area of around 1005
sq. km., carved out of 4 forest divisions of the undivided State of Madhya Pradesh. However,
the above-conceptualized buffer zone was to remain under the respective forest
divisions until 1995 when the buffer zone was constituted as a separate
division under the unified control of the Kanha management. Now, after the
inclusion of Undemarcated Protected Forest (UDPF) areas following settlement of
dispute regarding revenue and forestlands in the Mandla district, the total
area of buffer zone now amounts to 1134.32 sq. km. The buffer area, pockmarked with villages and
revenue lands, comprises around 49% forest area, and the rest is constituted by
revenue land and private holdings. It
has 161 villages inhabited by around 103703
people and 62525 cattle heads.
