Survey and documentation of timber species converted at sawmills of Sirsi taluk, Uttara Kannada district of western ghat region, Karnataka

The present study was undertaken to document the different timber species converted and processed at different sawmills in Sirsi Taluk of Uttara Kannada district of Western Ghat region, Karnataka. Information was collected from different sawmills through semi-structured questionnaire during 2022-23. A total of 14 sawmills were selected in and around Sirsi for the study. Among the different converted species, Tectona grandis (85.71%) followed by Pterocarpus marsupium (50.00%), Terminalia tomentosa (50.00%) and Acacia hybrid (42.85%) were the major timber species, whereas, Vitex altissima (7.14%), X xylocarpa (7.14%) and Albizia odoratissima (7.14%) were least converted. Among the species, Artocarpus heterophyllus, T tomentosa and Acacia hybrid were used for production of maximum number of products (4) followed by Dalbergia latifolia (3) and T grandis and P marsupium (2). The average roundwood price/cft varied from Rs 300 to 3,750. T grandis (Rs 3,750/cft), Dalbergia sisoo (Rs 2,800/cft), D latifolia (Rs 2,600/cft), A heterophyllus (Rs 2.500/cft) and V altissima (Rs 2,500/cft) were high valued while Acacia hybrid (Rs 600/cft), Acacia mangium (Rs 600/cft) and Eucalyptus hybrid (Rs 300/cft) were low valued. Among the different factors, durability (34.00%) and demand (29.00%) were the major factors deciding the choice of timber species followed by availability (18.00%), low cost (16.00%) and others (3.00%). The fluctuation in use of timber was greatly affected by non-availability (37.00%), government policy (34.00%) and seasonality (27.00%) and to lesser extent by over-exploitation (2.00%).