On a visit arranged through the Center for Subtropical Agroforestry, the two officials visited the Katharine Ordway Preserve-Swisher Memorial Sanctuary and discussed forestry management techniques with UF Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Associate Professor Mel Sunquist, Ordway Preserve Research Coodinator Steve Coates, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Chair Nat Frazer, CSTAF Director P.K. Nair and Assistant Director Mike Bannister.

The preserve—about 9,600 acres in Putnam County—is a conservation research site where UF faculty are restoring the original long-leaf pine ecosystem. The Indian visitors are interested in forest management techniques that they can apply to their work in forest conservation in India.

The visitors are from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. J.C. Kala is principal chief conservator of forests, and Sukhdev Thakur is chief wildlife warden in that state.

Many of India’s forest are protected but threatened by people seeking firewood, timber, grazing land for cattle. Through the Joint Forest Management program, Indian conservation officials seek to reduce the harvesting of forests by providing people who depend on them other means of making a living and alternative resources.