Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary

Itanagar Wildlife Sanctuary was set up in 1968 to conserve the wildlife and forests around Itanagar, taking in the reserve forest that surrounded the town. Its limits follow the Pam river on the east, Pachin to the south, Neorochi to the north-east and the Chingke stream to the north, and most of the ground is hilly. Being so close to the city, it serves as an important place for environmental education.

The cover is tropical semi-evergreen and wet evergreen forest, broken by stands of pure bamboo such as Bambusa pallida and Bambusa hamiltonii, with trees including Duabanga, Toona ciliata, Magnolia and Schima. Its animals range from tiger, leopard and clouded leopard to Asian elephant, gaur and sloth bear, with barking deer, slow loris, marbled cat and capped langur, along with the white-winged duck. Hornbills, the state bird, are seen regularly. Poaching, fires, grazing and encroachment from nearby settlements put pressure on the sanctuary.