The one national park of Jharkhand, and the tiger reserve around it from the first phase of Project Tiger

Background

The protected area network of Jharkhand holds one national park, eleven wildlife sanctuaries, one tiger reserve and one elephant reserve, as the State's forest department sets it out. Betla is that national park. It lies in Latehar district and measures 226.37 km². The Palamu wildlife sanctuary measures 752.94 km², and the department splits its jurisdiction between North PTR and South PTR. The National Tiger Conservation Authority records Palamau as a tiger reserve of Jharkhand, with its protected area notified in 1973-74 and the tiger reserve notification coming in 2012. Its core is 414.08 sq km and its buffer 715.85 sq km, a total of 1,129.93 sq km. Project Tiger was launched on April 1, 1973 at the Corbett Tiger Reserve, and the initial phase took in nine tiger reserves. Palamau was one of them, listed then under Bihar, because Jharkhand had not yet been formed.