Himachal Pradesh Government has re-constituted the State Board for Wildlife .
Chief Minister will be its Chairman and Forest Minister will be Vice-President whereas Govind Thakur, Tejwant Negi and Dr. Ram Lal Markanda MLAs will be its Members.Sukh Ram, Chief Parliamentary Secretary would be its non-official member. Other non official members will be Randhir Sharma, B.K. Chauhan, Govind Sharma and Parveen Sharma, MLAs.
Additional Chief Secretary (Forest) Principal Chief Conservator Forest, Secretary Tribal Welfare, Managing Director HP Tourism Development Corporation, Inspector General of Police (Nominated by DGP) will be its official Members.
In addition to the above Brigediar Administration , ARTRAC, Shimla, Director Fisheries, Representative of Director Wildlife Preservation GOI, Representative of Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradoon, Representative of Zoological Survey of India would also be its members whereas Chief Wildlife Warden will be its member Convener.
The functions and duties of the Board will be the same as described under section '8' of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and as amended from time to time.
Himachal Pradesh, with elevations ranging from 300 to over 6000 m, accounts 17% of the area of the north-western Himalayas. . Two National Parks and 32 Wildlife Sanctuaries have been set up so far in Himachal Pradesh covering 10.37% of the state area .
Himachal Pradesh has a rich assemblage of over 74 species of mammals (excluding Chiropterans) belonging to eight Orders and 21 Families / Sub Families. Of these, 17 species are unconfirmed although they are most likely to occur in this state. Seven species of caprids are reported to occur in Himachal Pradesh. They are: Tibetan Argali (Ovis ammon), Bharal or Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur), Asiatic ibex (Capra ibex), Himalayan tahr (Hemitraghus jemlahicus), Serow (Nemorhaedus sumatraensis) and Goral (Nemorhaedus goral). Himalayan Musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster), and Tibetan Gazelle (Procapra piticaudata), are the other mountain ungulates that are present in this statea.
The Hangul or Kashmir Stag (Cervus elaphus hanglu) was reported to occur in the northern parts of this state (Chamba district), particularly in the forested areas (2,500 –3,200m) in and around the Gamgul-Siahbehi Wildlife Sanctuary.
