The landscape is an expanse of rocky hills and sand dunes. We’ve chosen one of each, in order to show how it’s different to work in both kinds of soil. The rocky hills are a part of the Aravallis, and the sand dunes formed when sand-laden winds blowing from the West were obstructed by the hills and droppe’ the sand they were carrying at the base of the hills.

The land is degraded, mainly because of excessive grazing by goats and cattle. A portion of the rocky part of the larger landscape is dominated by Prosopis juliflora, an invasive species from South America. There are only 4-5 species of native trees on the land, a few species of grasses and shrubs, but most of the land is quite bare. NIIT University, over the last few years, has taken the initiative to plant lots of trees, but they have mostly planted thirsty species that require irrigation and constant care. They have also been inadvertently ‘weeding’ out native species from their plantation site, adding to the degradation of this overgrazed, overharvested site.

Past and current disturbances
– Excessive grazing
– Dominance of Prosopis juliflora in some parts of the rocky hills, and the presence of a few trees of Acacia tortilis in the sand dunes
– Plantation of exotic species by NIIT with drip irrigation pipes laid over a large swathe of land, in addition to their weeding out of native species from the site.

• Removing invasive species like Verbesina encelioides, Parthenium, Acacia tortilis and Prosopis juliflora
• Seed collection of native trees and shrubs, annual wildflowers, grasses and other herbaceous plants
• Creating an in-situ nursery of native trees and shrubs
• Pit digging for trees and shrubs
• Monitoring the health of plants and how they respond to different pit depths and soil mixtures.
• Training the local team in all aspects of native plant gardening: Identifying plants, seed collection and propagation, plant care and maintenance, plant protection etc.
• Creating a walking trail through the landscape to prevent soil disturbance